Days Six and Seven - October 16-17th: Back in Rome

Ten years ago I made it to Rome for five days. One of the biggest disappointments of that trip was going to Santa Maria della Vittoria to see Bernini's The Ecstasy of Saint Teresa only to find that it was out for restoration. This time. . .



Success!

Day six was pretty much an all you can eat Baroque buffet. But one site really stood out against this heavy, dark, and gilded backdrop. We went to the Capuchin Crypt at Santa Maria della Conception, where for years the monks had allowed their bones to be used as sculptural media. They made four shrines of human skeletal assemblage, which Sarah and I found to be oddly touching in a way. Then it was off to the Galleria Borghese. Beside having one of the finest collections of Roman antiquities, the Borgheses collected the finest Bernini sculptues by far. The level of textural detail and overall motion of his pieces is really something. And the cherry on top was that they were having a Carravaggio show! After visiting the Santa Maria del Popolo on the way out of the surrounding park the Caravaggio count had now grown to fifteen on this trip already. Sorry, but no pictures were allowed in any of these sights.

We capped the day off with a trip to the National Museum of Rome. Of all of the museums housing Roman antiquities I have ever seen, this one is the best. After hall after hall of portrait heads and damaged bodies at the Vatican, a simple, mostly chronological approach following the the history of Imperial Rome was a breath of fresh air. They also have some real treasures like this Hellenistic Bronze.



I had set aside half of day seven to revisit anything we missed. The only two were Castel Sant Angelo in the Vatican and Villa Farnese. Castel Sant Angelo is the Roman emperor Hadrian's tomb, later converted into a castle, and eventually treated as the stronghold for the Pope when the city was under invasion. This is the giant treasure chest used when the Pope would need to retreat there.



With a more relaxed schedule it seemed like a good day to splash some cash on lunch. Osteria Ponte Sisto came heavily recommended, and it turned out to be our best meal in Rome. The highlight for me was this roast suckling pig with potatoes.



We capped the day off with a return to Capitoline Hill. The two museums there are extraordinary. If you check my flickr page you'll see some monumental pieces in their collection. The Ancient Romans didn't have nearly the technique or the expression of the Classical Greeks. They made up for these shortcomings by emulating the hell out of the Greeks, and excelling in engineering, efficiency and frankly empire building. The one area of visual art where they did surpass the Greeks was portraiture. They had an increadible ability to create and thus preserve a likeness. It's uncanny how different sculptural busts of the the same person will be recognizeable! They also left thousands of heads of people who just wanted to be remembered as well as realistic depictions of Greek artists and philosophers who had long since passed. This one goes out to my homies in the Math Department. A²+B²=C². Pythagorean stylie baby!

Day Five - October 15th: Naples

Well, I'm finally in a spot where I'm connected again, but rather than talk about Barcelona I'm going to pick up where I left off.

The fifth day of travel was a day trip to Naples. This was the first completely new area for me and I was excited! It's just a quick hour-and-a-half from Rome, so going for the day is no problem, though you do get back pretty late. It was threatening to rain in the evening, so we spent the morning walking to all of the smaller sights. A real surprise for me was Capella Sanservero. A sculptor named Corradini had some fantastic marble works where the entire figure was draped. Too bad they didn't allow photos, or I'd provide one.



When we got to Santa Maria della Anime del Purgatorio we saw this. The whole thing was closed for restoration. Sometimes you just have to go with the flow.



Lunch in a Southern Italian style was exactly the pick me up we needed. This dish was four different types of local fish fried. I don't usually do a lot of fried, but when in Rome. . .er, Naples.



The biggest attraction on the day was the Museo Archeologico Nazionale. Many of the best works from Herculaneum and Pompeii are housed here--specifically, the best painting, mosaic and erotic art from Roman times. Check out my flickr page for a really odd piece of erotic art - Parental Advisory!

Well, I'm sorry for the long radio silence, but we're having trouble getting wireless service here in Venice. So far highlights have included trips to Naples, Pompeii, Herculaneum, Ostia Antica and Padova. We've also hit the Venice Biennialle. I will fill you in on everything when we get better access in Barcelona in two days. But for now time is money, and the Euro is way stronger than the doller in this internet cafe.

Ciao.

Days Three and Four - October 13th & 14th: In which I destroy everyone's feet.

Hiking through a city like Rome isn't just thirsty work, it's a tough foot and ankle workout. The uneven pavement and cobblestones really beat you up. We started out with a tough enough day, walking from Trastevere all the way back across the city. However, when we got to the Galleria Corsini we found out that they had loaned their Caravaggio to another museum across town, and the Palazzo Farnesina was closed for a private affair. My plans lay in ruins! I quickly devised a route that could take us to sites I had planned for other days, with the full intention of coming back for the Farnesina and its Raphael frescoes. You'll have to stay tuned to see how that goes.



A quick walk up Via Giulia, with a quick panini, got us back on track. Panini are inexpensive and easy to get all over Italy. Better yet, you never need to worry about mayo, even in a tuna sandwich! The interesting looking one was an egg omelet with arugula and tomato.



Our new course took us through a dozen churches, the Pantheon and up to the Capitoline Museum. I love museums, but there is no substitute for seeing a work in the situation that it was intended for. With Caravaggio this is particularly true. In a dark setting his figures seem to loom out at you. By the end of the day everyone was complaining about the foot pain. Their reward was. . .



. . .Another day of foot pain! This time an open to close trip to the Vatican Museum and Saint Peter's Basilica. It's all stone floors and a whole lot of steps. Just what the doctor ordered. The collection of the Museum is beyond belief, from the finest Renaissance painting such as the Sistine Chapel, to the best collection of Etruscan Art, to a really kick-ass modern collection. It can't all be done in a day, but that doesn't mean you can't try! At the end of the day Sarah was visibly limping, my mom had had a spill on one of the thousands of steps, and my dad was nursing a sprained ankle from the previous day. I let them off easy by leaving Castle Sant'Angelo for later in the week. The next day was a trip to Naples, and I can't carry them all.

Check out my other images on Flickr.

Day Two - October 12th: No Rain, No Gain.

Our first full day in Rome start so promisingly. When I was here ten years ago, the line for the Colosseum wrapped all the way around the building, and into rope lines inside. This time I new to have a tickets in hand, so we were able to just walk right in. It was a real treat not to be crushed in a crowd. Notice the reconstructed seats and stage to give context.



Weather.com gave a 30% chance of rain, so we came prepared. The first two showers were a fun adventure. When the third hit later in the day, and brought a wind storm in, we were less pleased. Check out the puddles in those ruins!



We were lucky that the sun came out on the walk back to the hotel. I had picked a long, scenic route back before the rain came back, and was feeling like quite the heel. However, we would have missed this double rainbow over the Palatine Hill and Circus Maximus.

First Day in Rome - Sun Oct 11th

We finally in arrived in Rome after four-and-a-half hours on a plane to Atlanta followed by a three hour layover, seven-and-a-half hours on a plane to Paris followed by a two hour layover, and a two hour flight followed by a thirty minute express train to Termini station in Rome. You'd think that a shower and a good night's sleep would be in order, but it was high noon. I have a rule of getting to bed at the correct time to avoid jet lag, so I'd planned a half day of walking with easier ooh and ah locations. First was Santa Maria Maggiore for Byzantine mosaics. After that we had quite an ordeal finding San Pietro in Vincoli, which has a fabulous Michelangelo statue of Moses. I've decided that I can only post one or two highlights per day, but you can check out more photos on my flicker page. The big event of the day was a church that contains two levels of excavation below a very picturesque 12th century church with Renaissance frescoes by Masolino named San Clemente. We entered through its very pleasant cloister.



For five Euros you can enter the archeological area. One level below is a fully excavated fourth-century Christian church, with early Christian frescoes. The level below that has an even earlier second century church, a house which utilized underground running water, and this really rare shrine to Mithras. I shouldn't have taken this picture. . .but I did anyway.



San Clemente was so mind blowing, that I figured a walk by the old Aurelian city wall was about all we could take. We had picked a Sicilian restaurant on the route back, but found that it had been replaced by a pizzeria. Too tired to fight it, we settled in for a pretty good meal. Pictured below is an appetizer with Sicilian roots. The Arancini is a fried rice ball with different fillings. This one had ragu, which in this case was sausage and peas with a hint of tomato. Sarah thought it was kind of like an Italian Samosa.



I'm actually a day behind, but after spending the day touring the Colosseum, the Roman Forum and the Palatine Hill, with occasional bursts of wind and rain, I just can't go through all those photos. You'll just have to stay tuned for that recap.

Culinary Art

There were two major happenings for me in terms of food this summer. The big one was the fourth annual pig roast, or PR4. This is officially now my favorite party of the year. The sole purposes seem to be to consume mass quantities and to have a great time.

It's a hell of a lot of work to pull this one off, but tell me that there isn't aesthetic value here! Hermann Nitsch would be proud. Disclaimer: Look Nitsch's work up at you own peril. . .seriously.

The second happening was truly a sign about my trip to Rome and the Vatican.
I had a salad where my egg exhibited stigmata! Eerie isn't it? You might say this was just a hard boiled egg sitting on a beet, but I'm thinking I can turn this into the next DaVinci Code if I play my cards right.