Rome, Italy (Heart of Rome)

 30 April 2024 - Rome, Italy (Heart of Rome)

We took a guided tour of the old City Centre one morning and then went back later to revisit in leisure. Crowds weren’t quite as bad as when we first arrived, until we got to the Pantheon and Trevi Fountain.  Every Roman who had the day off was out sightseeing, I think. At least, we had nice weather for it. We also visited the Palazzo Bonaparte, which is just across the street from our hotel. There was a M.C. Escher exhibit going on that I thoroughly enjoyed.  Escher spent a lot of time in Italy including 12 years in Rome. The Palazzo was also interesting, it was owned by Bonaparte’s mother at one time.  Room walls were obscured by the exhibit walls, but if you looked up, you were treated to beautiful frescoes and paintings.

Visited some of my old friends. I was a real fan of Escher in my 20s.  Still have the books I bought.

Russ managed to get himself in the middle of this Escher classic.

There he is again!

Just a glimpse of the fabulous ceiling paintings in the exhibit rooms.

Everywhere we go, we see these spigots of running water.  The tourist guidebooks say that the water is clean and delicious, so we filled our water bottles, along with lots of other tourists.

The food at this restaurant was just so-so, but it was fun to sit in a narrow, ancient alleyway and watch life go by.

Four Roman Republican temples have been excavated in this piazza. The temples date from the 4th century BC to the 1st century AD. Julius Caesar was assassinated in this square. Currently a cat shelter offering spay and neuter and adoption services operates in one of the temples.  It is no kill and houses approximately 350 cats. There is obviously a tension between the shelter and the archeologists on the use of the area.

The church, Santa Maria sopra Minerva, is one of the main churches of the Dominican order. It is the only existing example of an original Gothic architecture church in Rome.  All the others, if still existing, were given Baroque redos. The obelisk (one of eleven Egyptian obelisks in Rome) was found buried in the church cloister in the 1600s, thought to be brought to Rome in the first century AD. Bernini and Ercole Ferrara made the elephant base.

The church was built over the ruins of a temple dedicated to Isis (erroneously thought to be Minerva). Construction started in 1280 and was completed in 1370.

The tomb of Doctor of the church Saint Catherine of Siena (1300s).  VERY unusual for a woman to be given this title, only four of the 37 recognized Doctors are women. When she passed, the city of Sienna wanted her body to be buried there, but the Pope would allow only her head to be moved to Sienna.  The rest of her body is in this tomb.

In the convent building adjacent to this church, Galileo was tried for heresy during the Inquisition of the 1600s. He was condemned and put under house arrest until his death. He was banned from teaching or defending his theories (sun being the center of the solar system).

Navona Piazza. It was built on the site of a 1st century AD sports stadium.  There are 3 fountains here, one of them designed by Bernini. Many palazzos and some churches surround the piazza.

Bernini’s Fountain of Four Rivers is the central fountain, and stands in front of the Church of Sant’Agnese in Agone.

The Nile god’s head was covered because, at that time, the head of the river was not known. The Ganges carries a long oar, representing the river’s navigability.

The Danube, on the right, touches the Pope’s coat of arms, since it is the closest large river to Rome. And The Rio de la Plata (on the left) is sitting on a pile of coins, a symbol of the American riches.

I studied about this fountain in an Art History class in college.  Excited that I get to see it in person.

One of two side fountains in the piazza.

San’Agnese in Agone church faces Navona Plaza, where St. Agnes was martyred in the ancient stadium that stood there before the current piazza. The Four Rivers fountain is in front of it.  

Beautiful ceiling frescoes.  Pope Innocent X’s family had a palazzo adjacent to the church.  An opening between the palazzo and the church allowed the family to attend services from their home (wonder if they stayed in pajamas?)

There were several architects involved over the years, including Bernini and his rival, Borromini.

At one point, this cupola was not built, but the cupola look was needed for balance. So a scene was painted on the flat ceiling to look like a cupola.

The main altar contains a bas-relief as opposed to a traditional painting.

The Pantheon.  As with almost everything else we have seen, remodeling of the original took place a few times over the years. It was first built in 27 BC.

Once you enter through the portico, the building is as wide as it is high, the ceiling is a perfect circle.

And this is what makes the Pantheon so spectacular - its roof.  The oculus is 27 feet wide and was always open.  Drains are in the floor to help drain the rain that falls through. This is the world’s largest unreinforced concrete dome. 

Numerous niches are around the walls.  It is thought that, in the old days, the niches held Roman gods, but today, various saints and dignitaries (including the tomb of artist, Raphael) occupy the spots. The place has been used as a church since the 7th century.

The Church of St. Louis of the French is the national church in Rome of France. Built between 1518 and 1589.

St. Louis IX, king of France at the time.

His heart is under the main altar.

Three Caravaggio’s were the highlight of our visit to the church. They capture the life of St. Matthew, from his calling, to his inspiration, to his martyrdom. Caravaggio was required to repaint the middle picture several times because his sponsor, a Pope, didn’t think he was depicting St. Matthew in a respectable fashion because of his pose and his clothing.

Joan D’Arc

We wandered over to Campo De Fiori, a place where locals buy fruit, vegetables and other foodstuffs.  This statue of the monk and philosopher, Giordano Bruno is at the center of the market and faces Vatican. He was burnt alive for heresy and all his works banned. Several other free thinkers were burned/murdered in this area.

This is typical of the streets in this old part of Rome.

A Roman talking statue, the Pasquino is a statue dating from the 3rd century B.C. Nowadays, it is used as a forum for lampooning various topics.  The poems or writings are taped to the base of the statue. There are several other talking statues throughout Rome.

In search of a restroom, we popped into this palazzo, now a museum. Ended up spending a bit of time looking through the rooms of the palazzo.

What is your first thought when you saw these? Both Russ and I thought they were the inspiration for “The Singing Busts” of the Haunted Mansion.

A beautifully inlaid mosaic table. This was a popular style in the 1700s, often reusing tiles found in the Roman Forum.

Pizza has become a favorite for Russ.

This is a traditional dish of the district we are staying in.  Strips of meat sautéed in a seasoned olive oil and garlic mixture with arugula and tomatoes.  Very good