DAY-BY-DAY JOURNAL
Most recording on videotape, but some digital photos. Factual information: Google and guide books
Gate 1 Travel Special (whole package for price of air). Fred & Sister Margaret: Independent Tour
Day 1, Wednesday Annette drove me from New Ulm to the airport in Minneapolis. Margaret (Fred’s sister) flew direct from St. Louis to Atlanta. The two of us met in Atlanta and departed together for a Delta non-stop flight to Rome. Arrival in Rome was at 8:45 a.m. on Thursday. Weather in Rome was nice. Actually, everyday in Rome for the duration of the visit was pleasant – high always in low 60s and no rain to contend with.
Day 2, Thursday We were welcomed to Rome by a Gate One representative (outside of customs) who called us a cab. We presented the driver with our prepaid voucher ($26 per person). Our half hour trip from the airport was mostly on freeway type roads.
I videotaped Margaret by the huge fireplace. Information from the Internet, listed this hotel as having an average charge of $294 per night. Originally we had planned a cheaper hotel further out from the centro, but changed our plans because recent reviews were harsh on that hotel. This upgrade cost $390 more, or $180 per person for the entire stay. The Quirinale was really nice and we found the service friendly and very helpful
We walked around the fountain and then observed the Baths of Diocletian. Built in AD 298-306 under the infamous Emperor Diocletian (who murdered thousands of Christians). The baths could accommodate 3,000 bathers at a time. The Baths of Diocletian were the grandest of the public baths, or thermae built by successive emperors. Diocletian's Baths, dedicated in 306, were the largest and most sumptuous of the imperial baths and remained in use until the Goths cut the aqueducts that fed them in 537. Similar in size and plan to those of Caracalla and oriented to the southwest so that solar energy heated the caldarium without affecting the frigidarium, they are well preserved because various parts later were converted to ecclesiastical or other use,
reformation of the calendar, to produce a tool to exactly predict Easter, and to give Rome a meridian line as important as the one Bianchini had recently built in Bologna's cathedral, San Petronio. Set in the former Baths of Diocletian, it would symbolically represent a victory of the Christian calendar over the earlier pagan calendar.
Greco-Roman legend, is depicted as a merman kneeling on an opened scallop shell. He throws back his head to raise a conch to his lips: from it a jet of water spurts, formerly rising dramatically higher than it does today. The fountain has a base of four dolphins [that entwine the papal tiara with crossed keys and the heraldic Barberini bees in their scaly tails.
The Tritone, first of Bernini's fountains, was erected to provide water from the Acqua Felice aqueduct, which Urban had restored, in a dramatic celebration. It was Bernini's last major commission from his great patron. At the Triton Fountain Bernini brought a garden feature familiar from villas decisively to a public, wholly urban setting for the first time. All the previous fountains of Rome had been passive basins for the reception of public water or had garden settings in the urban villas.
from one cardinal to another during the sixteenth century. Maffeo Barberini, who had come to the papal throne as Urban VIII, purchased the still semi-suburban site in 1625. Eventually, three great architects worked to create a harmonious whole.Maderno began in 1627, assisted by his nephew Francesco Borromini. When Maderno died in 1629, Borromini was passed over in favor of Bernini, a young prodigy then known as a sculptor. The two architects worked briefly together on this project and at the Palazzo Spada: Bernini ended works in 1633. The palazzo is disposed around a forecourt centered on Bernini's grand two-story hall backed by an oval salone, with an extended wing dominating the piazza, which lies on a lower level.
dome that is coffered in a system of crosses and octagons that diminishes towards the lantern, source of all the light in this dark interior The church is small; its complex convex-concave rhythms disrupt the oval of the nave; he "designed the walls to weave in and out as if they were formed not of stone but of pliant substance set in motion by an energetic space, carrying with them the deep entablatures, the cornices, moldings and pediments" (Trachtenberg & Hyman). It is far bolder in geometric intricacy and less encrusted with figurative decorations than Bernini's Sant'Andrea al Quirinale, which lies just down the street.
Oddly enough, Borromini committed suicide the same year he finished this church, 1667. Just down the street on Via del Quirinale is San Andrea al Quirinale.
piazza, were found in the nearby great Baths of Constantine; in 1793 Pius VI had the ancient Egyptian obelisk moved here from the Mausoleum of Augustus. Plazza del; Quirinale had Roman statues of Castor and Pollux grouped with the obelisk and a fountain. These two are patrons of horsemanship – and their prancing horses stand in splendor in the plaza. Since a large crowd was gathering here and men with television cameras were positioning themselves at the gate, Margaret and I stayed here awhile to catch whatever event was to take place. We did witness the changing of the palace guards, but after another half hour wait, we decided to move on. That night on television we watch the new government replace the old (which had lost a vote of confidence).
If a person wished to return to Rome, he was to throw a coin in the fountain. Because of the large crowd and steps that limited our approach to the fountain with a scooter, we kept our coins to ourselves. Last time I was here, Annette threw in enough money to bring me back. It’s hard to believe that this little piazza was nearly always deserted before the film Three Coins in the Fountain brought the stampede of tour buses. Today this newly restored gem is a must on everybody's itinerary.
Margaret expressed interest in purchasing little wooden Pinocchios to use for displays at a forthcoming doll convention in Florida We found some at a little shop, but they cost 1.8 euro each. After intense negotiations she bought 80 of them for 80 euro.
As we headed home, the battery indicator on the electric scooter started flashing on and off, but we made it back to the hotel. To our consternation, we found that our converter would not be useful to charge the battery. We also found that rental wheelchairs are really hard to come by.
We watched the changing of the government on TV at the Palazzo dei Quirinale. We had noticed the crowd and the cameramen there just a while ago.
We pondered anew our wheelchair dilemma. The hotel graciously sent a technician to our room. Margaret insisted that I do my own walking tour (see map), while she worked on the computer. At breakfast I videoed the private garden at our hotel.
The restaurant had tables situated so that guests could look over the courtyard garden.
Forum of Trajan was once regarded as one of the architectural wonders of the world.
Constructed between A.D. 107 and 113, it was designed by the Greek architect Apollodorus of Damascus. Rome peaked under Emperor Trajan (ruled 98-117 AD) – the empire stretched from Scotland to the Sahara, from Spain to the Fertile Crescent.
Trajan was a benevolent ruler and a successful general. Nestled into the cutaway curve of the hill is the semi-circular brick complex of Trajan’s Market. Lower floors were used for shops (equivalent of modern
shopping center) where men did almost all of the shopping. The upper floor of the complex housed government bureaucrats.
The Baroque façade of Sant'Andrea della Valle caught my attention as I walked along Via Plebescito.
The church is famous for its beautiful dome (1623), the largest in Rome after St. Peter’s. The church
contains a Saint John the Baptist by Pietro Bernini (Gianlorenzo Bernini's father).
I continued on past Largo Argentina and onto Corso Victorio Emanuel II, turning right to stop at Sant
Ivo alla Sapienza. The big gates were open to the small courtyard of the Palazzo della Sapienza, seat of the old University of Rome.
The church, designed by Borromini, is based on a design of geometrical comp0lexity. The church’s lantern is crowned with a cross on top of a dramatically twisted spiral.
Baroque piazza. The mimes were already working the crowds. One was particularly friendly and was
making a hit with some teenagers, and a child as well.
In the center of Piazza Navona was the Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi.Bernini designed the fountain, which
was paid for by means of taxes on bread and other staples. Four giants represent the great rivers –the
Ganges, the Danube, the Nile and the Plate –. The Nile’s veiled head symbolizes the river’s unknown
source.
entral figure, a Moor fighting a dolphin. The concave façade of St. Agnes was worked on by Bernini’s former student turned rival –Francesco Barromini. From here I cut across to the Piazza della Rotondra. People in front of the Pantheon surrounded the fountain and seemed to be quite relaxed.
The original Pantheon was built in 27 BC-25 BC under the Roman Empire. Agrippa's Pantheon was destroyed along with other buildings in a fire in 80, and the current building dates from about 125, during the reign of the Emperor Hadrian.
The building's consecration as a church saved it from the abandonment and spoliation that befell the majority of ancient Rome's buildings during the early mediaeval period. Note the Agrippa's inscription. I walked inside and was surprised at the large number of tourists milling about. The marble interior and the great bronze doors have survived, although the latter have been restored.
During the reign of Pope Urban VIII (died 1644), the Pope ordered the bronze ceiling of the Pantheon's portico melted down. Most of the bronze was used to make bombards for the fortification of Castle Sant'Angelo, with the remaining amount used by the Apostolic Camera for various other works. (It is also said that the bronze was used by Bernini in creating the baldachino above the main altar of St. Peter's Basilica, but according to at least one expert, the Pope's accounts state that about 90% of the bronze was used for the cannon, and that the bronze for the baldachin came from Venice.
I took a video of the side of the Pantheon. Much fine external marble has been re- moved in the course of the centuries, and there are capitals from some of the pilasters in the British Museum. The walls of the drum supporting the dome are 19feet thick.
The Pantheon is still a church and masses are still celebrated in the church, particularly on important Catholic days of obligation, and for weddings.
As the best-preserved example of monumental Roman architecture, the Pantheon was enormously influential on European and American architects from the Renaissance (starting with Brunelleschi's dome of the Duomo of Florence.
never built, so a fake perspective painting covered the space it would have filled. On the video it appears as quite dark. A statue of Ignatius portrays him as stomping Protestant heresy underfoot during the Counter Reformation. Andrea Pozzo painted the elaborate baroque ceiling (1685) to celebrate the Jesuit order. Photo from Flickr Photo Sharing (Yahoo).
I started the video from the Piazza del Gesù. The facade recognized as "the first truly baroque façade" was the model for innumerable Jesuit churches all over the world, especially in the Americas. Bernini had regularly attended this church.
Although Michelangelo offered to design the church for free, Alessandro Cardinal Farnese, nephew of Pope Paul III, who had authorized the founding of the Society of Jesus, funded the endeavor. Ultimately, the main architects involved in the construction were Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola and Giacomo della Porta, Construction of the church began in 1568 to Vignola's design. The Jesuit Mother Church was built according to the new requirements formulated during the Council of Trent.
The ornate chapel/tomb of Francis Xavier was located just opposite in the right transept. In the presbytery is a bust of Cardinal Roberto Bellarmine by Bernini (1621-1624).
Adjoining the church is a house (now a Jesuit college) in which Ignatius was living at the time of the church's foundation. To the right and above is the architecturally pleasing dome of the church.
Having accomplished my walking tour mission of the day I headed back on Via Nationale to the hotel. I took a video of the Hotel Quirinale and then turned the camera to the Piazza Republica and the Baths of Diocletian to show the close proximity.
I had walked quite a bit and was exhausted and hungry (even skipped lunch in the excitement of so much history), so I ignored nutritional good sense and ate two whoppers at a McDonalds. Besides, I had a coupon -- two whoppers for 4 euro.
Our driver dropped off at the door where the museum personnel brought a wheel chair to Margaret. We paid the taxi 10 euro. Tips are determined by rounding off the euro. Fortunately, the museum guide took us to the front of the line and we picked up free ticket at the special permit window, tickets that would have ordinarily cost us 13 euro apiece. We had now left Italy and were in Vatican City. I took a picture of Margaret in an inner court with the dome of St. Peter’s Basilica in the background.
The latter was Raphael’s last painting. When Raphael died in 1520, the transfiguration was found in his studio, almost complete. I zoomed in on Christ in a halo of ethereal light and then turned to Peter, James and John cowered in awe under their savior. The nine remaining apostles surround a boy possessed by demons. They direct him and his mother to Jesus for healing. We also looked at St. Jerome by Leonardo da Vinci (1492). In this painting Jerome squats in the desert and meditates on his sins. I did not particularly like this austere painting and left it off the video.
We walked over to another section of the museum, a hallway of classical sculptures. Classical works such as these had a profound influence on Michelangelo and other Renaissance artists. The first video subjects were a general collection to the left in this long hallway. The next sculpture was of Dionysus and a Satyr. Dionysus, also commonly known by his Roman name Bacchus, was the god of wine, agriculture, and fertility of nature, which is also the patron god of the Greek stage. In Greek mythology satyrs are young humans with exaggerated appetites, possibly with horse ears that roamed the woods and mountains, and were the companions of Pan and Dionysus.
The next, and most important, item on the itinerary was the Sistine Chapel. It was lunchtime and we were hungry, but a staff member warned that we should see the chapel before it closes. We took his advice. When we entered the chapel, I directed the camcorder to the famous ceiling fresco by Michelangelo. I had been here before, but this was still an inspiring experience.
Michelangelo used bright colors, easily visible from the floor. On the lowest part of the ceiling he painted the ancestors of Christ. Above this he alternated male and female prophets, with Jonah over the altar. On the highest section Michelangelo painted nine stories from the Book of Genesis.
When the work was finished there were more than 300. His figures showed the creation, Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden and the Great Flood. Michelangelo used male models, even for the females, because female models were rare and more expensive.
The chapel was crowded, but I managed to push the wheelchair close to the wall painting of the Last Judgment. Michelangelo painted the Last Judgment from 1535-1541, after the 1527 Sack of Rome and just before the Council of Trent, a time of great uncertainty as to the future of the church. The work is massive and spans the entire wall behind the altar of the Sistine Chapel. The Last Judgment is a depiction of the second coming of Christ and the apocalypse. The souls of humanity rise and descend to their fates as judged by Christ and his saintly entourage. The wall on which The Last Judgment is painted cants out slightly over the viewer as it rises, and is meant to be somewhat fearful and to instill piety and respect for God's power. In contrast to the other frescoes in the Chapel, the figures are heavily muscled and appear somewhat tortured – even the Virgin Mary at the center cowers beneath him.
The Last Judgment was an object of a heavy dispute between Cardinal Carafa and Michelangelo: the artist was accused of immorality and intolerable obscenity, having depicted naked figures, with genitals in evidence, so a censorship campaign (known as the "Fig-Leaf Campaign") was organized by Carafa and Monsignor Sernini. The Pope held firm that the painting not be removed.
We worked our way out of the crowded chapel and headed for the Vatican restaurant. Prices wee reasonable for our pizza and coffee. Parts of the museum were now being closed early so we turned in our wheelchair and hailed a cab. I asked the cab driver to take us to a good vantage point of St. Peter’s Square, the Basilica and Michelangelo’s Dome before taking us to the Hotel Quirinale. Even with the added stop, the taxi fare came out to only 11 euro.
The ring of columns symbolizes the arms of the church welcoming everyone with its motherly embrace. Topping the 56 feet high columns are Bernini’s 140 favorite saints, each 10 feet tall. This is an excellent example of Baroque architecture, where creativity is coupled with flexible guidelines.
In the center of the colonnade is an 83.6 ft tall obelisk that weighs more than 300 tons. Domenico Fontana finished moving the obelisk to its present location on September 28, 1586. Pope Alexander VII commissioned Bernini to create a sculpture to support the obelisk. The sculpture of an elephant was finally created in 1667 by one of Bernini's students, Ercole Ferrata. One of the most interesting features of this elephant is its smile. To find out why it is smiling, the viewer must head around to the rear end of the animal and to see that its muscles are tensed and its tail is shifted to the left. Allegedly, Bernini sculpted the animal as if it were defecating. The animal's rear is pointed directly at the office of Father Domenico Paglia, a Dominican friar, who was one of the main antagonists of Bernini and his artisan friends, as a final salute and last word. The obelisk dates back to the 13th century BC in Egypt, and was moved to Rome in 37 to stand in the Circus of Nero some 820 ft away. Including the cross on top and its base, the obelisk reaches 131 ft. The Vatican obelisk is notable for being the second largest standing obelisk and the only one that remained standing since it was erected during the Roman Empire.
There are also two fountains in the square, the north one by Maderno (1613) and the southern one by Bernini (1675). The square is reached mainly through the Via della Conciliazione built by Mussolini after the conclusion of the Lateran Treaties.
Located on the square, mid way between the apartment and the obelisk, is the spot where John Paul II was shot in an assassination attempt.
The Swiss Guard has served the popes since the 1500s as the papal army. Ceremonially, they shared duties in the Papal household with the Palatine Guard and Noble Guard, both of which were disbanded in 1970 under Paul VI. Today the Papal Swiss Guard has taken over the ceremonial roles of the former Vatican units, serving now as the army of the sovereign state of the Vatican. At the end of 2005, there were 134 members of the Swiss Guard.
Members wear a long sword (officers a rapier or straight sabre) and receive instruction in the ceremonial use of their halberd on a four-sided pole which is held on their right during marches, drill, and regular formations in their official duties around the Vatican. Headwear is typically a black beret for daily duties, while a black or silver morion helmet with red, white, yellow and black, and purple ostrich feather is worn for ceremonial duties, the former for guard duty or drill; the latter for high ceremonial occasions such as the annual swearing in ceremony or reception of foreign heads of state. The Guard also engages in yearly rifle competition and receives self-defense instruction, as well as basic instruction on defensive bodyguard tactics not dissimilar to those used in the protection of many heads of state.
The guards must be Catholic, unmarried males with Swiss citizenship who have completed basic training with the Swiss military and can obtain certificates of good conduct. New recruits must have a professional diploma or high school degree and must be between 19 and 30 years of age and at least 5'9") tall.
Since the Vatican did not provide wheelchairs, we had to limit ourselves to this limited viewing. Fred had been here before on his tour with college students and had spent considerable time in the Basilica – even witnessed an appearance of John Paul II. Those sites included the Tomb of Maria Clementina Sobiesski wife of James Stuart (Old Pretender), Monument to the Royal Stuarts, the monument to Pope Alexander VII. (Bernini’s last work) the Triumph of the Chair of Saint Peter (1666), by Bernini), the monument to Urban VIII, by Bernini, the tall baldachin held by four immense pillars, all designed by Bernini, the St Longinus statue by Bernini, (1639), the Tabernacle by Bernini, Michelangelo's Pietà and the monument to Queen Christina of Sweden.
After leaving the Basilica complex we traversed the Via della Conciliazione (not on video tape) --conceived by Mussolini as a monumental preface to the dome of St. Peter's Basilica, construction required the demolition of a series of medieval neighborhoods between 1936 and 1950, rendering it without challenge the most disliked avenue in Rome. On the map it appears as a wide street from the river to the Plaza of St. Peter’s.
From the taxicab we saw San Angelo Castle (above) adapted for use as a fortress, a treasure vault, and a pleasure palace for the Renaissance popes. The Vatican Corridor leads from the Vatican Palace to the castle. It was built in 1277 to provide an escape route when the pope was in danger. In 1527, the unruly troops of Charles the V of Spain pillaged the city, destroying countless works of art. Pope Clement VII took refuge in Castle Sant Angelo. (An aside: No wonder that Clement VII refused in 1529 to annul the marriage of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon, the Aunt of powerful Charles V) From here we went back to our hotel.
I started my morning walk down Via Torino to visit the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore. The Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore is also known as the Saint Mary Major Basilica. It is one of the four major basilicas, and one of the five Patriarchal basilicas associated with the Pentarchy: It housed the major congregations of early Christians in Rome. Built over the pagan temple of Cybele, Santa Maria Maggiore is the only Roman basilica that retained the core of its original structure, left intact despite several additional construction projects and damage from the earthquake of 1348. After the Avignon papacy formally ended and the Papacy returned to Rome, the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore became a temporary Palace of the Popes due to the deteriorated state of the Lateran Palace. The papal residence was later moved to the Palace of the Vatican in present-day Vatican City.
I approached the Basilica from a square on the backside(as seen in photo above). The imposing façade was added by Baroque architect Carlo Rainaldi in 1673. No matter which view one had of the structure it was truly beautiful. The pillar on the small square was considered a landmark for pilgrims. I walked around the church (to my right) and taped a monument to St. Luke built into the side of the church. The icon that St. Luke is holding represents the Salus Populi Romani (more later). At last I reached the front of the basilica and the Piazza Santa Maria Maggiore. The tall column, called the Marion Column, originally stood in the Forum’s Basilica of Constantine. The Marion Column celebrates the famous icon of the Virgin Mary in the Pauline chapel of the Basilica. It is known as Salus Populi Romani, or Health of the Roman People, due to a “miracle” in which the icon helped keep plague from the city. The icon is at least a thousand years old, and tradition holds that St Luke the Evangelist painted it from life. (According to published material at the Basilica, radiocarbon dating establishes the age of the icon to be approximately 2,000 years, thus reinforcing its tradition.) Great emphasis was placed on Mary here. Inside the church is an apse mosaic, the Coronation of the Virgin, from the late 13th century. Traditionally, in apse mosaics Christ was shown alone as Ruler, but here he is shown with Our Lady. He shares his throne with her and crowns her. The orb surrounding them represents the universe.
In the Bethlehem Crypt is buried Saint Jerome, Doctor of the Church, who translated the Bible into the Latin language in the 4th century, the Vulgate. The body of Pope Pius V was also buried here; Opposite the little altar was a major art work, Saint Cajetan holding the Holy Child, by Gian Lorenzo Bernini. A relic of the crib believed to be have been used in the nativity of Jesus is protected within the crypt. Saint Ignatius of Loyola presided over his first mass as a priest in the Bethlehem crypt on December 25, 1538.
My original plans called for visiting the Basilica of St. John Lateran as well, but I decided instead to bypass it this time. Last time in Rome I spent considerable time there with Annette. The Basilica di San Giovanni in Laterano — is the cathedral church of Rome and the official ecclesiastical seat of the Pope. It is the oldest and ranks first (being the only cathedral in Rome) among the four major basilicas of Rome, and holds the title of ecumenical mother church (mother church of the whole inhabited world) among Catholics. . As the cathedral of the Bishop of Rome, containing the papal throne (Cathedra Romana), it ranks above all other churches in the Catholic Church, even above St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican. The Papal cathedra, which makes this basilica the cathedral of Rome, is located in The Apse. Recently Pope Benedict XVI officially became pope here. Last time we were here we also watched pilgrims ascend the Scala Santus (Holy Stairs) on their knees. We thought of Luther’s visit here.
Instead I left Santa Maria Maggiore and headed for St. Peters In Chains or San Pietro in Vincoli (above).
GO ON TO 2007 ROME PART II
