With Bonnie and Wendy in Rome, Friday and Saturday, 24-25 October 2014

Friday and Saturday – 24 and 25 October 2014, Old Rome, Repurposed Rome, and Catholic Rome

Friday:

On Friday we have made arrangements to take a tour down the Appian Way, an ancient Roman road that stretched from Rome proper (the first mile marker was at the Circus Maximus) all the way down to Brindisium a port city on the Adriatic.  It was a military road that was designed so that five soldiers could march abreast. Like other Roman roads leading into a city, this one was also lined with tombs, some grand and some rather understated.  We first stop at the catacombs of Saint Calixtus, which tunneled under 150 acres of donated land to the south and east of Rome.  The tunnels themselves are a web of intersecting and layered pathways, leading to thousands of burial places.  Some are grand, having been decorated with stucco and paintings, and other are simple hollowed out places for the remains of the dead.  The areas visited by tourists have had their bones removed, but many of the sites closed off from visitors still have bones lying there. It was less impressive than I thought it would be.

Back out upon the way we see the remains of the original road in especially good condition. Sections evident in the forum and other places are a little worse for wear, but this section is especially fine. There is even evidence of wheel ruts in the stone.  The original condition was much finer – a smooth surface stretching for miles. The roadways were built like walls, with several courses of stone, gravel, sand and cut stone to make them permanent.  That is why the roads were called strata. 

There are pleasant reminders that we are out in the countryside, with white, pink, and purple flowers blooming on the vines that line the road.  There are villae, both ruined and new, that still line the road, with palms and cypress blowing in the light winds that refresh our walk.

Our next stop is the Claudian Aqueduct that runs from the mountains to the south and west of Rome into the city at the porta maggiore. It is majestic, and the engineering is incredible, maintaining a gradient that would allow the water to flow by gravity feed into the city.  All around there are umbrella pines, and horses, which delight Wendy.

The tour is too short (three hours), and we hustle back into the city.  There is a strike (naturally – this is Italy) on the metro, so the traffic is horrific. We get off near Termini, and walk over to Santa Maria degli Angeli et Martyri, a church that repurposed the Baths of Diocletian (at least the tepidarium) into a rather magnificent church. Of special note is the meridian that runs along the floor from the southwest corner almost to the chancel.  Each day of the year is marked, along with a special tablet that allows the dating Easter (the whole purpose of the exercise) and tracks constellations as well. It is fascinating. I wanted Bonnie and Wendy to see it because it gives some indication of what the ancient Roman baths looked like, with their marble cladding and statuary.  We go to a restaurant in Republica and have lunch.  Our original intention was to go see Bernini’s St. Theresa in Ecstasy, but that will have to wait until tomorrow. Bonnie and Wendy take a cab back to the apartment, and I wonder off.

Making my way back, I go into St. Ignatius Loyola Church, with its magnificent and over-blown baroque interior. The optics of the tromp l’oeil in the central dome is something I have wanted to see for some time. I enjoy the decoration of the place and spend some time there.

We have a reservation at the Vatican Museum for their Friday Night opening, so we cab to the door and wait until 7:00 when the doors open.  We follow the Anna rule, each going their own way, agreeing to meet at the Pigna at 9:00 for dinner. I especially enjoy the Pio-Clemenino Museum for its Egyptian and Assyrian collections.  Unfortunately the Etruscan wing is closed. 

Next are several galleries of sculpture, which include the Laocoön and the Apollo Belvedere. One can only pause to view and study a few pieces of the collection, so I sort of wander, picking and choosing what I want to spend time with.

It’s interesting to look at the Rafael apartments at night – the light is so much different.  These rooms are crowded and so intensely interesting. They give me pause as I work my way slowly to the Sistine.

Many people in frenzy to reach the Sistine Chapel ignore a nice little collection of contemporary art along the way. Here you an experience Otto Dix, Orozco, Ensor, Sutherland, Burchfield, Epstein, Shahn, Rouault, Botero, and others.  Two notable exhibitions are maquettes by Matisse for the windows, walls, vestments, and vessels at the church at Vence, France, and a portrait of Innocent X by Francis Bacon. I wonder if he had given to the Holy See one of the screaming popes in this series, whether it would have been exhibited. It is a shame that people ignore the collection.

The Sistine is noisy in spite of the guards, "Silencio, per favor!"  I wonder what it would be like to experience this room in holy silence with only a few people, but that is a privilege reserved for others. I enjoy looking at the Ghirlandaio, Botticelli, Perugino that line the walls beneath the Michelangelo. They too, I am afraid, are ignored.

Saturday:

The goal for Saturday is to see Saint Theresa in Ecstasy at Santa Maria della Vittoria.  On the way we pass a magnificent but crumbling baroque church. I so much want to go inside and see what is left. It appears abandoned. 

We work our way over from Navona, past Colona and over to Santa Susana – and it is closed until 13:30. So we go to Via Veneto, have a drink and snack and intend to walk down to the Capuchin church that Wendy saw on Wednesday, but run into a restaurant that calls out to us to have a hot dog (so delicious after all that pasta).  We relax, and I remember that this is an important aspect to a vacation. We sit and wait and talk – it is delightful.

The church is Wagnerian in that it is an attempt at total theater. The sculpture makes no sense removed from its setting and lighting and it engages the many visitors who have come to see it.  There are other works and delights in the room, such as the pietra dura frontals on most of the side altars in the church.  The ceiling is surmounted by a magnificent celebration of the victory of Catholicism over Lutheranism. Well…

Bonnie and Wendy go off on their own again, and I want to go see the Quattro Fontane. On the way there I pass by St. Paul’s Church inside the Walls – an Anglican/Episcopal Church, the first protestant church allowed within the walls of Rome. It is largely a donation of J.P. Morgan, and its interior with mosaics by Edward Burne Jones is quite impressive. I spend some time as no one is there, and it is very quiet and cool. A German lady asks me, “Why is no one in this beautiful church?” I am at a loss to answer why.

Like so much else in Rome, the fountains, which depict the Rivers Tiber and Aniene, and (perhaps) the goddess Diana, and Juno, are being restored – so I cannot see them. Next door, however, is the baroque Church of San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane.  As you can see from the picture, this church is a relief from the baroque. It is quiet, almost classical in its arrangement of space, and a palate cleanser from the earlier riot at Santa Maria della Vittoria.  Refreshed I walk home to a lovely dinner with my sisters, and a quiet night's rest.