Rome Teambuilding Review

Published: 12.05.09

It was an excited group that boarded the plane at Sola airport on Thursday morning. Eighty-three employees, and their partners, finally on their way to Rome – The Eternal City. Everyone was in good spirits and looking forward to the four social and cultural days ahead.

Photo gallery from the Rome trip

Teambuilding time

Food, drinks and information were all on offer on the plane ride to Rome, and we were all introduced to Omega’s own newlyweds; Jane Marie Erland and Trevor Hooker had married the day before take off and chosen to travel to Roma with colleagues for their honeymoon. It was lovely to share in the occasion, so thank you to the newlyweds for adding a little extra romance to the trip!

We arrived at Hotel Cicerone around 4.30 pm, and after a quick bite we gathered in the hotel meeting room for a teambuilding activity. The activity was a quiz – questions were wide-ranging and covered everything from Omega knowledge to Italian food, culture, geography and football. Teams dug deep, and many participants showed great enthusiasm and ingenuity in their efforts to find the answers. Team Propello were revealed as the winners on the plane ride home and were duly awarded their prizes – a little souvenir to remind them of their time in Rome.

On Thursday night we had a team dinner at Gran Caffé Visconti Ristorante, right around the corner from the hotel. It was a boisterous group that settled in for pasta, veal medallions and tiramisu – topped off with something nice to drink. During dinner we were entertained by wandering musicians, serenading us with a range of Italian classics. A great way to start our Roman adventures!

Impressive sights and guides

On Friday morning everyone turned out bright and early and in walking shoes, ready for a day of sightseeing. We were lead by knowledgeable guides offering insights into Rome, a city that has existed for more than 2700 years, and still has buildings from that time in daily use!

Our first stop on the tour was the Spanish Steps, before we procedeed to the Trevi Fountain, known from movies such as La Dolce Vita and Roman Holiday. The fountain was finished in 1760, and the water is supplied by the ancient Aqua Vergine aqueduct. The traditional thing to do by the Trevi Fountain is to throw a coin over your shoulder in order to ensure your return to Rome. On average, 3000 Euros are thrown into the fountain every day, and the city uses the money to help the empoverished.

Next up was the Pantheon, the best-conserved building from ancient Rome, originally built as a temple to the Roman gods. The upcoming “Angels & Demons” movie starring Tom Hanks has a number of scenes from the Pantheon. Our guide told us that during filming there was a wedding in the building on the same day as the movie was shot, and that the producer moved to have the wedding postponed so that filming would not be delayed. Tom Hanks thought that was completely unnecessary, and even offered to escort the bride during the wedding. Surely an unusual experience for the wedded couple!

Piazza Navona was our next destination, before we could finally rest our feet a little while travelling by bus to Colosseum, our last stop for the day. This impressive amphitheatre is arguably the most famous one from ancient Rome. Construction was completed in 80 A.D. The theatre had room for 50 000 spectators sitting on numbered seats in four levels around the stadium.

After seeing the impressive ruins of Colosseum, it was finally lunchtime. In walking distance from the Colosseum, at the Ristorante Terme di Colosseo we were served pasta, pork, puff pastry and drinks. It was wonderful to sit down and reflect on the amount of history and culture that we had just laid our eyes on – it is quite overwhelming with so many impressions in such a short time. The chat around the tables was lively, and everyone seemed to be enjoying their time in The Eternal City.

Our gratious guides were ladies from Norway and Sweden who did a great job keeping the group organized. They also managed to make the city come alive for us, we could envision the people actually living in ancient Rome. Dates, numbers and building dimensions are interesting enough, but history is even more fun when you can imagine the lives of real city inhabitants.

The same smiling guides were very happy with our group, they were impressed that such a large group kept together going from sight to sight – everyone was there when arriving at the restaurant, eliminating the need to send out search parties.

Enjoying Rome and the cuisine

On Friday we had the afternoon to ourselves, and many of us chose to return to the sights from earlier. It was nice to spend some extra time in each place; actually sitting down on the Spanish Steps, watching the people roam about, enjoying some ice cream from a gelateria and being served a cold beer and a genuine Italian pizza. It was time to just enjoy life in Rome.

Some of the teambuilders gathered for a Friday night dinner at Restaurant St. Ana, where they were served a delicious Gnoccheti sardi alla Caruso (a small potato dish with aubergines and mozzarella), beef with mashed potatoes and finally ice cream with crystallized fruit. The good atmosphere was apparent, and there was plenty of llively conversation across the tables.

On Saturday, some chose to walk around and experience more of Rome on their own, while others were on guided tours of Forum Romanum, the Catacombs and the Vatican. Department Manager Britt-May tells us about the first two:

“An exclusive group of Omega teambuilders toured the St. Sebastian catacombs at the end of Via Appia. We enjoyed an exciting walk with a well informed, English-speaking guide. A catacomb is an underground corridor with burial niches in the walls. The word comes from the greek term kumbas, by the valley, and it is a very descriptive name.

After our tour of the catacombs we explored Forum Romanum. Our guide this time was a lady from Oslo, who had lived in Italy since 1965, while studying archaeology and architecture. It was a pleasure to be in the company of such a knowledgeable lady!

Forum Romanum used to be the center of power in ancient Rome, containing the senate, courts, banks etc. Many temples were located along the most famous street at the time – Via Sacra. It was along this street the military troops would march in triumph to the Kapitol when they returned victorious from their battles. Again we were struck by how well these ruins are. We saw wonderful marble floors, almost 2000 years old, the designs made by using different coloured marble – fantastic! It was not difficult to imagine the ancient Roman citizens during work and play as we wandered among the ruins of Forum Romanum.”

The world’s smallest country

The other guided group this Saturday set off for the Vatican, the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter's Basilica. Again we were most impressed by our guides; they were able to safely get us through the enormous crowds of people in line to get in, while constantly speaking in English, Scandinavian and Italian, using their arms and hands in true native fashion to get their message across to other guides, the local polizia directing traffic, and the Vatican security people. No small feat, considering the number of visitors estimated at the Vatican that day – approximately 25,000 people were expected to pass through the metal detectors at the entrance!

Once inside the Vatican museum we were led to a quiet corner, and with the help of pictures on a lighted display we were given an introduction into the history of the Vatican and the State of the Vatican City. Its history reaches far back in time, at one time being a large secular state covering all of middle Italy. It is a sovereign state, ruled by the Bishop of Rome – the Pope. The size of this state is only 4,4 km², and approximately 1000 people live here. Italian police take care of law and order, while the famous Swiss Guard, 100 men strong, serve as the Pope’s personal bodyguards. Despite its size, the Vatican state has its own coins, postal system, newspaper and radio- and television stations. It even has a railroad station, and 862 metres of railroad tracks.

Of all the buildings in the Vatican state, St. Peter’s Basilica is the most famous. It is said to be the largest church in the world, and is built over the gravesite of the apostle Peter. According to catholic teachings, the “popedom” was established by Jesus Christ himself. Shortly after Jesus’ death, Peter emerged as leader (bishop) of the Christian parish in Rome. According to tradition, the Bishop of Rome was considered the head of the entire Christian church. The word Pope simply means “father”.

The construction of St. Peters Basilica started in 1506, and several architects contributed to this magnificent building, amongst them Rafael and Michelangelo, the latter being responsible for the design of the stunning dome. The last architect was named in 1629. The Vatican museums are vast – we were told that if you spent just one minute, 24/7, in front of each single artifact, it would take 11 years to see all the treasures on exhibit in these rooms! There are sculptures, statues, paintings, mosaics, tapestries and numerous other works of art.

The Sistine Chapel is the Pope’s house chapel, where also the election of new popes takes place – the conclave. A special oven is mounted in the chapel on these occasions, its chimney going out of one of the high windows, and the smoke from this chimney is what signals to the world when a new Pope has been elected. When the elections are over, the chimney and oven are removed and stored until the next conclave takes place.

The Chapel was built and decorated between 1473 and 1541. Many well known artists contributed, like Botticelli and Pinturicchio, but the most famous was Michelangelo, who painted the ceiling (1508 – 1512) with scenes from the Creation, and the wall behind the altar; “Doomsday” (1534 – 1541).

It is with great humility one stands, neck bent back at a sharp angle, studying the beautiful murals, trying to imagine Michelangelo struggling with his paintings, spending year after year with his head at odd angles while balancing on scaffolding many meters above the floor. What would Omega’s HSE inspectors say to such working conditions, I wonder?

A great finish

When the tour ended we were bussed back to the hotel for some R&R. There were still a few hours remaining until we were to meet for dinner, and many of the teambuilders did some more sightseeing and shopping. At 8 pm we all gathered in the bar, freshly showered and dressed for a night on the town. The busses whisked us away to the part of the city called Trastevere, to the Da Meo Patacca restaurant. We were supposed to be seated outdoors, but due to uncertain weather we dined downstairs in the old vaulted cellar. Trastevere is the old workers’ district, many of the inhabitants have been among Rome’s poorest, but over the last years this part of town has become a popular area for restaurants and bars, frequented by locals and tourists alike.

The waiters at the restaurant were dressed as workers from days gone by, and we were served dishes of pasta, lamb, pork and chicken, potatoes and a salad, and for desert fresh pineapple with ice cream. Yum! Add a few glasses of beer and wine, and it is easy to understand why the evening was such a success! For entertainment we heard a variety of famous Italian songs, performed by a group of singers and musicians. We were all encouraged to sing along, and a couple of Omegas dinner guests impressed us all with their beautiful voices.

After dinner we enjoyed some time outdoors, hoping that our Norwegian summer nights would bring the same mild temperatures and soft breezes. Those who wanted to retire to their hotel rooms were transported back to the hotel, while the rest continued into the wee hours of the night at local bars and tavernas with various individual teambuilding activities...

Sunday was a slow day, with no planned activities until departure for the airport at 2 pm. It was hard to resist one last chance to see some sights and buy those last-minute gifts, so again the streets of Rome were filled with happy Omega visitors.

Our flight back from the Leonardo da Vinci International Airport to Sola was much quieter than our southbound flight a few days earlier, many weary eyes were closed and shoes were kicked off tired feet. Department manager Torleif summed it all up for us when he announced the winners of Thursdays’s quiz, and we all agreed it had been a wonderful trip, packed with interesting sights and good food, fun shopping and the chance to get to know some new colleagues.

Arrivederci e grazie!