Early Sunday Morning....

I was waiting in line to get into the Sistine Chapel. The Vatican Museum was free instead of 13 euro. Well the line was super long, and after an hour and a half I was finally in. I even got there an hour before it opened (sort of accidentally since I wasn't sure if the time had switched back. Luckily I did get there early or else I could have been in line for hours, in which case I would have left. Vatican Museum is basically a giant maze, I was walking through with the goal of getting to the Sistine Chapel. I took in the museum rooms as I walked through them, not stopping much to look around and it still took a good 1/2 hour to finally get to the Sistine Chapel. You have to weave through all these hallways and rooms, then go upstairs, then downstairs then back up and around some more. There were some cool things along the way, they had a bunch of modern art interpreting bible scenes which was interesting to see.

I found the Sistine Chapel slightly underwhelming, maybe because before you get there you walk through about 15 rooms with painted ceilings and walls. The quality in the Sistine Chapel was definitely better than in the other rooms and all the men in the paintings were freakishly muscular.

Afterwards I picked up Brianne and we set off for the Via Appia Antica. They close the road on Sundays for pedestrian and Bike traffic. We were going to rent bikes but unfortunately the place was all out when we got there. So we got some icecream,and walked along, taking in the countryside. It took about 45 minutes to get there from the center of Rome. Parts of the Via Appia are actually a large park which is why it still feels like the country. We saw a ton of sheep and there were little lambs running all over the place. I really wanted to pick one up but I figured the shepard would yell at me if I did.


We happened upon the Catacombs of San Sebastiano which come hand in hand with the church of San Sebastiano. I realized that in fact the San Sebastiano I went to on the Palatine Hill on Saturday was not a pilgrimage church, oops. But I found the real one accidentally, so I still have only one to go. It made more sense that this was the pilgrimage site since it was a larger church, and had catacombs underneath.

Brianne and I then found a big open field with some cool ruins on it, so we decided to take a nap. Falling asleep was easy, but at one point I woke up when my body jolted and realized if I moved much during my nap I'd fall off our perch...so I decided going back to sleep wasn't a good idea. So we sat and sketched and chatted and then the sun was starting to get low in the sky so we started the trek back to Roma.


nuns:188 priests:87
(I saw two huge groups of nuns, one group on the via appia and one waiting for the train near the Corso Vittorio Emannuel) Oh and I don't count nuns and priests at the Vatican because there are just too many.

A Saturday in Rome

Today I visited 2 more of the pilgrimmage churches so now I only have one to go. First I went to San Giovanni in Laterno. I ascended the sacred stairs at the Lateran Palace. They are believed to be the stairs Jesus walked down after being condemned by Pontius Pilate. They are covered in wood and you can only go up on your knees. There are 28 stairs and I have to say by 12 I could feel the pain. I made it to the top and then walked across the street to the church. San Giovanni is the cathedral of Rome and used to be the seat of the Papacy before they moved to the Vatican.

I sketched the front of the church and about halfway through a tour group decided to stand right in front of me and block my view, so I had to take a brief pause since I couldn't see.

Afterwards I headed to San Sebastiano which is on the Palantine Hill. It is up a rather picturesque street but when I got there the gate was closed. I decided to walk to the end of the street, which was another church and on the way back went up to the gate of San Sebastiano and realized you had to buzz inside to get in. So I figured why not, and I buzzed the lady. I was able to speak some basic Italian so she knew I wanted to see the church. Then she said a bunch of Italian to me which I think was pretty much "be quiet while you are in there and don't take photos" but that was my interpretation. When I got in to the church it was very small and very simple, it was a nice change from the other pilgrammage churches. There were about 6 priests studying, and I just sort of hung to the back and looked at the church. Afterwards I sat outside and sketched the facade. It was a beautiful day and the grounds were very quiet, I could have stayed there all day but I felt a little like I was intruding so I only stayed about 1/2 hour.


Then I met up with Bridget and Brianne for some cappucino and pizza. We walked to the Piazza Navona and then to this cool toy store. Afterwards we split up and I headed to the Via Giulia to do some research for my project, it ended up taking a couple of hours, but I guess I am here to do work...

I then went to another church, whose name I haven't looked up yet but it has relics of San Valentino, basically his skull. It was just chilling out in a glass container.


nuns:154 priests:81

Southern Italy

I got back Friday night from a whirlwind tour of southern Italy. Above is the sunrise at 7:30 in the morning in Rome the day we left.First we stopped in a fascist town, Sabaudia. It was fairly small, but the modernist quality of the buildings was a nice change from classical Rome. We only had an hour, but I was able to get in a few sketches of the church, and then wander a bit towards the lake/bay and then it was back on the bus.


Our next stop was Cuma, which is basically a giant hill with a lot of old ruined temples on it. We ate lunch, while being looked at longingly by some wild dogs, and then made our way into the site. There were some awesome caves, and a lot of incomplete ruins, but the view from the top was beautiful. Down on the beach we were able to see people practicing chariot racing. Then it was back on the bus and onward to Pompeii. Below I took a picture of my favorite sign, its hilarious.



We got to Pompeii at night, and stayed in a funky hotel. The hotel provided us with a big dinner, which was decent. The next day we walked over to Pompeii. The site was rather stunning, there were so many complete buildings. We saw an old amphitheatre and tons of old houses. Bridget, Brianne and I searched out the old brothel which had some dirty frescoes. Supposedly you would come in and point to the fresco you wanted and it would be done. Also I thought I'd throw in a view of Vesuvius.



After Pompeii in the morning we headed to Amalfi, it was a harrowing ride down the coast, the roads were really small and we were in a big bus. I was getting some motion sickness from all the turns, so I just tried to sleep. We got to Amalfi and checked into the hotel, we had the most awesome room. Mostly it was the view that was awesome.


The first night we went out to a nice dinner, I decided to eat Italian style and got two courses, I started with gnocchi and ended with some calamari, it was delicious. Then we got some gelato, and then it was back to the hotel to change into my swimsuit. We went down to the water and did a night swim, the water was so nice and it was calm so I was able to float for a while and look at the sky. The next morning we were served breakfast in our room and we ate out on our balcony.


After breakfast we walked up to Ravello, it was about 1000 steps. Which may not sound like much but we scaled a mountain and then had to climb down it a little and then climb another mountain. Man there were tons of steps. The views were incredible though.



In Ravello we checked out the Duomo and then two villas. The Villa Cimbroni is known for its view over the water, and the property goes right to the edge of the cliff. That's Sicily in the background, you can kind of see it.


We sketched there for a few hours and then made our way back down to Amalfi, the walk down was much easier. We went back to the same restaurant for dinner and I had the best clams I've ever tasted they were soooo good.
The next day we were supposed to go to Paestum, which has some complete Greek temples, unfortunately there was a museum workers strike so we couldn't go. So we hung out in Amalfi for the morning and left at 12 for Rome.


nuns: 134 priest: 69

Off In Italy

I'll be gone this week to Pompeii, Amalfi, Ravello....

AHA! We found Zaha.

Yeah the caption is cheesy, but I had to. Bridget, Brianne, Katie and I walked to the new Zaha Hadid building today. It was pretty far away, well by foot anyway, but was well worth it. Today felt like the first day of fall, and on the walk over we went by the river, and it was gorgeous. Walking in Rome is one of my favorite things to do. The building is still under construction but the concrete work so far is gorgeous. We walked to the front of the building first and then made our way around to the back. We toyed with the idea of scaling the fence to get a closer look, but decided being arrested probably wasn't worth it. So instead we all climbed up on the fence to get a better look inside. Which was worth it because we got to see some parts of the building that were out of sight.


In the morning before we went I headed up to San Pietro in Montorio, which is the church that also has the tempietto. There was a wedding ending when I fist got there, so I sat outside and watched everyone throw rice and explode confetti everywhere. When they had cleared out I went in, it was pretty nice, although I think having it set up for a wedding made the church more beautiful.

4 down 3 to go

This morning I decided to take a short (approx. 2.5 miles one way) walk to San Paulo Fuori le Mure. Which translates to St. Paul's Outside of the Walls. It is one of the 7 Christian Pilgrimage churches. It was built on top of the burial site of St. Paul. It was the 3rd one I've seen, The first was St.Peter's and the other day during class we stopped into Santa Croce. It was about a 45 minute walk there and Brianne was brave enough to take the trek with me. It is always interesting to walk outside of the Roman walls, because its where the modern city begins, there are less historic buildings and artifacts and everything is a little grittier. When we got there, it wasn't crowded yet because it was about 9:45. We walked around the cloister which has these crazy twisty mosaic columns.


Then we were good architecture students and drew a few sketches. While we were in the cloister we could hear a choir practicing, it was beautiful to listen to the hymns. We made our way inside the Cathedral and wow was it huge. There were no chairs or pews in the majority of the church and it felt like a giant open hall. One cool thing was that around the upper walls of the church were portraits of all the popes. The current pope's picture was lit up. I only counted 12 more blank circles though, I'm not sure what they'll do when they run out of space.


On the walk home we stopped into a bar and got cappuccinos and pastries. They tasted really delicious. The bar was really swanky inside and looks like it turns into a hip place at night. We walked back inside the walls of Rome and then stopped at the Protestant Cemetery. A lot of tourists go there because Shelley and Keats are buried there. It was a gorgeous cemetery, there were plants everywhere and it was on a slight slope, so the graves all stepped up on the hill. At the top of the hill was one of the most beautiful sculptures I have ever seen. It was the last sculpture done by W.W.Story, and marks the grave of his wife. The photo below doesn't do it justice, it was very moving to see.


Afterwards I went home to do some laundry since we are going on a field trip next week and I'll need clean clothes. After the laundry was done I set off for my 4th of 7 pilgrimage churches. This one is Sta. Maria Maggiore. I didn't take any pictures of it because the inside was rather gaudy and overdone, and I sketched the outside. It was an interesting church however and I'm glad I went.

A fun little surprise was that right in front of the church a labor strike was going on. There were so many people marching I couldn't believe it. While I was sketching the outside of the church the march was going on close by and I could hear all the noise and action. It was really interesting to witness. This picture is only a small portion of the number of people. From what I saw the crowd stretched for at least 15 blocks if not more, it was hard to tell because they wrapped around a
corner.


nuns:132 priests:68

Toto I don't Think We're in Rome Anymore

If you think you are looking at a Pyramid, you are. A pyramid in Rome? I know its crazy but its true, this is the piramede, its in Testaccio (a region of the city) at a former gate through the Aurelian Walls. Friday we finished walking the walls of Rome and the first group had an awesome section which encompassed most of Testaccio. First we went into this old slaughterhouse which was slowly being re-used, there was a museum going in and some community buildings. We were on the outskirts of the industrial district and the surroundings stood in contrast to what exists in the historic center.


After walking their wall we moved on to my groups part of the wall which is around the Vatican. When we hit the Colonnade at St.Peter's it was about 6:00 at night and the lighting was incredible. The sun sets right behind the basilica. I couldn't stop taking pictures.



Our section continued on down to the Castel Sant'Angelo which used to be a fortress but is now a museum. I haven't been in yet, but I've seen it a lot from the outside. On the way back Bridget Brianne and I crossed by way of the Ponte Sant'Angelo. All of the statues looked gorgeous against the evening sky.




nuns: 128 priests:65

Outside the Walls

Today we set out for the baths of Diocletian. Unfortunately 3 police officers recently died in Rome, and there was a huge funeral going on in Sta. Maria of Angels and Martyrs, which was were we were going to go. So we ended up going to the Aula Ottagona instead (or at least for longer than planned). It was a cool octagonal building, with an oculus on the top. There was some strange geodesic dome on the inside which created an interesting contrast to the old building.


After that I went back to San Carlo Quattro Fontana with Bridget and Brianne, I had been on Monday night on a walk i took around the city, but it was very interesting to see how different it looks during the day. It felt much more open, and obviously light. The first picture is at night and the second is during the day.



We had to meet up with our group to start the studio part of our day which consisted of walking around 2 more sections of the old Roman wall. The two portions we walked around today were very interesting. The first took us by Santa Croce (which houses splinters from the cross) and San Giovanni Lateranno which is the official Cathedral of Rome. Santa Croce also has an organic monk garden which wasn't open but I plan on going back to. It is really interesting to see the difference between the inside of the Roman walls and what lies on the outside.

The second portion of the wall took us through a beautiful park (as well as some dumpy parts of the city) and we ended up on the Via Appia, which was the old road that connected to the south of Italy. Now it is a one way street. We walked up it to an old gate, and then headed back to Rome. Brianne, Bridget and I decided to hoof it back and ended up walking by the Baths of Caracalla, but we didn't go in. We did take a little rest in front of the ruins though and ate some delicious almonds. My feet are really tired though, it was nice to get off of them finally.


nuns: 116 priests 58

To Make a Long Story Short

less blurry picture to come...

Ara Pacis

Nuns: 106 Priests: 52

Today our history/sketching class went to the pantheon, which was really crowded so I was glad I had been before. I sat outside and sketched part of the portico, but it wasn't too detailed because we only had about 1/2 hour. On the way to our next stop (Ara Pacis) there was some kind of small riot going on. There were a bunch of police on scooters.


Afterwards we went to the Ara Pacis museum which was built by Richard Meir. It was designed to house the Ara Pacis which was an old sacrifical altar.


The museum was having an exhibit on Valentino's dresses, it was incredible. The first part of the exhibit was a little creepy because there were a bunch of bald manikins wearing fancy gowns.


But downstairs there was an exhibit with a ton of his famous Academy Awards dresses (worn by the likes of Halle Berry, Julia Roberts, Cameron Diaz, Reese Witherspoon). Below is a shot of a dress Halle Berry wore.


Behind the dresses were gorgeous sketches that Valentino did. I can not describe the detail with which he drew, it was incredible.


My favorite detail was the veil on a wedding gown. The gown itself was a little ugly, it was a bit too much for my taste. But the veil was very delicate.

Ascoli Piceno

On Friday Bridget and I set off for Ascoli Piceno, where some of the Italian side of my family is from. It was a 3 1/2 hour bus ride from Rome. It was surprising riding through the countryside of Italy to get there, it looked a lot like Northern California, we were surrounded by mountains. It was breathtaking.

When we got to Ascoli it was nearing nightfall and so we went to locate our hostel. On the way however we got a bit distracted by all of the churches. A lot of them were open and we got to peak inside. We even stumbled upon an old baptistery that the town had reconstructed.


We found our hostel easily, the historic center of town is not very large. When we signed in with the woman at the desk, she recognized my last name. She spoke only Italian though, so we couldn't talk in depth about my family. Bridget and I ended up being the only people there and so we got the place to ourselves. We decided to regress to childhood and both grabbed top bunks. Below is a picture of the tower on the hostel building.


We then set off to the main square Piazza del Popolo. We spent about an hour or two drinking coffee and watching people go by, there was a lot going on around us. The next morning we returned to do some sketching and there were tons of families walking around the square with their children and lots of dogs.


When we woke up Saturday we decided to wander around a bit. We ended up at a few more churches and then found an old convent which had been turned into a library and gallery. We met some very nice people there, who gave us a lot of background on the building and the area. One of them spoke French so Bridget could easily converse with him, and the others spoke a little English. We found out there was an architecture school on top of one of the hills and so we climbed up to see it. Unfortunately it was closed but we sat and sketched the view.


On the way down we found and architecture/art bookstore and were able to converse a little with the owner. Afterwards we ate some lunch and then wandered around town some more. Around 4:00 we walked back to the bus station and started the trek back to Rome.

nuns: 94 priests: 39