SPQR Fellowship

Today, our group witnessed another popular (under statement) site of Italy – the Vatican City. We purchased tickets to skip the line for the Vatican Museum. While waiting for our escort we stood near the plaza of St. Peter’s Basilica. Unbeknown to us, the pope was conducting a ceremony this morning for a celebratory mass, so we got to glimpse him on the ‘mega-tron.’ The Vatican Museum is astounding in content, size, popularity… There were so many people… The mass of humanity in the same spaces as me at the same time was slightly unnerving – slightly distracting. I had seen the Vatican Museum during our last visit. I didn’t remember all of the exhibits, but thinking back I suppose we probably did see everything and I just didn’t remember. There is so much to take in, 4 miles I think I read? I could be wrong. A lot of art to be certain.

Dave plans to write about the Vatican Museum more, so I will let him take on the rest of that topic. We had wanted to go into the Basilica, but by the time we left the museum the line went around the entire plaza probably about 4 people deep all the way around. We decided that the doors would close way before we’d ever have a chance to get to them, so instead Dave and I decided to visit Palazzo Spada which contains the forced perspective designed by Borromini. It took us a little time to find it because it isn’t labeled on the map nor are all of the roads to get to it. I am not so sure that they get too many visitors there, but they seemed excited by our excitement to see the Borromini work. A young girl brought us out to the garden – gave us a history of the work in about 5 minutes – forbid us to walk through the space ourself – but allowed us to take pictures of her walking through it. If you don’t understand what I’m describing, see the pictures below. We then sat and did a drawing of it while hearing seagull noises – strange ones. Soon after, it began raining so we headed back to our hostel to send out this blog. The rain has since stopped so I am going to stop writing and we are going to go see some of Rome at night.  Pictures from today and a post on the Vatican Museum visit to follow.

Jenna

We have returned from our night walk. It was slightly rushed due to curfew time to meet up with the others… only one set of keys for the room we’re living in. We saw the Trevi though which was hopping, the Pantheon which was haunting, and the Piazza Navona which was slightly less populated that I had thought it would be. It was a good walk. Oh, one more thing from the day. On the way home the first time, we walked down a street filled with bicycles. It was Critical Mass Roma that we witnessed – quite a sight to see!

As our group enters Rome, I finally enter the blog-o-sphere.  Up until now the rest of our group has been providing an excellent and lively account of our journey through Italy and I have focused on taking photos and preparing them for the blogs. I’ve followed each entry closely and offered my input when needed but I must thank the rest of my group who not only have had a great recall of each day, but the speed and precision to deliver an account of our travels in a timely manner. In other words… I’m slow.  Thankfully, Jenna is here to help cover up my weaknesses. As she has already provided you with a great round-up of today’s events, I will try give you a few of my thoughts as I enter Rome for the second time.

I have been thinking a lot about the power of Rome. As we walked around the city today I was very aware of all the other tourists sharing the city. I could not help but wonder what keeps us all coming to this city, participating in the great event that is Rome. What interest do non architect’s have in all the historical buildings here? Is it the same interest that draws me to the art that I have little or no knowledge of?  Certainly there is a great deal of grandeur and beauty here but as I watched some people quickly pass by buildings and artworks that held others in complete awe I began to understand that within Rome there is a more far reaching draw. It seems that people come to Rome to participate in the idea that is Rome – to participate in something that is bigger than themselves. An idea that created new forms of governance, buildings more articulate and grand in scale than imaginable, and artwork that transcends language. In other places these ideas may have been considered “mad” and quickly dismissed. In Rome, they became a reality that has lasted thousands of years and affected most of western culture. I look forward to our short time here and the chance to let a little of that “madness” into my thinking.

Once we finally made it into our final place to stay for the trip, Christina’s Residence, our group was ready to head out on foot to see Roma! Dave and I have been excited to revisit all the places that we saw on our last visit and especially, to share them with our other three travel companions – Kj, Vince, and Lance. We also took the time to see a few sites today that we had missed on our last visit.

Since it was a busy day, I thought I’d give a run-down of what we did. We began with the Baths of Diocletian which is a site David and I missed two years ago. This site contains finds from archeological digs that have occurred in Rome. We saw ancient pieces of sculpture as well as things from everyday use such as tools, containers, bodily ornament… My favorite pieces were these safety pin looking things or fibulae used for pinning clothing. Check out the first century AD ones on through the ‘fibulae’ link! They were all different shapes and levels of fancy. We also saw the building in which the baths were located. The building was another awe inspiring feat of construction for the time in which it was built. They are doing renovation work on parts of it and it now contains different tombs… all very cool things to see.

We had spent a bit of time looking around the Baths so we were all feeling a little famished. On the way to McDonalds – the group wanted to witness the differences from American McDonalds – we stopped to check out our first Borromini spot S. Carlo alle Quattro Fontane and the intersection with the four fountains. We were not able to get into the church due to Fiesta time, however it is definitely on the list for a revisit. So we had our McDonalds, but then needed dessert. David and I frequented ‘White’ a gelateria in the piazza Barberini the last time we were in Rome which we thought we’d introduce to everyone else.

Finally satiated, we began our walking tour once more and headed toward the Trevi Fountain which was spectacular! The people watching was a great for a while as we waited for Dave to take some sweet pictures. It is funny to me, the popularity of some sites in Rome over others… I guess having a background in architecture helps to broaden what I’m interested in seeing, but I think it is just amazing the crowd that packs into places like the Trevi. On this visit the fountain did not receive any of our coins… I didn’t want it to jeopardize my seeing Sant Ivo. I might just save my monetary contribution for that church anyway. 🙂

Following the Trevi, we went to another huge attraction of the city, the Pantheon. I had chills as we approached the building. In a lifetime, everyone should witness the Pantheon. Honestly, I don’t have words… It is astounding to say the least. We will be spending more time there for drawings in the next few days, so I’ll attempt at better thoughts on it then, however I’ll leave you with this picture my thoughts of it in the meantime: I once joked about the most romantic proposal that could ever happen to a girl. It would happen in the rain under the oculus of the Pantheon. My proposal, which did happen in Rome to my surprise, did not happen that way, however we have plans to sprint to the Pantheon if it starts to rain just to experience it. I think everyone enjoyed that visit. We made a quick stop at S. Ivo – because I couldn’t resist – on the way to Piazza Navona. I had read in Borromini that S. Agnese on the west side of the piazza had had design work done on it by Borromini. So, of course we had to check it out.This one will likely be visited again so I’m going to wrap up…

There were three more stops made in our day, all sort of related in a way. The first, I refer to as the cat sanctuary, which it is, however, historically it was the location of four ancient temples. It is now an archeological site filled with cats about a story and half to two under street level. The second was the Crypta Balbi – another museum Dave and I hadn’t been to and another museum on the archeology of Rome. Before I describe what we saw I’m going to tell you the last site of the day which was the Capitoline Hill where we went to get a higher view of Rome both ancient and now. These last three I relate because they all present the ancient side of Rome in all its worn-down wonder. Having seen both the cat sanctuary and the Roman Forum (ancient Rome view) before, it registered to me that there have been massive changes to the city since the beginning of its time. The missing link, I think was the Crypta Balbi which illustrated the layers of time that have physically taken shape over the 2000+ years that have been uncovered, documented, and displayed in the museum. We were actually taken below ground into parts of Rome that were buried for some time and have now been excavated so as to preserve the history of the city. I am glad for that experience.

Tomorrow St. Peter’s Basilica and the Vatican Museums are first on our list. Hoping to get some Borromini time in there as well.

Ciao

P.S. Some pictures to come with Dave’s post!