7.3.09 Rome.

sweet graffiti at our bus stop...model shot

We began the day by going to the Borghese museum. It is a villa that has rooms and rooms of famous sculptures and paintings. We weren’t allowed photographs, so no pictures of the interior. However the exterior was stunning and it’s hard for me to believe that someone could actually own that large of a house/estate. Each ceiling in every room was covered in paintings done by many different artists so each own was its own style and told a story. The walls were all absolutely remarkable frescos that, from a distance, looked as though were 3D. The ceiling was the same. Looking at it, it looked as though the statues that were painted were actual marble coming out of the ceiling, yet it was simply paint. I was amazed at the amount of detail from the smallest cherub face, to an entire narrative scene depicted on the walls. Each room housed many different sculptures, including Bernini’s Apollo and Daphne. In the gardens of the Borghese, was another small building that housed some modern paintings that were just black and white. It was so cool to see the juxtaposition of the totally modern artwork with a backdrop of architecture from the 16th or 17th century.

exterior of borghese museum

After the Borghese, we did the Colosseum: take 2. This time it wasn’t raining and we were able to go in the interior. It’s almost impossible to think that a building could still be standing from 72 AD and be in the condition that it is. To think that engineers back then knew how to construct archways and different levels on top of one another without having the whole thing come tumbling down. Those infamous arches were probably some of the first arches our world has seen and have influenced building designs for centuries. We had time to sit and sketch and even in the blazing heat, I was blown away that I was just sitting, sketching the Colosseum. I mean come on, that’s insane! I was trippin for a bit, and then I realized that this experience is one I will never forget.

interior of the colosseum

From the Colosseum, we began what I would like to call the walking tour of the entire city of Rome. Ok it really wasn’t, but my feet felt differently. Suffice it to say we walked A LOT. We went to 3 different churches that are maybe ones that aren’t so familiar. I learned that there are over 2,000 churches in Rome alone that are all “historical” if you will. The first church was the St. Clemente church. It is 3 floors and the bottom level is actually the ground level of Rome before it was burned. The bottom level has sarcophagus,’ a temple, and sacred areas where the Pope has directed mass from.. The second church was St. Mary’s church dedicated to the Virgin Mary. The ceilings were totally covered in gold leafing brought from Columbus himself. It also has the Holy Doors that are only opened every 25 years for Jubilee. Bernini and his family are buried there as well right beneath the floor. It houses St. Peter’s chains also and it has an interesting statue by Michelangelo of Moses. He sculpted Moses and then decided he wanted his head turned another direction but couldn’t just simply turn a head of stone, so he re-sculpted the face on top of the old face to have it looking to the side. This created an awkward angle when looking at the statue from the front, with his eyes looking one way and his beard still dead straight. Another interesting sculpture is one of the Grim reaper – the first one ever made. It’s not too far off from the Grim Reaper we know so well from Halloween. Our final destination was to a church that was in Angel’s and Deamons. It is the church of fire in the movie because of the famous statue by Bernini called the ecstacy of St. Teressa. An interesting fact about the area of the church where this is found: to the right of the main statue are 4 more people carved out of the wall, all looking to Teressa, except one man. He is looking out at the “viewer” so to say. Who is this man you might ask? Well its Bernini himself. He put himself in the sculpture so he could “watch” the viewer react when viewing Teressa. Clever guy that Bernini is.

grim reaper statue

Finally, we made it to the Trevi Fountain and can I say HUGE? Holy Toledo it is sooo much biggern than I thought. It ain’t your typical fountain that’s for sure. There were hords of people there as to be expected and I couldn’t have felt more like a tourist, clutching my bag so as not to get pick pocketed. I decided to keep the tourist trend and took my turn throwing a coin over my shoulder into the fountain. Guess I’ll be coming back to beautiful Roma! We took advantage of the free natural water spring that gives the fountain it’s water. After a long day in the sun, it was refreshing to get wet and get the stickyness of humidity off of me. Seeing the Trevi in person blew my mind, thinking that someone sat and carved every last detail of that ginormous landmark. In fact, all day I was astounded by the knowledge of the human body these artists and sculptors had to have in order to get every last detail of the human anatomy down to the vein in each foot or the dimple in a buttock. I just kept asking myself how?? How could someone just chisel away at some marble and create a masterpiece?! Guess I’ll never know but I can appreciate what they designed and am so lucky to be able to see all these works of art in person.

trevi fountain... SO cool!

most amazing pizza i've ever had... spinach and mushrooms. yum!

gelato from our favorite corner cafe...pistachio & peach