Get Back

Sadly, my month-long sojourn to Rome is quickly coming to an end. My blog will be a good record of some of my experiences here. I really appreciate all of the encouraging words from you, either through the blog Comments or through e-mail. Glad you liked reading it. I loved writing it.

Here, in no particular order, are some of the sights and sounds I will miss:

• luggage being rolled by newcomers through my piazza, an area pedonale
• the clanking of cups being washed as I walk past a bar
• the bells of Santa Maria in Trastevere
  
• Monica and my entire class at Scuola LDV. It was amazing how we all bonded in such a short period of time.
• Trastevere, a village within a city
• the beauty of the Italian language
• being awed by pieces of antiquity or the Baroque era at every turn of a corner, in this art museum they call a city
• of course, the fabulous restaurants
• being able to share experiences with Corrado, my cousin Ro, Diane, Phyllis, Joanie, LaVonne, Anita and Elaine
  
• unfortunately, my digital camera and 3 weeks of pictures, lost during my pilgrimage to churches! I'll have to rely on my friends' sharing their photos.

There are other memories, too, that I'll process and sort out and share with you all at a later time.You don't think this is the last time you're going to hear about my trip to Rome, do you?? No way. No. Freaking. Way.

See you soon, and....GO PHILS!

Going for Baroque

I have spent the last couple of days on a pilgrimage of sorts, visiting various Baroque churches and monuments. I am sure I must have visited some of them during the past 37 years that I have been coming to Rome, but, for various reasons, my interest in them has been piqued, and I had to get back to them.

Most churches open in the morning, close for several hours in the afternoon, and re-open in the early evening. The wise pilgrim, then, takes great care in planning these visits. I followed other map-readers this morning along Via XX Settembre, a very busy street during rush hour, with cars hurtling by us.

Gian Lorenzo Bernini, arguably the greatest master of Baroque in Rome, is responsible for much that I saw. His Quattro Fontane, with a fountain carved into each of four corners, is here. All along Via XX Settembre are important churches, either decorated by Bernini or his competitor, Francesco Borromini, who was responsible for a tiny jewel-box of a church, S. Carlo alle Quattro Fontane. The interiors are so richly decorated, with a dizzying amount of multi-colored marble, and with elaborate paintings or sculptures gracing the apses and chapels. In Santa Maria della Vittoria, you can see a Bernini masterpiece, The Ecstasy of St. Theresa. This is one of two sculptures (the other being The Ecstasy of Beata Ludovica Albertoni in a church in Trastevere) that shows a woman writhing in, well, ecstasy. These were highly controversial in their day, and still draw an inordinate number of visitors, both the faithful and the curious.

In a nearby piazza are two additional sculptures, Bernini's Fontana del Tritone and Fontane delle Api. The Piazza Barberini is in a tony neighborhood, lined with high-end stores. Taking a break from this morning's mission, I treated myself to a couple of modern, Florentine bracelets. Beautiful! I'm so happy, I want to commission a Bernini sculpture. The Ecstasy of Janet has a nice ring to it, no?