THIRD POSTING FROM ROME -- 26 February 2017

Greetings, we hope you all are well.

I did manage to shake a leg one morning (eek, 11 days ago already) and went early to St. Peter's, well ahead of the usual throng. I waltzed right through the security check point and was not surprised, but still slightly stunned to see the nave almost empty. There have been times when we've visited where the throng was so thick it was like being in a NYC rush hour subway car. But not this time, arriving at 8 a.m. there was no line for the airport-level security screening!

Here's a view of the famous dome, as seen from a bit further up the Tiber. This photo was snapped a few years ago, but is the best one I have for this.
YES, those tiny dots on the right walkway just above the water are people. Those 70 foot high flood walls were added after the 1870's. 
The edge of the Castle Sant' Angelo peeps out from the trees on the right hand side.

 

This view from the steps of St. Peter's itself shows the width of the piazza enclosed by Bernini's colonnades, done at the order of
Pope Alexander VII Chigi.
(done 1656-67. the oval is 240 meters across -
or 787 feet) (photo is also from a few years ago)
Wait until you see Bernini's tomb for that Pope!

Below is the fate of those who sleep in and don't show up early at St. Peter's. YUP, the line ends as far back as the obelisk and each photo from a few years ago shows only HALF the line.

Above left, one of the giant t.v. screens for when there are public "outdoor" events, placed before the large statue of St. Paul, who, along with St. Peter, are the Patron Saints of Rome.

Right, a glimpse inside the colonnade. There are four rows of columns,, creating a welcome respite from the sun and showers for pilgrims.

Here's the view of the nave at 8:10 a.m.

I have seldom seen the Pietà without a large crowd, often 

15 or 20 people deep before it. So I did have to wait about 

12 seconds for the OTHER tourist to move out of the way. The protective glass wall has been fortified by barricades keeping everyone at least 100 feet back. 

On this handy annotated map from planetware.com,
the Pietà is at #3, near the bottom, right.

The holy water stoop or basin is near #4, a little further up.

The large bronze statue of St. Peter is at #10, near the main altar.

One of the holy water basins, for the faithful to bless themselves near the entrance. The basin is about at my shoulder height, 
and I'm 5 foot 6 inches tall.

I've been here when the open area to the left was packed solid with people. The main altar is off-camera immediately to the left of the open area.
Pilgrims have worn smooth the foot of this statue of St. Peter, so a protective "shoe" was added. Nearly everyone who so reaches for a blessing has to raise their arm to reach this talisman. 

Bernini also created this canopy or baldacchino over the main altar. 
(The columns are 20 meters or 66 feet high. 
The bronze came from the underside 
of the porch of the ancient Pantheon.)

You have to come here when the crowds are 

not at full flood to have a sense of the space.

(This is hard to see, but those columns on the second level choir loft, right, are believed to be part of the ones brought back from Jerusalem from Solomon's Temple by the Emperor Constantine and placed in the original St. Peter's that he had built. 
 The giant bronze columns of the baldacchino were designed with those older ones in mind.)

A view of the underside of the baldacchino, done at the order of the Barberini pope, Urban VIII. By "sheer coincidence" the emblem underneath 

the canopy behind the dove representing the Holy Spirit is a full sun disk, another of the Barberini family emblems.

The dome is a sufficient distraction that I didn't notice this on previous visits.
So the habit of blasting one's family name or crest all over the buildings one is associated with
is not a modern American phenomenon,
but these somehow look better. 

Here's an earlier view of the dome, with the streaming sunbeams not very visible, despite some photographic tinkering. It is almost worth the hour-plus wait to enter the Basilica and the rib-crushing crowds to see these lighting effects in the afternoon.

I was standing at the railing overlooking the shrine (bottom center, mostly hidden) that is above what is believed to be the tomb of 

St. Peter himself.

 Further back, through the open area of the baldacchino is a bright gold confection done by Bernini's 

talented crew 

for what is called 

the throne of St. Peter.

It may help the overall wow factor of this confection to be seen in the light of the later afternoon, when the gilding and gold dazzle. 

(Here's my non-Catholic view again. Would Peter, the first leader of the Christians, have EVER used such a "throne" or chair of state, or even the simpler wooden relic enclosed therein? Oh well, it is quite a shimmering eye-catcher none the less, and it uses all the tricks and tools in Bernini's very fertile mind.) 

This entire basilica was done as part of the "Counter-Reformation", a push-back of the Catholic Church against the simplicity urged by some of the relatively recently formed Protestant churches. 

My apologies to my Catholic friends for vastly oversimplifying all this.

Just like in baseball, "you can't tell the players without a scorecard", so here's that handy map again. I will print this out and take it with me on my next visit.

One sad note for the tourist: In both 2016 & 2017, the entire right aisle was closed off to us heathens. IF you wish to pray or to confess, then you may enter this area. Better do so looking devout and NOT have your camera ready for action. I didn't even think of attempting a visit there.

You see the main altar in the clearing of the transept (arms) and the nave.

You'll next be seeing the tombs at #18 and #23, upper left.

At #18 is the location of an altar and tomb of Pope Leo I, the Great (440-461). This large marble relief by Alessandro Algardi, (done in early 1600's when Bernini was temporarily out of favor with a new Pope), illustrates an episode in 452 AD when Attila the Hun was about to battle papal forces near Manuta (south of Venice). The Pope's speech to convince Attila to not attack Rome (or Italy) was given extra weight by the sudden appearance to Attila of the heavenly figures of Saints Paul and Peter, brandishing swords. Rome however was later sacked by the Vandal tribes in 455.

The last time I was able to come near this altarpiece was many years ago. Its general location at the end of the church is closed off to ordinary visitors. There appeared to be a very early morning Mass being said for two people, a very rare privilege.

 

The tomb of Pope Alexander VII Chigi, (1655-67). 

I hadn't realized this was the last big work by the 80 year old Bernini (and assistants, of course). The Pope is shown absorbed in prayer, which is a usual attitude for a tomb. There are four statues of the virtues of this Pope, Charity (holding a child), Truth (her foot touches England on the world map--Anglicanism was not to be quelled there, having begun some 150 years earlier), further back are Prudence and Justice. These four virtues are often represented on tombs.

The Pope's praying statue doesn't even notice the skeleton of Death, popping out from the drapery (of Sicilian jasper stone) brandishing his hour glass as a reminder of "tempus fugit". It is possible that Bernini's own age may have influenced this reminder of the flight of time, nonetheless the message is clear enough.

There are many books on Alexander VII Chigi (I've read a couple of them), and I will somehow refrain from saying anything about that remarkable pope and his exceptionally wealthy family now.

There are many other papal tombs in St. Peter's and many fine books tell all about them. 

But you may be ready to hit the "close window" button, so I'll pop in some snapshots. 

One is lucky to find this much info/labeling
inside St. Peter's.
Pont. or Pontifex || Max. or Maximus
is an adaptation of the Roman title of Chief Priest, an office that was assumed by the Emperors.

It helps to know "Roman" numerals.
Many people know those mostly
from the numbering of Super Bowl games.
M= 1,000
D = 500
C = 100
L = 50
X = 10
V = 5
I = 1

The digits' position and order matter:
XI = 11 but IX = 9; XC = 90; IV = 4 but VI =6
Try doing business calculations with these!

Here's a further back view on the Left aisle, to show the framing effect of the archways. At the back is a mosaic copy of Raphael's last masterwork, The Transfiguration altarpiece.

Below left, the original painting, now is the Vatican Museums' painting gallery. At right, the church of St. Pietro in Montorio, the original home of the image.

These young priests came up from the stairs to the Papal Tombs area beneath the main nave. They were very happy having said a Mass down there, and were heading into the sacristy through a door under another papal tomb on the right.

Papal tombs tended to follow the usual formulae of the time, with some slight variations (the Chigi tomb being an exception, but its imagery was based on traditional forms).

I was puzzled by this one by its design and because Pius VIII is not a well known pope, having reigned for less than 2 years after his 1829 election. I was half considering making some snarky remarks about his image being shown rather prominently with the three of the "heavy hitters" of Catholicism -Christ, Peter and Paul.

I since read a few nice things about him and his Church career. The most striking to me was, in complete contrast to several of his predecessors in the previous few centuries, when he became Pope, Pius VIII ordered ALL of his relatives to resign any and all Church offices or positions they held.

Had any of those "bad boy" popes used a small amount of self restraint and kept their own and their relations' hands OFF the Church's funds and powers, the Protestant Revolution might not had gained as much ground as quickly as it did.

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12134a.htm
will take you to a few informative paragraphs. 

These two figures at the lower part of Pius' tomb were interesting. It is possible Justice is seated with her scales empty due to space constraints, and she is represented as being thoughtful, observant and at repose. Pius did have a distinguished career in the field of Canon or Church Law. The other virtue shown, this one on the right, is of "Sapienza", a complex virtue based on self knowledge and wisdom. It is often represented by a snake, an ancient symbol of wisdom.

DOWN IN THE PAPAL TOMBS

On that day, ordinary visitors were allowed to descend to the papal tombs area after nine a.m. There were signs in several languages informing that NO photos were to be taken.

This is a photographer's dilemma. If a place, or more importantly to my mind, if a person says NO, that's it, No photos.

In a special exhibition in a museum, where the owners of the art mandated no photos, again, thou shalt not shoot.

If there is anyone praying, NO photos (at least not where it is in any possible way an intrusion).

I surmised the reason for the prohibition was to prevent what should be a sacred place from turning into a free for all like when a movie star makes a public appearance. The tomb of John Paul II is down there, and is a big attraction. There are thousands of people who make sacrifices to travel there to pray. But that area was closed off that morning, the few guards were barely able to yawn themselves awake, and there were very few people. So here are the few that I took "shooting from the hip" in the papal tombs area. (Many of the more interesting areas are accessible only through small passageways that are gated off from the general public.)

SECOND POSTING ~~~ 14 February 2017

I was feeling like a "clever boots" and was going to write an entry about the early Christians' converting or morphing the ancient Roman fertility festival of Lupercalia into St. Valentine's Day. It is a plausible concept, and a quick check via Google shows there is much support for this. But what is the quality of that support? With all due respect to any "witches" out thar, I felt a little suspect of the objectivity of a website called "witchology". The other sites looked better, but I wanted to find out more.

Two websites had what sound like more carefully thought out explanations and firmly based arguments:  Encyclopedia Brittanica's website is better known than that of Prof. Bill Thayer's, but his had a much longer and more precisely reasoned discussion. I'm pasting in the links in case you are curious.

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Lupercalia

http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/e/roman/texts/secondary/smigra*/lupercalia.html

The answer I'm accepting is: nope, this is probably not a direct conversion of a pagan holiday/ritual into a Christian one. (How one defines "direct conversion" is entirely another matter.)

Instead I will blither on a bit about AMOR.

{Ahem, I hope no one's sensibilities are disturbed by the following photos. The ancients did have a wider attitude than some moderns do towards nudity, and generally showed only the deities so "costumed", mainly to glory in the perfection of heavenly forms that only deities can have. All these images were taken in public museums, archeological sites or churches. But "loves makes the world go round", so I hope you will enjoy these in the spirit of good cheer of today's holiday.}

   Cupid and Psyche were a popular motif and appear on many sarcophagi.

I am starting with a 

3rd Century AD sarcophagus, with Cupid (Amore) and Psyche 

on both corners. 

(Museo della Terme). 

 Here they are again, this time in the so-called House of Cupid and Psyche (pre 200 AD) in Ostia Antiqua, the long-buried former seaport of ancient Rome.   

 There are several frescoed rooms recovered from an ancient villa on the banks of the Tiber that are now on beautifully restored display in the museum in the Palazzo Massimo.

Ancient Roman bedrooms were small, usually smaller than these from a very upper class villa (possibly even belonging to someone in the family of the Emperor Augustus). These rooms were called "cubiculum". OF COURSE, no one's office cubicle is anything like these! 

Amorous scenes were a frequent topic. The men were usually shown deeply tanned from being outside a great deal, and the upper class women were very pale, staying inside more often. Um, yes, that is a servant (slave) standing there in the room while what should be very private matters were going on. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Roman_Museum  will take you to a very brief webpage from Wikipedia on these four astonishing museums. 

I haven't said much about the legends around Cupid and Psyche. There are versions that center around the surface level, and others that provide far more detail and delve deeper into human psychology. The thumbnail version is that love (Cupid) is part and parcel of the human soul (Psyche). Ah, if life were only as simple as that. Even these two deities had a LONG struggle to be able to be finally happily united.

Many of the steps on their struggles have been rendered in astonishingly wonderful art. Many people know the basic part of the tale, that a beautiful maiden is united with someone she can not see (for unrevealed reasons). She begins to have doubts about her paramour, and holds an oil lamp over him one night, expecting to find the worst possible fellow. 

Of course it is the original "Mr. Cutie-Pie", handsome Cupid. And of course she is so startled, she accidentally lets some of the hot oil from the lamp fall on him. He leaves.     {This is the bedroom pope Paul III Farnese (died 1549) had done up for himself in the papal fortress of the Castel Sant' Angelo. The tale runs around the cornice of the entire room.}

Psyche despairs after being unceremoniously dumped back on earth. She faces trials and tasks set by his disapproving mother, Venus (Aphrodite). There is a VERY happy ending! 

Mercury (Hermes) the messenger of the Gods, is dispatched to bring Psyche into heaven, where Venus finally agrees to the wedding with the urging of all the other gods. A jolly banquet follows.

{These three photos are from the Villa Farnesina, the "modern" part built in the early 1500's for an incredibly wealthy banker, Agostino Chigi. Being a "new man" in Rome, and extremely wealthy,
he wanted to make an impression on the other upper class nobles. He did so, especially when holding banquets under this ceiling. The room
was originally open to his gardens
and not glassed in as it is now.

Chigi had the very best painters of the time, including Raphael, decorate his villa. It is a splendid museum. Wonderful books have been written about this little bit of heaven, so I'm giving you just a tiny drop of its treasures. This website will give you an idea of the place.}

http://www.villafarnesina.it/?page_id=47&lang=en

There is a great deal more that I can blither on about art, love and Rome, as well as the dialogue in paintings about "sacred" love and more earthly "profane" love, but that will take more time, and I need to hit ye olde hay.

I hope you and yours have a lovely St. Valentine's Day!

ciao, Carol

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Dear Friends and Relations and Readers,

I started this entry on 3 February, and am finally taking another crack at waving hello to you all. We are back in Rome for what is at least our 24th visit. We will be here for 8 weeks more, so I have hopes of bunging more photos and blither your way.

This is the earliest we've been in Rome, and although it is scarcely walking around in shirtsleeves weather, it is better than what we hear reports of from the American Mid-West. 

I try to include a map for any arm-chair travelers.
(North is UP.)

I snapped this composite view of the Theatre of Marcellus nearly two weeks ago, on one of our first forays out. We were barely awake enough to notice this isn't the Colosseum; it is instead the Colosseum's "architectural grand-pappy". The Theatre was erected by the Emperor Augustus in 13 B.C., as a memorial to his nephew and presumptive heir who died prematurely. 

The Colosseum, in 2007

 Until the Theatre of Marcellus was built, having a permanent stone building for public entertainment was thought to be a terrible decadence, so these types of structures were only erected as temporary, often wooden and earthworks places to house recitals, the presentation of plays, small gladiatorial combats or staged animal hunts; some of these events were often part of funeral commemorations. The attitude against permanent structures for these events had obviously changed by the time the Emperor Vespasian built the Colosseum, which was finished in 80 A.D.

Below are two views of a model of what the Theatre of Marcellus may have looked like when new. There is a very long but very interesting tale of how this building changed during Rome's decline, through its use in the medieval period as a fortress for a powerful local family, and its later adaptation into a very fine palace. Nowadays, the added upper stories house very high-class apartments and pricey short-term rentals.

Aside from its being only a half-circle (or oval), another difference is the Theatre's 10-20,000 audience capacity, in contrast to the Colosseum's estimated 80,000 capacity.
 

Here's this year's progress on the terminus for the new "C" subway line, complete with a station and connection to the B line station across the street from the Colosseum.

2017 view with construction bracing on the 
Basilica of Maxentius

Similar view from 2006 A.D.
On Sundays, the wide via Fori Imperiale would be open to strollers and musicians.

The large Basilica (or law court) of Maxentius (circa 312, finished after his military loss of control of the Empire to Constantine) has been braced to withstand the shocks from the underground excavations for he new subway station. Since the lads were at it, a few repairs are also being undertaken.

The image of the Basilica is better know 
from its side facing the Roman Forum 
(photo from 2006).

Yup, it's big. This part of the ruins are 24.5 meters or 80 feet high, and there was an even higher roof.

Above is a view towards the "back" of the large memorial to the modern king of the newly-united Italy, Vittorio Emmanuel. The structure, finished in 1911, also contains a memorial for the Italian military and is also called "The Altar of the Fatherland". 

(The kingly dynasty was short-lived, lasting only until after WW II.) Note the military vehicle parked in the center, ostensibly to block car traffic, and also anyone considering a rampage against the tens of

thousands of daily visitors (especially during warmer weather) to the Colosseum and Forums.

I don't have a fast internet connection here, but it does work quicker when I try working on my postings early in the morning, before the Roman internet servers are flooded by game-playing adolescents (and other users). So I'll close this entry with a couple photos from today.


The weather was especially nice today, so we ate lunch out at a favorite ristorante, the Abruzzi.



Since tomorrow is the 14th, I ordered a piece of their chocolate cake for Emil to have as a dessert. He was a VERY happy camper!

This cake in the dessert display case was nearly complete when I ordered Emil's piece. As the waiter brought out a piece for Emil, I could hear people at the other tables all asking rapturously in their native languages if they could have a piece, too. 

We wish you all could have a piece of this treat (or the other desserts on offer) so instead we will close with our best wishes for a jolly St. Valentine's Day.

(We do have a few friends who look askance at the suggestion of celebrating such a holiday, but it is the middle of winter, and who doesn't need something nice to smile about now and then? Besides, it all dates back to some very old pagan religious rituals that 

I will spare you my blithering on about 

for another day.)

Ciao, Carol

****** END OF THE FIRST POSTING ******