Firenze

Last weekend I visited one of my good friends Colleen from Santa Barbara who is studying in Florence. the first night we went to a local restuarant where one of her good friends worked. I had four cheese gnocchi with a glass of wine. The gnocchi was like nothing I've ever tasted before, it melted in your mouth the second you took a bite. A little different from the homemade gnocchi I've been making lately. The town very different from Rome in the sene of its size and layout. The streets are much wider and don't have as many vespas whizzing by. After our dinner, we made our way to a few bars and met up with some of her Italian friends that live in Florence. Since Florence is so small, it was like being in a small community where everyone seemed to know each other.

We started off the next day by going to "The David" by Michelangelo. When I walked into the Gallery, I went through all of the other rooms before entering the room with the David to save the best for last. When I walked in, I was overwhelmed by this giant statue starring down at me. The aspect that stood out most to me were his hands. One hung by his side with the outline of veins running all the way down his arm to his fingers as the other clenched his weapon. His facial expression was an absolute masterpiece. He looked out as though he knew he already knew his doom of facing Goliath. It was full of concern but at the same time a quizzical look of almost as if he was trying to determine his soon to come faith.

After seeing The David we went to the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore, almost known as the Duomo of Florence. As Colleen and I approached the Duomo I took in the diverse colors and amazing architecture. This basilica was very different from anything I had seen in Rome. The eccentric detail was flawless and you almost had to just stand and gawk for a little to take in all of its magnificence. The interior was just as large, the sides had pieces of artwork and the altar had a large gold cross in the middle. Colleen and I walked up the entire 460 to go to the top of Duomo. When we reached the top we looked over the entire city of Florence, the view was breathtaking.

After our sightseeing, we went across the famous "Ponte Vecchio" (Old Bridge) which had numerous jewelry shops lining the whole bridge. We walked around Florence for the rest of the day looking at shops, talking to the locals and drinking cappuccinos. One of my favorite things I ate there was from a little stand that apparently all of the locals eat. I had what is called a "Ballito" which has pulled pork that has been roasting all day in a stew on freshly baked bread with sauce from the stew to compliment the taste. It was delizioso!!

Although Florence was a gorgeous city, after my visit I was reassured that I chose the right place to study abroad. For me, Rome's size suits me much better and has more to offer in the sense of Ancient history and culture. I still feel as though I have more to discover and even in my span of four months living here I still think I will have more to see when I return someday. For now roma è la mia vera casa(Rome is my true home).

The Tomb of Saint Peter

This past Thursday my Catholicism class had a site visit to the actual Tomb of Saint Peter located beneath the Basilica di Saint Peter in the Vatican. We were incredibly fortunate to be able to go on this tour, our professor made the appointment seven months ago. A maximum of two hundred people(including employees) per day are aloud in this area located beneath the Basilica. We were able to have a two hour tour given by a highly qualified tour guide obtaining her P.H.D. in Christian Dogmatics.

Before we reached the actual Tomb of Saint Peter, the tour went through an underground Pagan Cemetery located right beneath the Basilica di Saint Peter. This Pagan Cemetery was actually discovered very recently in 1939 and was excavated by hand in secret throughout a ten year span and just became available to the public within the past 60 years. The tombs date from the time of Augustus in the early first century to the time of Constantine in the early fourth century.
After we went through the Pagan Cemetery we made our way to the actual Tomb of Saint Peter.

The original necropolis consisted of a 9 foot white structure with two columns, paralleling a graffiti wall(which will be important in a little) with a red cement wall as a background. The space in the middle of the necropolis(where a coffin would be placed) had a 180 degree angle instead of a square 90 degree angle. It is a little hard to explain, but where the coffin was put there was almost a quadrilateral shape instead of a rectangle. The reason being, was that the tomb was constructed on the slope of the Vatican hill.

On top of this necropolis Emperor Constantine developed the first Basilica di Saint Peter in the fourth century. Although the Vatican Hill was a horrible place to construct a basilica, Emperor Constantine was determined to construct the basilica where Saint Peter was martyred. He leveled the landscape by filling in areas that were low with dirt and removing dirt from areas that were too high.

When the tomb in this necropolis was excavated, no remains were found inside. However, during the excavations of 1941, bones were found inside the niche of the graffiti wall. The bones were carefully examined for ten years by Professors Guarducci and Correnti. The bones made up a full skeleton of a human body. The only part of the body that was missing were the feet. This was even more evidence that these were the remains of Saint Peter because he was crucified upside down, and to remove the body it was normal to cut off the feet. (Just a small fact - Saint Peter chose to be crucified upside-down because he did not want to be compared or seen equal to Jesus Christ) In addition, the bones were tainted purple. Archaeologists determined this was even more evidence because purple represented the royal color of Emperor Constantine. It was deduced that Emperor constantine moved the remains of Saint Peter to inside the Graffiti wall so they would be protected and camouflaged. The remains had to have been decayed for at least a few hundred years for the purple die to stain the bones, which is exactly the amount of time between the crucification of Saint Peter and Emperor Constantine's rule.

After this information was revealed, in the 1950 Christmas message, Pope Pius XII announced "to the City and to the World" that the actual tomb of St. Peter had been located in the midst of a necropolis buried by Constantine's Basilica on the Vatican Hill.

Through a glass window I was able to see some of the actual remains of Saint Peter. Being able to see such sacred relics tied back to the beginning of Christianity was very moving. I'm extremely fortunate that I was able to go on this tour. Although I have had some pretty amazing experiences in Rome, this is one that I know I will never forget.

Basilica di San Clemente

Yesterday my Catholicism class had a site visit to the Basilica di San Clemente. This church is very unique archaeologically speaking because it has three different levels. Before I list the different levels of San Clemente, I have to mention the reason for the different levels. Rome's ground level was constantly rising because the Tiber River flooded frequently carrying silt throughout the city of Rome. Therefore, all of Ancient Rome is technically underground. The only reason present day Rome does not have a rising ground level is because high stone embankments were built fairly recently in the late 1800's.

The present church was built in 1100 during the Middle Ages. Beneath the basilica is a 4th century basilica that had been converted out of the home of a Roman nobleman. This level was originally a room he had given to Christians to practice their religion because Christianity was not legal prior to the rule of Emperor Constantine. The third level contains the remnants of the foundation of a republican era building that was destroyed in the Great Fire of 64.


One part of the church I found particularly interesting was a basement of the 4th century church that contained a Mithraem. A Mithraem is a room dedicated to the Mithraic Mysteries which was a mystery religion practiced in the Roman Empire from about the 1st to 4th centuries AD. The Mithraic cults believed in the Greek god Mithras who presumably sacrificed a bull and from the bull's blood everything was created. The picture below was taken offline because I wasn't permitted to take pictures inside the church, but if you can make out the center piece it is a podium-like structure. Carved into this structure is a scene depicting Mithras killing a bull. On the sides surrounding this structure are beds in which people practicing this religion would lay down head pressed up against the wall, feet upward so they're bodies would be at a downward slant. At this downward(I would imagine incredibly uncomfortable) position the people would feast for hours.



Thanks to my fabulous professor Ann Giletti, I was able to learn all of this amazing information about the church. The Basilica di San Clemente is by far one of my favorite site visits and churches I have seen in Rome. Although I have lived here for a whole month and a half, I feel as though I have just barely taken a few slices of the giant pizza I think of Rome as. With every slice I appreciate it more and am starting to figure out what is in this giant Pizza. Although I might never figure out every little ingredient, I'm enjoying it delicious bite at a time.

Bracciano

This past weekend a few friends and I decided to take a quick train ride to the little town called Bracciano. Bracciano is a small town about an hour train ride from Rome. It is best known for its volcanic lake, which is one of the largest lakes in Italy. The lake owes its origin to intense volcanic activity from 600,000 to 40,000 years before present.

The other main attraction is the well preserved castle, Castello Orsini-Odescalchi. It was built in the 15th century, and combines the functions of a military defense structure and a civilian residence of the feudal lords of the period, the Orsini and Borgia, both papal families. We took an hour tour of the beautiful castle. Afterwards we bought melanzana and pomodoro pizza(eggplant and tomato)and looked out at the lake. Simply put it was a perfect day trip!

l'opera di elektra!

This past Tuesday I went to the Opera called Elektra with eight of my friends in the program. The entire opera was in German, but it had Italian subtitles which I was actually able to translate a little. So we all ended up listening to the opera in German, trying to read it in Italian, then trying to translate it to English. Although we couldn't understand the whole Opera, trying to translate the Opera was probably the best part of the whole thing!

The plot of Elektra is based upon the great Greek tragedy of the Sophocles. The Opera was a drama based solely on revenge. The mother Klytaemnestra along with her lover Aegisth secured the murder of her husband Agamemnon and is now afraid that her crime will be avenged by her child Elektra, Chrysothemis, and their banished brother Orestes. Elektra, tries to persuade her timid sister to kill Klytaemnestra and Aegisth. Before the plan is carried out, Orestes, who had been reported as dead, arrives, determined upon revenge for his father's death. He kills Klytaemnestra and Aegisth.

The main actress' voice was absolutely amazing. All nine of us watched the Opera awe-struck. Towards the end of Elektra's final act, her voice seemed to vibrate throughout the entire opera house. Chills ran up my arm as the audience sat motionless while this woman sang as if she was pouring her heart out for everyone to see. I can't tell you how impressed I was with every actor in this Opera. Every actor and actress was fully committed to their role. The Opera house itself was also very impressive. It was everything that I imagined a traditional Roman Opera house to look like. Red carpet lined the walkway to each seat and all of the seats were covered in red velvet. A huge crystal chandelier hung from the ceiling of the building along with smaller chandeliers surrounding the perimeter of the ceiling. The people attending the opera were dressed beautifully along with a touch of class. It was almost like a scene out of Phantom of the Opera. Bellisimo!!

Palazzio Barbernini

For my second site visit for Women and Art, my class went to the Palazzio Barberni. It is a palace located near Via Del Corso(the main street in Rome leading to the piazza di popolo) and was created by three great architects: Maderno, Francesco Borromini and the man himself, Bernini. It was owned by Maffeo Barberini, of the Barberini family, who then took the papal throne as Pope Urban VIII.

The main focus for this site visit was based on Caravaggio. Caravaggio is the epitomy of Baroque art. For a little background, the church had a very important prescence during the time this painting was composed(during the 16th century). When cardinals funded a commission, they wanted something in return that was going to attract people and move them towards devotion. Caravaggio's "Judith Beheading Holofernes" was exactly what the church wanted.

This painting is based off of the Book of Judith which revolves around Judith. She was a daring and beautiful widow, who is upset with her Jewish countrymen for not trusting God to deliver them from their foreign conquerors. She goes with her loyal maid to the camp of the enemy general, Holofernes. Gaining his trust, she is allowed access to his tent one night as he lies in a drunken daze. She decapitates him, then takes his head back to her fearful countrymen. The Assyrians, having lost their leader, disperse, and Israel is saved.

We also saw Raffaelo's "La fornarina" (Portrait of a Young Woman). It was created between 1518 and 1520 depicting a woman with an oriental style hat. She is making the gesture to cover herself and is illuminated by a strong artificial light coming from the external.

Galleria Spada

I had two site visits for my Women and Art class this week. For our site visit we meet in a particular place located in the city of Rome instead of going to our normal classroom at the time of our class. On Tuesday we went to the Galleria Spada. The Galleria Spada is located along the Tiber River and has a wonderful collection of art. The collection was originally assembled by Cardinal Bernardino Spada in the 17th century.

Because my Women and Art class is based off of the artist Artemisia Gentileschi, we focused mainly on her piece of work in the galleria along with her father's work (Orazio Gentileschi). One of her earliest works of art called "Madonna and Child" was in the galleria. She composed the piece in 1610 when she was sixteen years old. Artemisia was a baroque artist, following Carravagio's style. Caravaggio and her father Orazio Gentileschi were good friends when Artemisia was a child. It has not been proven that Artemisia met or had any type of relationship with Caravaggio, but her work was based off of his style. Orazio started as a Tuscani artist, but once he saw Caravaggio's work he transformed his style. Although Orazio and his daughter Artemisia have very similar style's, they differ in the sense that Orazio slowly transformed his style into Baroque whereas Artemisia started as a Baroque artist.

Another painting Artemisia completed in her early teens was "Susanna and the Elders." In this painting Susanna is a wife of a wealthy man who is bathing in the privacy of her private garden. Two Jewish Elders appointed as judges become aware of the beautiful woman and accost her, but Susanna rejects them. To get back at her they accuse her of adultery with a young man in her garden and based on false testimony Susanna is condemned to death. Artemisia is known for depicting women in her paintings as strong and admirable.


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The last painting I saw at the Galleria Spada was one of Orazio's pieces called "The Head of Goliath." Caravaggio had a piecework similar to this, but Orazio's David does not interact with Goliath's head, rather he stands beside it lost in a moment of deep introspection, evoking a pensive atmosphere.