Thursday February 26, 2015

Today we took the students back into Rome to have a guided tour of the Baths of Caracalla. These are the best preserved baths in Rome. Due to our appointment time, we were unable to have class on campus before leaving for Rome. So we left campus earlier and had class outside in a park before the tour actually started. The biggest problem was the traffic noise. I have held class in Rome before, but usually in the older parts where there is less traffic. The main drag in front of the Baths of Caracalla is a very busy thoroughfare. But we make due with what presents itself. Once the tour started, I tried to take some candid photos of the students in the group. I have posted many pictures of the baths themselves in previous blogs.

Once the tour of the baths was over, Mike met us for the "gelato experience". Mike delivers a short history of gelato and buys us all a gelato to taste. All of the students had already stopped for gelato somewhere in Rome during their first two days. It is necessary.

We sent the students out to continue working on their walking tours and Mike and I wandered over to a part of Caracalla I had never visited before. My first two visits to the baths were just that. I came to Caracalla, saw the baths and left. Today I decided to explore Caracalla more than just the baths.

The first place we stopped was San Gregorio Magno. San Gregorio is popular with British Catholics because it is the site where St. Augustine was sent to convert England. Currently it is the home church of the Sisters of Charity, Mother Therese's order.

One of San Gregorio's other claim to fame is that it is the tomb of Sir Edward Carne. He was Henry the VIII's envoy to the Vatican. And it was he who petitioned the pope to annul Henry VIII's marriage to Catherine of Aragon. I am assuming he is buried here because he failed at that task and was probably afraid to return to England.

One of the other famous churches on the Celian Hill in the Caracalla area of Rome is Santi Giovanni e Paolo. The original church was built in the fourth century over the tomb of two Roman martyrs named John and Paul. Not the apostles but different martyrs. Their relics or remains were preserved in a large burgundy urn under the alter.

 

The church is also famous for the excavation under the church which includes 2nd and 3rd century roman houses. This is also where they found the remains of the two martyrs.

As always, I am a sucker for a Romanesque bell tower and Santi Giovanni e Paolo did not disappoint.

In the first picture of the bell tower you can notice the white travertine stones used as the foundation of the tower. These were formerly part of the temple of Claudius.

Continuing up Celian Hill we passed through the arch of Dolabella.

And stopped at Santa Maria in Dominica. The church has a little boat fountain out front and contains a famous mosaic. The mosaic includes Pope Pashal the I wearing the square halo of the living at the feet of the Virgin Mary who is depicted holding a handkerchief like some lady of the court. I couldn't get a clean picture inside, just outside.

The church is next to the villa Celimontana. The arch in the picture is the entrance to the public garden/park created on the grounds of the villa. the garden also included an Egyptian obelisk.

As we finished our tour of the Celian Hill we decided to walk the short distance over to Palatine hill, Coliseum, and Forum. And proved once again that you cannot have too many pictures of the Arch of Constantine.

Wednesday February 25, 2015

Well, as you can tell by the dates, I am just getting around to posting Wednesday's experience and it is already Saturday. Gives you an idea of how crazy busy everything has been around here.

Wednesdays are typically a day off for me. Typically the students would take Italian with Danilo in the morning and have the rest of the day off. But the first Wednesday at Walsh Rome always includes a visit to the local police station in Albano to notify the local authorities we are here and to obtain their approval to allow us to stay in the country. This is always a long process because there is always a line of people with their paperwork seeking the same approval. It doesn't take long for each of us to sign the forms in front of them and they examine our passports. Some of the other visitors take much longer, and invariable there is much shouting and yelling.

After the police visit we traditionally give the students a walking tour of the city. Albano is the next train stop to your station and is convenient by bus as well. It is often a good place to obtain items one cannot get at Gianni's little grocery store, e.g. socks, hair straighteners, ...etc.

I was able to take a few shots of the group and parts of the city.

Albano is also home to my favorite bakery. This bakery provided pastries to previous popes who often stayed at the pope's residence in Castel Gandolfo. Apparently Pope Francis has not yet made use of the pope's summer residence. This is sort of a sore spot for the residents of Gandolfo who depend on the tourist buses to make their living. The good news is one of our students has a birthday while we are here. That means I will get at least one taste of "pope cake" while I am here.

here is a picture of the main piazza in Albano. On warm evenings the piazza is packed with people. adults chatting with another and children running around playing with a soccer ball and other games.

the other thing we discovered was a french fry shop on the main drag in Albano. It was called New Amsterdam Fries. Michael and I made plans to come back later. The fries were excellent and the portions were generous. They had about 15 different sauces you could put on the fries. They looked very disappointed when I said I only wanted tomato catsup. Next time I will take a picture. I know there will be a next time!

Tuesday Feb. 24 2015

On the first Tuesday of our stay in Rome we wanted the students to experience a walking tour as created by someone else and published in a guide to Rome. I recommended they follow a walking tour defined by the DK guide, but they could do any guide book they wanted. I split them into three groups and assigned them areas of the city: Borghese gardens, Esquiline, and Aventine hill. I just wanted them to experience what it was like to follow a walking tour created by someone else. After they finished their walking tour I suggested they return to their assigned areas to start preparing their own walking tour. I went into Rome with them in order to find some sights I had missed my first two visits to Rome. I especially wanted to explore the area known as Quirinal and a Palazzo on via Del Corso that was technically in Piazza della Rotonda area.

I started out on foot from Termini past the Baths of Diocletion and Santa Maria degli Angeli towards Piazza Della Repubblica. This roundabout and fountain are classic views of Rome.

And then I headed down via XX (venti) Septembre toward the Piazza del Quirinal. At the intersection I stopped to take another picture of the Moses fountain and two churches facing each other. One, Santa Suzanna I had been inside before for mass in English on Thanksgiving 2012.

For some reason the Moses fountain is not well liked. It has been characterized as an inept attempt to copy Michelangelo's statue of Moses in the church of San Pietro in Vincoli. I have pictures of this sculpture in an earlier blog, 2010 I think.

Continuing down via XX Septembre you come to the Le Quattro Fontane. I have included pictures in past blogs of these four fountains on the four corners at a very busy intersection. The fountains are currently being restored and one cannot view them currently. If you notice in past blog pictures they are sculpted by Bernini and were completely blackened by years of pollution.

Continuing down the street I visited a couple of public parks with monuments I had not noticed before while making my way toward Sant Andrea at Quirinal. The Baroque church was designed by Bernini using beautiful roseate marble.

Once in the Piazza Quirinal, you face a large fountain at one end. Known as the Castor and Pollux fountain, because of these two patrons of horsemanship. They are Roman copies of Greek originals.

 

 

From the piazza I wandered my way back down to the Trevi Fountain. I have included pictures of this famous fountain in previous blogs. It was not that crowded because the fountain is being reconditioned. It is covered in scaffolding and the disappointment is clear on many visitors' faces. I spent my time researching some of the churches in the area which I had ignored during my previous trips to Trevi fountain. In particular Santa Maria in Trivio,

 

 

 

 

 

as well as a few other lesser known churches in the area.

 

 

Next I wandered across via del Corso into the area of the Pantheon. specifically I wanted to visit the Palazzo Doria Pamphilj. I had never investigated the museum in this palazzo. The museum has over 400 paintings in the collection, including works by Caravaggio, Raphael, and Filippo Lippi. The museum also houses a Bernini sculpture of the bust of Innocence X as well as Diego Velazquez's famous portrait of Innocence X. Regrettably, the museum charges extra to take pictures. And all of these paintings can be viewed online. So I passed on the expense.

After the museum, I crossed back over via del Corso into the Quirinal area. I was searching for Santi Apostoli. There has been a church on this site since the sixth century. The church includes the tomb of Clement the XIV a huge monument by Canova. The crypt of the church is said to include the tombs of the Apostles Phillip and James. Hence the name, Santi Apostoli

The other claim to fame of this church is that Michelangelo's remains were kept there until his family came to collect his remains and move them to Santa Croce in Florence. I have a picture of the monument below. The remains were actually kept in a Franciscan Friary next door to the church. a very nice Franciscan priest let me into the locked friary. A very nice man. He says that Michelangelo regularly attended mass at this church while he was in Rome. He was considered a member of the congregation which is why his remains were kept there until the family could come and collect them.

Loved the Romanesque bell tower attached to the church. Speaking of bell towers.... As I was wandering back towards Trevi area and trying to decide if I wanted to walk to Spanish Steps or Barberini metro stops I stumbled upon a piazza unfamiliar to me. It had benches and needing a rest I sat down and started looking for the name. It was Piazza san Silvestro. And like many piazzas in Rome it was named after the church facing the piazza. This was a church that I had never seen or heard of before. I like just stumbling onto places like that.

San Silvestro is famous for housing the preserved head of St. John the Baptist.

love those Romanesque bell towers.

Not sure if you can make out the head of St. John the Baptist inside the silver basilica designed by Michelangelo.

sorry for such a long post, but it was a very exciting day in Rome.







Our first full day in Rome

On Monday Feb 23 we had our first day of class and visit to Rome. We had class in the morning and we took the 10:27 train from Viletta station into Rome. I asked the students to complete a very difficult task. We arrived in Rome about 11:15 and I asked them to find the area of Rome they were assigned for their walking tours. I had split the students into five groups and assigned each group a specific area in Rome to lead us on a walking tour: Piazza de Spagna, Campo de Fiori/via Gulia, Piazza Navona/Pantheon, St. John in Laterano, and Trastevere/Janiculum hill. So today I asked them to travel to their area, find some lunch and meet us at the coliseum exit at 2P. This can be a difficult task even for the most experienced visitor to Rome. They all completed the task without a hitch.

I have a splendid group of students! This is going to be a great eight weeks!

While the students were traveling to their tour location, Mike Cinson and I traveled to the outskirts of Aventine Hill to view some parts of Rome I missed the first two times I was here. Specifically, the memorial pyramid of Caius Cestius. He died in 12BC. The pyramid stand 118 feet tall and took almost a year to build. It is set right into the Aurelian Wall.

Right next to the pyramid is an old gate to the city, the Porto San Paolo.

also we visited the Protestant cemetery directly behind the pyramid. It is called the Protestant cemetery but any non-Catholic could be buried there. The cemetery includes the graves of John Keats and Percy Shelley and other illustrious non-Catholics who died in Rome.

There were other interesting tombs in the cemetery. I took a few picture of other tombs and mausoleums. One could, I think, spend an entire day in the cemetery. It was beautiful and very peaceful.

After a wonderful lunch suggested and hosted by Mike Cinson, we headed to the coliseum. Although, I have been to the coliseum twice before, one cannot visit without taking pictures.

It is truly an impressive sight and no picture can really do justice to it.