The Mother of all Roman Baths and a Really Big Church

This mornIng we all headed off to visit the Terme di Caracalla which was built by the emperor Caracalla and could accommodate 10,000 bathers (eat your heart out Diocletian with your little 3,000 bather bath).

The Romans were able to erect enormous structures using unreinforced concrete which they faced with brick.  They used concrete to cover large areas with domes or barreled vaults.  Their three groin barreled vault was not duplicated again until the age of the gothic cathedrals, some 700 years later.

After the visit to the baths, Bob and Isa went to visit the Colisseum which they found to be much more crowded and much less impressive than the baths.  Lynne and I walked over to Piazza San Giovanni in Laterano which is the site of Rome's main cathedral. Before visiting the cathedral we found the Trattoria di Buoni Amici where we both had the outstanding seafood pasta.

 

The cathedral was mildly interesting and notable mainly for its size.  It houses relics of both St. Peter and St. Paul.