Lyceum teacher tours: The beginnings of the Baroque

 My Boy's school has a lecture and tour series for parents and friends of the school where faculty and guests teach us a bit about the city we live in.  It has been wonderful.  The school has been fully online for the students for the past month or two, but the lyceum trips continue with masks, distancing, limited numbers etc.

The first tour of the year was all about Baroque architecture. Rome is the city where Baroque art and architecture really got their start.  The essence of the movement was its tie to the counterreformation movement in the Catholic church, particularly the Jesuit order founded by St Ignatius of Loyola.  This elaborate style with all of it's flourishes and gold was intended to awe and evoke strong emotions and remind people of the glory of the Catholic church at a time when the protestant movement was gaining traction.  There is a fantastic art history series on YouTube that includes a three part series on Baroque art.  The first part talks about Rome.  (These churches are featured in the last 20 minutes or so.  Other series on the Renaissance and Medieval art are equally good.) 

The first church we visited was the Chiesa del Gesu.  The facade of this church is considered to be the first truly Baroque church facade.  You can see the characteristic curls and pillars that are repeated in Baroque style Catholic churches worldwide.

Chiesa del Gesu

The squat rectangular building next door includes the rooms of St Ignatius himself.  The rooms themselves are quite spartan, but the corridor leading to them is elaborately decorated with scenes from the life of St Ignatius.  The painting was done in part by a Jesuit priest named Padre Andrea Pozzo.  He was a master of perspective and illusion.  From one spot in the room the figures seem to come out from the walls.  In this room you can get up close and see how he distorts the images to make it look right.

The Gesu rooms

Inside the church in one of the particularly elaborate side chapels, also designed by Pozzo, is this statue of St Ignatius.  It is revealed once a day.  The head and hands are replacements made by a student of Canova, a neoclassical sculptor.  The originals were reportedly melted down to pay war reparations to Napoleon.

St Ignatius chapel in Chiesa del Gesu

Detail of ceiling of Chiesa del Gesu

This type of perspective with the figures spilling out of the frames is particularly Baroque.

Ceiling, Chiesa del Gesu

Pozzo's masterpiece of illusion and Jesuit propaganda is the ceiling of the church of St Ignatius.

Chiesa del Sant' Ignazio

This is probably my favorite painted ceiling in Rome.  I'm not sure I can explain why.  It might be because it was such a surprise when I first saw it.  We just wandered in and stumbled across it.  It wasn't until later that I came to understand what I already liked so much.  It helps me to appreciate the gaudiness of the Roman Baroque.

The ceiling is flat, but painted to look vaulted with a window open to the heavens with a view of St Ignatius rising to meet Jesus Christ.  The Light coming from Christ and being redirected by St Ignatius leads to the four corners of the earth.  Here represented by the personification of Asia, Africa, Europe, and America.  Baroque artists seemed to like personifying places.  Here it was the places the Jesuits had missions.  In Bernini's fountain in Piazza Navona it is four rivers across the globe.

Ceiling of the Church of St Ignatius

The dark dome is quite different from the explosion of light and color.  It actually came first, or not really.  The dome is an illusion as well.  It is canvas painted to look like the interior of a dome when the builders ran out of money to build an actual dome.  It was Pozzo's work on the pretend dome among other work that earned him the work for the other parts of the ceiling.

View of the "dome" from directly below.

It was such a delightful tour.  I'm enjoying learning about things I know so little about.

A little bit of lots of things

What have we been doing?  So much and yet so little is seems.  The days are full of the tasks that keep life going.  It has been interesting to get to the point we are doing things over again, like Thanksgiving.  I've learned a lot in the time we have been here.  So much about Rome and how to live life here.

Weeks ago we went out to Lido di Ostia on a warm fall afternoon.  It was a beautiful day to walk along the beach and look for shells.  It reminded me of sunset walks in Santa Cruz, but with tiny pseudo-waves, a narrower beach and more shells.  For dinner we found a great place where My Boy could indulge his new-found love for shellfish.  I had a hamburger.

This is the more modern town near the ancient port of Ostia Antica.  From what I've heard the ruins there are spectacular.  I haven't seen them yet.  Someday.  Right now all of the museums and archeological sites are closed.  There are still beautiful and interesting things to see from the outside, but inside visits will have to wait.

We met up with some friends for lunch and to show them around our neighborhood.  We went into San Giovanni in Laterano  and across the street to the Scala Sancta.  Churches are open while museums are closed.  Fortunately there is a lot of art and history in the churches so there is still plenty to see if you can catch them during their open hours.

I don't remember if I've written about these spots yet, so I'll do a short-ish version in case it is a repeat.  Our neighborhood is short on historical hot spots, so this is the one and only tourist draw nearby.  It isn't as frequently visited, but it is quite an important building in the Catholic church.  Before becoming a church this was the site of the Laterani family palace.  The palace was donated to the bishop of Rome by Constantine I in the 4th century after he (Constantine, not the Pope) married into the family. The basilica of the palace was converted and extended and became Cathedral of Rome, the seat of the Pope, the bishop of Rome.  It is the official residence of the Pope and the highest ranking church in Catholicism, higher even than St Peters at the Vatican.  Over the centuries it has been burned, rebuilt and remodeled into the Baroque Cathedral it is today.  This church and the Scala Sancta are part of the treaty creating Vatican City as a separate state, so are technically not part of Italy.

The Baroque sculptures of the 12 apostles inside are quite impressive.  The Danish neoclassical sculptor, Bertel Thorvaldsen, was inspired by these apostles when he created his own version for a church in Copenhagen.  Digitally recreated marble copies of the Danish apostles are now at the visitor's center for the Rome temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  Thorvaldsen's original Christus statue in the same Copenhagen church is known and copied worldwide.

Across the street are the Scala Sancta, or holy stairs.  These are the marble stairs that at one time lead to the praetorium of Pontius Pilate in Jerusalem.  They were made holy when Jesus Christ walked on them during the time of his trial prior to His crucifixion.  The entire staircase was brought to Rome by Helena, the mother of Constantine in the 4th century when she was sent to Jerusalem to bring back religious relics.  There are a lot of relics in the city's churches.  This one, unlike so many others, seems plausible.  The steps were later moved to their current location leading to the Sancta Sanctorum and covered in wood to protect them from wear.  Pilgrims still come to ascend the stairs on their knees and say a prayer at each step.  Incredible frescoes illustrating biblical stories line the walls of the Scala and the alternate stair cases on either side.

The Sancta Sanctorum at the top of the stairs was likely built in the 7th century.  This was the private prayer room of the Popes until the Renaissance.  It is a little jewel box of a room with walls covered with incredible frescoes and mosaics and housing opulent reliquaries.

So much history in such a tiny little spot of city.

On weekends we take walks though the city and the parks.  There is always something beautiful to see.  Often it is just the way the light is bringing out a little bit of something to make it glow.  I love the quality of the light in the fall and winter here.  It is quite different from the glaring wash of sun in the summer.

View across the Tiber from the Ponte Sant'Angelo

Sant' Agnose in Agona - Piazza Navona

Fontana delle Tartarughe

We celebrated our second Italian Thanksgiving with missionaries from our church.  They are a great group of guys.  Three were American and one Chilean.  The Americans had been telling their Chilean companion all about the traditional foods of the day.  I was happy to oblige with plenty of stuffing, whipped cream, and pumpkin pie.  This year I knew where to find the turkey and the pumpkin and I was able to ask a friend to get me some cranberry sauce from the embassy commissary. It was such a fun evening.

Before coming to Rome, one of the missionaries was studying opera.  He and his accordian playing Chilean companion sang and played for us.  It is amazing to hear so close and in a small space.  I'm sure our land lady upstairs could hear us.  After a couple of songs we invited her to listen in from her balcony upstairs.  (She is older and in person visits aren't always the right thing.)  She got a lovely serenade.  I think she really enjoyed it.  This is one of the songs they sang for us.

This missionary is from Chile, but his family is Italian. He learned Italian from his mom at home.  There are many Italians in South America.  Many left Italy during the early to mid 1900s.  Anyone with Italian ancestry can claim citizenship so many people from these families are coming back.

I've been having fun with my black sketchbook and colored pencils.  It is quite different to work on black paper.  You have to think a bit backwards to leave the shadows and work on the lights.

The mornings are getting earlier and earlier according to the sun.  My girl gets on the bus for school before sunrise at this time of year.

The kids are cooking.  My boy was inspired by the mussels, cozze, he had in Ostia and wanted to make some himself for lunch.  They are cheap and easy to find so we found a few recipes and put something together.  I couldn't bring myself to eat them.  The shells look fine, but the little bits inside are just...  It makes me shudder.  My Boy loved them and ate all 2.2 pounds of them, minus the shells.  The broth was really tasty and we saved the leftover liquid gold in the freezer for our Christmas cioppino.

Until next time...

A wander-ful fall afternoon

 Friday afternoon I decided to take a break from the rumors of impending lockdowns and take a walk around the city.  I had a couple of stops in mind, but just wanted to be out and about on a beautiful day.

My first stop was an exhibit of painting and sculpture by the Spanish artist Manolo Valdes.  I absolutely love how he uses different techniques and materials to reinterpret the work of previous artists.  He particularly likes to reimagine the portraits by Diego Velasquez, the Spanish Baroque era painter.  Velasquez isn't the only artist he references.  You can also see his interpretations of works by Matisse and pop-artists like Warhol.  He uses recognizable shapes and morphs them into modern paintings and sculptures using a variety of materials including wood, bronze, iron, wire, glass, and alabaster.  His paintings have a lot of dimension to them since he applies heavy paint on to layers of coarse jute fabric.  His pieces, both the paintings and the sculptures, are made from materials pieced together in interesting and intentional ways.

Queen Isabella of Bourbon Equestrian by Diego Velasquez 1635

My next stop was Castroni where I wanted to buy canned pumpkin and dark chocolate Toblerone bars.  Some things are hard to find, but there are a few shops that specialize in imported foods.  Yes, you can buy pumpkin and other squashes in the fall and make your own puree.  But what if you want to make pumpkin bread in April?  Even the canned stuff is only available seasonally.

I took the long way to get there.  I walked through Piazza Navona and took pictures of the fountains.  I was inspired by the Vandes exhibit to keep thinking about and working on paintings based on Classical and Baroque sculptures.  I always need more reference photos.  Right?

Then through the neighborhoods and under the trees as I walked along the Tiber.  I caught glimpses of Castel Sant Angelo through the leaves.

On to St Peter's and the easily accessible clean and free public restrooms at the Vatican.  This combination is a rare find in this part of the city.  Here I took a little break and read and watched the people in the square.  It was pretty quiet.  So unusual.

After my pumpkin purchases at Castroni and a stop for a maritozzo snack I wandered back along and across the river through the side streets toward Largo Argentina.  I came across a building with an elaborately decorated exterior wall.  I wonder if it was originally an interior wall.  It's possible.  This type of painting isn't common on buildings.  But I don't know.

Once home I had a few minutes to sit before going to pick up my Academic Witch from the bus stop.  It's dark now that day light savings time is over.  I had to stop at the gelateria on the way there to make sure they are open past six.  I didn't want to miss them.  Part of the latest restrictions involve restaurants etc closing or being open only for take out after 6 pm.  This is tough on them since many places don't open for dinner until 7 or 7:30.  Fortunately they were open so we would be able to get our traditional cone for the walk home.  They partially wrapped the top in foil to make it a "take-out" cone.

Morning of the school Halloween party

It was a great day.  I really like Rome in October.

The boys were out of town for a little trip since My Boy didn't have school on Thursday or Friday.  They visited a former leper colony in Ancona, Medieval castles in San Marino, a street market in Bassano, Monte Grappa, and a British WWI cemetery.  They saw cows wearing flower crowns and big alpine bells being herded down the street.  They ate some really good food that was quite different from what we have in Rome because of the German influence in the North.  They had a wonderful weekend.  I am a little jealous, but it is good for them to have some guy time.

Back to school...for now

 School started weeks ago.  Long enough ago that My Boy needs another haircut to tame the mop.  Although, I actually like a bit of moppiness on him.  Classes are in person every day on campus for both kids for now.  I got a message today that this will be changing.  According to the latest decree, starting Monday grades 10-12 will be 50% online for at least two weeks.  It's not about crowding at school, but crowding on the public transit system.  Ninth graders are excluded because some are still 13 years old, too young to stay home alone by Italian law.  News reports say that less than 4% of new cases are from school contacts.  More than 80% are from family contacts, but with more and more cases being reported in the cities the officials are worried about spread on the sometimes crowded busses and metro.  At My Girl's school there have been a handful of cases, all asymptomatic and all from contacts outside of school.  There has been one at My Boy's school.  The schools have assured us that they will interpret the official decrees in the way that allows kids to be on campus as much as legally possible.  So it was fun while it lasted.  My Girl's school has given families the option of going fully online if they want to.  We don't want to.

I managed to snap a couple of first day of school photos as the kids rushed out.  My Girl leaves first.  This year the bus picks her up in front of our building.  It's a big improvement over the half mile dash to the bus stop last year.  This year there are two other girls in her grade on the bus.  They can't sit together, but they can chat a bit.  Much better than the squirrely boys from last year.  The ride is also on a completely different route.  This time she passes Piramide, through the more residential Testaccio neighborhood, past Castel Sant Angelo, then along and over the Tiber river.

The pyramid that the Piramide area is named after was built during a time when Egyptian things were all the rage in Rome.  It was the time of Anthony and Cleopatra and during the time the Romans "imported" obelisks from Egypt.  You can see them all over town.  They have been moved around over the centuries and some have been augmented with Christian decorations, like the ones at the Vatican and San Giovani in Laterano, but you can still see the hieroglyphics on the sides.  

The pyramid is the burial monument for Caius Cestius, a wealthy man from the 1st century.  In order to ensure that his wish to be buried in a pyramid would be carried out, his will stipulated that the pyramid had to be built before his sons could inherit his wealth.  I love the jumble of Rome.  About 300 years after it was built, the pyramid was incorporated into the Aurelian walls around the city.  Now it and the walls enclose part of the non-Catholic cemetery where many notable non-Catholics are buried, including the British poets, Keats and Shelley.  There was once another pyramid in Rome, but it was taken apart and the marble used for the steps of St Peters at the Vatican.

My Girl decided to try some of the after school activities this year.  Mondays is Robotics and Wednesday and Friday are soccer.  The team practices but is limited in what they can do because of distancing requirements.  They can't play games, but she is having a fun time anyway.  It is a great way to spend time with friends and get moving.  She moved up a year in math after a lot of work over the summer so she and a couple friends are in with the 8th graders.  She was a bit nervous about it, but she was the only student to earn 100% on the first exam so I think she is doing just fine.  The day everyone else had to retake the exam she left school early to go camping with the scouts.  That was a much better way for her to spend the afternoon.

My Boy is enjoying school after a bit of adjustment to having a schedule again.  He is happy to be back on the tech crew for Drama.  One of his jobs during rehearsal is to track contacts on stage in case someone gets sick.  He also works with the props and lighting.  Last year he got to perform a part as a disembodied telephone voice.  It was fun to hear him and see his excitement after the performance.  He loved being part of a team that pulled together something big.  His other favorite class this year is Latin followed by Programming, English, and City of Rome.  Last year they studied Ancient Rome.  This year it is Medieval and Renaissance Rome.  I want to take those classes.  I get a glimpse with the school's Lyceum field trips for parents, but more would be fun.

My Boy walks to school.  He could take a city bus.  He did last year.  But it is often crowded in the mornings so the school has asked the kids to avoid them if possible.  It is just over a mile and a very pleasant walk when the weather is nice.  (We got some waterproof-ish shoes for the days it isn't so nice.)  Last year I walked My Girl to her bus stop and picked her up.  It was a great time to catch up and talk.  Now that we don't have to do this I was missing my morning walk so I decided to start walking at least part of the way to school with My Boy.  He doesn't need the escort, but it is a nice time to chat and it is a beautiful walk.  He walks me through the neighborhood toward Porta Latina, a gate through the Aurelian Walls.  For the first couple weeks of school the shadows of the umbrella pines on the old walls were perfect.  There is a narrow bit of park there between Porta Latina and Porta Metronia where people walk their dogs in the mornings and evenings.  It is a nice quiet part of the city away from the busy streets.

We walk through the gate and down the road between Parco Scipioni and the Canadian Embassy.  Just on the other side of the gate is a tiny little octagonal chapel.  It is called San Giovanni in Oleo, St John in Oil.  Traditions say that it marks the spot where St John the Evangelist survived being dipped in a cauldron of boiling oil.  The building we see was built in 1509.  Although, there may be a much older structure below.  There is graffiti carved into the marble around the door from the 1700s.  The nearby church, San Giovanni a Porta Latina, was originally built in the 5th century, but of course has been changed and added to over the years.

There are tall walls on either side of the road here.  The walls are old, but not old old.  You can tell that they were built with whatever was lying around at the time.  On one corner there is part of a Roman column.  Bits of marble, sometimes carved, are incorporated with the rough bricks and stones.  Roman walls are usually evenly constructed with orange flat bricks.  These later walls look like they were made of rubble.

From here we walk by the Baths of Caracalla toward Circo Massimo.  Here My Boy goes left toward school and I turn right.  This is the site of the Porta Capena.  It is no longer there, but they did name the bus stop after the gate.  Porta Capena was a gate in the Servian Walls built to enclose the seven hills of Rome in the 4th century BC, the time of the Roman Republic.  The city grew and spilled outside the walls for several centuries until the Aurelian walls were built between 271-275 AD when the Empire was crumbling and the city was once again threatened.  The ruins of Porta Capena were finally removed in the 1st century AD by Emperor Caracalla when he redid the neighborhood as part of his redevelopment project that later included the new fancy baths.

Viale delle Terme Caracalla - Former site of the Porta Capena

It was a beautiful misty morning.  The umbrella pines are so iconic of Rome.

Sometimes I circle around the Colosseum.  More often I head up past San Gregorio and the Caelian hill.

Just after the church is Clivo di Scauro, dark slope.  (Clivo is actually Latin, not Italian, according to Google Translate.)  I like walking through here.  You can imagine all of the people through history who may have walked up this hill.  On the right is the entrance to the Roman house we visited in January and the church where we stumbled across a concert one dark evening.

I don't know when this wall was built, but you can tell it is not during the Ancient Roman times, possibly Medieval.  The stones are irregular and the wall incorporates bits of mosaic floor.

From here I wander through the grounds of Villa Celimontana then back along the walls or through the neighborhood to stop by the open market at Piazza Epiro.  This fall they have had outdoor jazz concerts in the park, but I haven't gone.  Joining in groups at a concert just didn't seem like a good idea right now, although it did sound like a lot of fun.  Someday...

We're not always at home.  One of our favorite pizza places took all of their tables outside onto the sidewalk.  It is gorgeous on warm evenings.

Update:  Today's national decree says that High Schools need to be 75% online and restaurants and bars will close at 6pm among other things.  This will be tough on them since many don't even open until 7:30.  The High Schools are scrambling.  Certain regions have tighter restrictions where all schools are closed and there are calls for a nationwide shutdown like there was in the spring.  At the same time there are also protests against the restrictions.  The Premier is resisting a full shutdown because of the economic devastation the last one caused.  Who only knows where this one will end.