One notable good thing about being on a tour is that you don’t need to line up like the rest of the maddening crowd who waited in line for hours. We just walked ahead of the crowd, down some escalators and then through several corridors before emerging in an open and very nice courtyard called the Courtyard of the Pigna. There were easels set up along one length of the courtyard with information about the Sistine Chapel. Each time a tour group came into the courtyard, they would walk over to the next available easel and the guide would use the information mounted there to talk about the Chapel. The large illustrations showed how the restoration process had cleaned up the images, providing before and after shots, and displayed a panel-by-panel review of what to look for, both on the ceiling and on the walls. This all took place there because there was no talking allowed in the Chapel. Or photos. Or flash. Or breathing. (haha)
It was kind of interesting to look over along the wall and see 10 sets of easels with guides talking to their groups in at least 5 different languages. I don't normally have Attention Deficit Disorder but I was having a hard time listening to Ulysses. I wanted to drink in as much as I could of the courtyard and the surrounding area. I had done a ton of research on my own prior to arriving, so much so that what the guide was saying was redundant to me. I was there to see and experience; therefore I would get restless when we stood around for more than five minutes in any one place.
After about 15 minutes, we were led back into the building. We started up the stairs and into the Gallery of Greek and Roman Sculptures and moving through to the tapestries and then the maps. The tapestries were enormous, covering entire walls. The rooms were kept dark and of course no flash was allowed. The maps were equally large. Created back in the 15th and 16th century, it was amazing to see the detail they knew about back then. I was in total awe.
As we were to find a lot on this tour, it was just a taste of things to come. Photography inside buildings on this trip would become problematic. Generally you can assume that one of two things is true. In any given building, either no pictures at all are allowed, or no flash is permitted, which is to say you can't take pictures because most churches or museums have the light of an unlit catacomb. So if you're planning on showing up in Italy with the idea that you're going to take postcard shots of the interior of the Pantheon or St. Peter's Basilica, guess again.
After going through the exhibits, it was time to move into the Sistine Chapel. We were read the riot act about not talking, not taking photos, and not pulling the pigtails of the girls sitting in front of us. (haha) Then we filed in.
My first impression was that it was dark in there. The only light came from windows in the walls high above the floor. But it was absolutely stunning and it was one of those moments one never forgets. Every available space, either on the walls or on the ceilings, was filled with frescoes. I stood there in the middle and looked around while considering the history that had taken place there, realizing that ordinary men became Popes right where I stood. Or that one of the greatest artists in history poised himself on scaffolding directly above my head and painted the most famous fresco in history. It was a powerful moment. Once again words cannot describe the frescoes in this room. You have to see it with your own eyes to be able to experience goose bumps on your body. For me, it was one of the highlights of the trip. Although the time given does not allow you to see everyone of them, sensory overload was taking over anyway, so I sat or stood there for 20 minutes getting a neck ache looking at the ceiling, yet feeling overwhelmed from it all.
The only unfortunate thing is that it's incredibly crowded in there. Although there is no talking allowed, the low murmur of people trying to whisper usually rises to a level that gets so loud that some 4th level cardinal or old monsignor has to shush everyone. Seriously! It was like being back in school. I flashed back to third grade when Sister Teresa Tamunday used to do the same thing to us. Catholics seem to establish a method of doing things and holding on to it for thousands of years. (haha)
After the Sistine Chapel, we were then led into St. Peter’s Basilica. As soon as we entered, I was immediately blown away by its sheer size. Words can't adequately explain it and even pictures don't do it justice. One really must stand at one end and gain the sense of length, width and depth all at once. The magnificence of the interior can only be described by actually being there. Sun streamed into the dome from the large windows embedded in it while casting brilliant rays against the gold trim of the base. We then worked our way back to the rear of the church and took shots of Michelangelo's Pieta, which is an unbelievable work of unsurpassed genius. I simply couldn’t take it all in, moved by the majesty of the place. In short, it was overwhelmingly powerful!
As one observer wrote: "St Peter's Basilica is the reason why Rome is still the center of the civilized world. For religious, historical, and architectural reasons, it by itself justifies a journey to Rome, and its interior offers a palimpsest of artistic styles at their best..." I couldn’t agree more.
“La Pieta”
The Incorrupt Body of Pope John XXIII
Bernini’s Baldacchino (canopy that shelters the papal altar)
Sadly, too soon, it was time to go outside and continue the tour of St. Peter’s Square. We were then given time on our own for lunch and souvenir shopping.
Panoramic view of St. Peter’s Square
After lunch, we met the bus and the tour guide for the trip to the Colosseum. On the way there, and from a vantage point on the bus, I could see the city of Rome in all its glory. The scenery in front of me left me breathless. Words can’t describe its grandeur. Everywhere I looked were great camera shots: down the river, up the river, down the streets, everywhere! I saw Castel Sant’Angelo and Bernini’s Angels on the bridge crossing the Tiber River. I was in my best element of taking it all in! The crowds were unbelievable, but that didn’t take away from it.
Ulysses took us inside the Colosseum and explained some of the history and features of it and then we were left on our own to wander around.
The Colosseum is an amazing place. The impression you may have from the outside belies what you see on the inside. The "stage" level of the interior is exposed, so you can see (and imagine) the underground corridors where animals and performers gathered before appearing on the stadium floor. Many animals or performers were hoisted up to this level on pulleys or other ancient "lifts" or elevators, similar to what you may have seen in the movie "Gladiator" when the tigers popped out of trap doors to attack Russell Crowe. Of all the monuments in Rome, the Colosseum thrilled me the most. It was here that gladiators met in mortal combat and condemned prisoners fought off hungry lions. This great symbol of eternal Rome still excites the imagination as you'll see from the hordes of people waiting to get in.
We then went back to the hotel for some much-needed rest and assembled a couple of hours later for our optional walking tour of the city.
During the walking tour and, as expected, we were ushered over to the Trevi Fountain. I've never grown tired of looking at pictures of anything in Rome, particularly the Trevi, and seeing it in person for the first time was as exciting as I had imagined it to be. The enormity of it and its seeming contextual problems with its neighborhood made for a surreal moment. The panorama was phenomenal. I could not believe I was in Rome, walking through Italian squares with great people. I loved it!
And as you can imagine, the Trevi was packed!!! We had to fight our way to get down to the fountain level so we could throw the traditional coins over our shoulders with a wish to return to Rome.
After taking the perfunctory photo op, we walked over to the nearby gelato shop to have our first taste of the much talked about gelato. Besides, there is an unwritten law in Italy that you have to eat gelato at least once a day, and that’s exactly what we did. Someone should do a survey of the favourite gelato flavour. I vote tiramisu; (no! bacco; no! berry; no! pistachio; never mind). You gotta love Italy!!!
We then turned towards Via Condotti onto Via Del Corso and walked for a while until we walked past the national assembly building. Ulysses gave us a short lecture about Italian government, which has a reputation amongst the Italian populace as being useless and corrupt. (Hmmm….sounds familiar.) Anyhow, in the same plaza area we saw the Colonna di Marco Aurelio, a massive obelisk/column inscribed with the exploits of the Roman Emperor that unfold in a spiral pattern along its length. It was beautiful!
A short walk from there put us in front of the Pantheon. The first massively domed structure in the world built by Hadrian 2000 years ago, it is still impressive today with its oculus opening in its ceiling. Since the Renaissance, the Pantheon has been used as a tomb. Among those buried there are Raphael, King Vittorio and King Umberto (whose tomb is shown below). The building is now a basilica.
I scurried over to Raphael's tomb. Raphael was a gifted painter of the Renaissance but his private life was more colorful than his many paintings. Evidently he had quite a reputation with the ladies and his activities had much to do with his shortened life span. It's often interesting to think about stories like this. I've always pictured the great masters who most often created works having to do with biblical topics as being righteous, conscientious men of honor. Obviously that wasn't the case in many instances, Raphael chief amongst them.
Continuing our walking tour, we went through an alley and entered into the famous Piazza Navona. This may have been the busiest place in Rome in olden times. Once the site of the old chariot races and the Circus Agonalis, the plaza is now dominated by the Church of Saint Agnes and Bernini's most spectacular fountain, Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi, or “The Fountain of the Four Rivers”. The four gods on the corners of the fountain represent the four major rivers of the world known at that time: the Nile, Danube, Ganges, and Plate. Apparently there is a story that Bernini and the architect of the adjacent church, Borromini, were not fond of each other and as a result, Bernini had one of his fountain characters covering his face in horror at the church. It's all false, of course, as the fountain was built before the dome of the church, but it makes for great theater. I chose to ignore the facts and bought the more interesting story -- hook, line, and sinker.
The plaza has two other fountains, one located at each end. At the southern end is the Fontana del Moro with a basin and four Tritons sculpted by Giacomo della Porta (1575) to which, in 1673, Bernini added a statue of a Moor wrestling with a dolphin; while at the northern end is the Fountain of Neptune created by Giacomo della Porta (1574). The statue of Neptune in the northern fountain, the work of Antonio Della Bitta, was added in 1878 to make that fountain more symmetrical with La Fontana del Moro in the south. It's a very nice place to hang out if you're a people watcher. The area is ringed with restaurants, shops, outdoor cafes, and retail stores, and the interior of the plaza is populated by artisans selling paintings, crafts, jewelry and all manner of goods.
At the end of the tour of the plaza, we were on our own time. After a visit to the Church of St. Agnes which contains a relic of her skull in the tabernacle, Ricky and I had dinner with a couple from Alberta, along with their son who happens to be a priest studying in Rome. Again, I can’t believe I’m in the Eternal City enjoying my first authentic Italian dinner of salad and pasta. What more can I ask for? It was magical!
To recap, no other city comes close to Rome. It may no longer be caput mundi (capital of the world), but Rome is an epic, bubbling-over metropolis harbouring lost empires. One visit and you’ll be hooked. Rome has a glorious monumentality that it wears without reverence. Its architectural heirlooms are buzzed around by car and Vespa as if they were no more than traffic islands. The city bombards you with images of Trastevere; the Forum; the traffic jams around the Colosseum; plateloads of pasta in Piazza Navona; sinuous trees beside the Villa Borghese; and barrages of pastel-coloured scooters revving up at traffic lights as if preparing for a race. People in Rome encapsulate the spirit of the city. Here the national preoccupation with the aesthetic fuses with incredible urban scenery to make Rome a city where you feel cool just strolling through the streets, catching the sunlight on your face outside a café, or eating a long lunch. It’s a place that almost encourages you to take things easy. Don’t feel like going to a museum? What’s the need when it’s all outside on the streets!!! I simply loved it!
……to be continued
No comments:
Post a Comment