Friday 6 February 2009

Jason Spiehler - Tour Guide

So, you're in eternal Rome, and you want to go for a tour. So you need to find yourself a guide. The best person to guide you around Rome is an American from Louisiana.

No, you read that right.

The man in question is named Jason Spiehler.

He is an art historian and theologian and is quite possibly the best tour guide in Rome.

He is even recommended by name by the New York Times.

Finding him starts at the end of our first day in Rome. We had been to the Colosseum, and we were wandering around the Forum when, a tour appeared near the Rostra Divi Iulii. The man, an American, was both informative and entertaining, something that is very important when it comes to a tour. The tour was free, so we tagged along and got to learn more about the Forum.

As a side note, when one of the people outside the Colosseum said that there were no signs in the Forum he wasn't kidding. There were a few signs, but they only said what the things were. For someone who doesn't know anything about the forum you would be hard pressed to know who the hell Phocas was, and why did he have a column in the forum, or what the hell most of the buildings were. It makes a really good selling point for the tour guides, because you are forced to pay a more expensive price for a tour. I'm not lying here, I saw nothing for an official tour of the forum, and the Colosseum official tour is €4. It probably works out cheap if you are not an EU citizen, but not if you are eligible for the discount.

Anyway. We learned about Phocas and at the Curia we learned about the cheap, corner cutting technique used to build it. There was quite a bit of stuff we learned, and it all culminated with him reciting Shakespeare at the foot of the Temple of Jupiter.

There was a night tour but we didn't go on that. Instead we decided to forgoe the Palatine Hill (the ticket is valid for two days) and check out some of the other well known sights in Rome (Trevi fountain, Spanish Steps, Castel Sant' Angelo etc.) and go to the Vatican for his Vatican tour (which did cost money though). Firstly it was worth it. It decided to rain about the time the tour started, so it worked out alright since we were inside. Secondly, after the partial tour that we went on with him in the forum it seemed like a really stupid idea not to take up the offer.

An interesting tour followed, and we never noticed that we spent three hours in the Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel. Someone with the credentials that Jason has makes it really interesting to look at and understand the artwork that is there.

I now understand far better then I ever would works like Raphael's School of Athens or the symbolism of the fresco of the Sistine Chapel (hint: Jonah = Jesus). Or a rather funny tale involving the painting of The Last Jugement where Biagio de Cesena insulted the painting Michelangelo portrayed him as Minos, in the hell part of the picture with ass' ears and a snake biting his penis. When Cesena complained to the Pope the response was that he couldn't do anything because the Pope is not in charge of hell.

If you ever get a chance to go on a tour of the Vatican (or find him in the forum, or on a night walk) go. Do it. You won't regret it.

[The title is there because of laziness, I can't think of a decent one. So this crappier one will have to do, sorry.]

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

how does one book a tour with Jason Spiehler?

Unknown said...

toursofrome@hotmail.com

Anonymous said...

I, too, took a free tour with Jason and then a paid Night Walk tour. It was definitely worth the money. There are many beautiful sights to see in Rome, but when you don't know what the story is behind what you see, you're missing much of the beauty. Jason is setting up a web page www.walksofitaly.com.

Anonymous said...

My husband and I also took Jason's Vatican Tour. He was a very knowledgible guide however I must say when we were in there that other tour groups did seem have have guides who made them laugh more, his tour seem more reserved. Also I actually think there were maybe 40 of us on this tour which made for quite an uncomfortable experience in the Vatican. At the start of the tour we saw him saying goodbye to an Italian girl, presumably his girlfriend. I recognized her immediately as we had taken a tour with her the previous day through another company. She was quite overweight and to be honest, very bitchy. I think her name was Simona. I was surprised at this as he seemed like quite a nice guy and I really think he could do better. Anyway, Jason is a great quide but we did take another tour with another company whose guide had a licence. Jason didn't seem to have one but I would recommend him.

Betty Reynolds said...

Oh my god, I had almost the exact same experience! I took a tour with Jason this week and agree he was excellent guide. In fact I found him to be very entertaining and it was good to see someone from our home state of Louisianna. The day before I took a Vatican Tour with Dark Rome. We arrived at their meeting point on the steps and asked this Italian girl who had a clip-board if we were in the right place. She was very rude and practically told us to back off. We eventually checked in with her and she told us her name was Simona and that she was our guide. I totally get what you were saying about the bitchy thing. We tipped her and she didn't even say thanks. Jason was great though. I would recommend his walking tour.

Anonymous said...

Definitely not his girlfriend. LMAO
But he is HANDS DOWN THE BEST TOUR GUIDE EVER!!!!!!!!! AND TOTALLY GORGEOUS!

Anonymous said...

We booked Jason for 3 days while in Rome in March of 2009. He taught us so much and was very helpful. I was amazed at how incredibly smart he was, and not to mention incredibly good looking! (I could pay attention for days!) I would recommend taking a tour with him if you could, he would teach you so many new things, I would do it again any day!

James said...

You can still book guided tours in Rome with Jason Spiehler himself or one of his hand-picked guides practically any day of the year. He's launched a new website, Walks of Italy with an array of tours in Rome, Florence, Pompeii, Venice, Tuscany... and more to come! He can also be reached by e-mail at info@walksofitaly.com

Hope that helps!

Anonymous said...

My husband and I took the free tour with him last year of the roman forum and then a paid evening tour. He was the best tour guide we have ever had, and yes, he is totally gorgeous, funny, extremely knowledgeable, and entertaining too!
http://www.facebook.com/walkingtours?sk=photos#!/walkingtours?sk=wall

jade said...

Our tours are low in price but high in quality. We leave from Florence and return to Florence. We only do small groups, maximum 14 persons per tour. best tour of italy