Personal Journal Day 8 (5/25)

Entry 1

It is so incredible to be here in the pantheon.  I don't think I'll ever get used to turning the corner to see it standing right there, almost as if to greet me.  Walking through the massive doors is an amazing experience, though diminished somewhat by the sigh saying "beware of pickpockets".  The domed roof is so impressive with its coffers that it almost doesn't look real.  It somehow seems too perfect.  I also love the spot of sun that shines through the oculus and onto the roof.  The colors on the walls and floors are also very striking.  The walls are covered in marble, but it isn't white.  Some parts are black, others are green, and still others are a sandy color tinged with black.  The floor is also marble.  Here it is white, but also maroon and sand colored.  It is so beautiful.  Statues stand in apses along the round wall.  The Christian altar at the front and the tombs of the Emanueles look very out of place, but I realize that if the space wasn't consecrated by the church, it probably wouldn't be here.  The tomb of Raphael is ok though.  He seems to fit here, in such an artistic achievement.

Entry 2

The Pantheon was only the beginning of what ended up being a pretty long day.  After we left, we all went over a street to Tazza d'oro, a really good coffee bar.  With everyone happily refueled, we set forth for the Piazza Navona, but first we stopped in a little church to see Caravaggio's St. Matthew paintings.  These are treasures that one could easily miss, as there is no fanfare outside the church.  We had to pay some money to turn on the lights in the back right corner of the church where the paintings hang, but it was worth it.  These are my favorites of all the paintings we looked at over the semester and they did not disappoint.  They are much bigger in person than I had imagined them.  They all look amazing, though as they adorn the three walls in an alcove, they are hard to see if there is a crowd, but I got a good look at all of them.  We then proceeded to the Piazza to hear about the Fountain of the Four Rivers and a talking statue before breaking for lunch.  We went to a cute little restaurant that had some seating outside near the road.  After getting some gelato, the whole gropu met up near the statue of Giordano Burno in the Campo de' Fiori.  We heard a little about it before setting off to the metro.  We got off at Termini and stepped outside to see some remains of the Servian wall.  While it isn't too impressive today, it's still very cool to see such an incredible ancient expression of power.  We kept walking into a seedier part of the city.  As we approached Helen's site, a woman nearby had her purse snatched, though I missed it.  This put me on edge for the entire time we stood listening to Helen talk about the Porta Maggiore.  I felt as though some people were giving us too much attention, though I might have been overreacting.  Regardless, I was happy when we moved on.  I was looking forward to our next site, St. John Lateran, but I was honestly a bit disappointed by it.  It didn't seem any more impressive than the church we saw on the Capitoline hill.  If anything, I liked it less.  The colors of the paintings that covered the walls seemed washed out and dull.  The ceiling was covered with too much gold, to the point that it looked gaudy.  The cheap, plastic chairs that stood in place of pews were also very underwhelming.  However, the statues that stood along the sides of the center aisle were very impressive.  I sat in the back for a while before heading home.

Personal Journal Day 7 (5/24)

Entry 1

Today was relatively uneventful.  I almost went to the Pentecostal Mass this morning (the one where they drop rose petals from the oculus of the Pantheon), but I wasn't feeling well and didn't want to make it worse.  So I stayed in bed.  I was honestly a bit out of it for most of the day.  I found my way over to the Spanish Steps to hear Mariana's presentation on them, which was good.  It is a very tall and impressive staircase, though I would prefer to see it less packed with people, but I doubt it ever is.  We then moved on to the Horologium of Augustus, a great obelisk that functioned as some sort of sundial or meridian marker.  We also saw the Column of Marcus Aurelius, which was inspired by the Column of Trajan.  After hearing some presentations on those and on two of Sarah's talking statues, we walked over to the Largo Argentina.  Emily gave a really good presentation on the republican temples in it, and I enjoyed how it is now a cat shelter.  We could even see some of the cats walking among the ruins.  I then took a nap when we got back to St. John's.  I got up to go to dinner at a pizzeria and had a great time with some friends.  Kristen makes the most amazing expressions.  We then got some gelato and went back.  I'm pretty tired now.

Personal Journal Day 6 (5/23)

Entry 1

Today has been pretty amazing, as usual.  We started our day by going to the Villa Borghese Gallery.  I had never heard of this museum and didn't really know what to expect.  I was blown away.  It isn't quite as incredible as the Capitoline Museum, but it's close.  For one thing, it's much smaller (though that isn't necessarily a bad thing).  It's so small that your ticket is only good for two hours, after which they kick you out.  So you have to make the most of those two hours, because there are many wonderful sculptures.  Taking Alessandra's advice, we started on the second floor to avoid the crowd.  This was predominantly full of paintings depicting religious figures, which I don't find terribly interesting.  however, there were some paintings that I really did like.  I walked into one room and saw Barocci's Aeneas' Flight from Troy.  I then turned around to see Domenichino's Diana.  After walking around for a bit, I went downstairs to the statures.  This is where the museum really appealed to me.  It was mostly full of depictions of antiquity.  I entered the floor to see Bernini's Rape of Persephone right in front of me.  And if that wasn't enough, Bernini's Aeneas was in the next room.  I then moved on to see his David and finally his Daphne and Apollo.  It was all so incredible.  After leaving the museum, we walked to the Piazza del Popolo to hear Patrick give a really excellent presentation.  We then took a break for lunch and a few of us went to a really cool stationary store called Vertecchi.  After that we went to see the Ara Pacis.  It is an amazing monument.  I was astonished by how much of it is left.  I also loved the way that it was presented.  From a distance, the altar looks complete, giving a good idea of what it would have looked like.  But when you get closer, you can clearly tell the difference between the restored and the ancient parts.  It was all housed in a beautiful, modern building which really complimented the altar with lots of air, windows, and open space.  After that, we saw the Mausoleum of Augustus, which was a bit disappointing but still cool.  We then broke for the day and I rested until dinner, when went back to the wonderful narrow and winding streets of Trastevere.  We found a really good restaurant called Cornucopia, where I had some of the best lasagna of my life.  Also notable was Kristin's meal.  She was unaware that her pasta would come with two prawns that would be staring at her.  It took her a while to get over this, and she even named them Buster and O'Neil.  It was pretty hilarious to watch.  We then walked back after we finished and called it a night.  

Personal Journal Day 5 (5/22)

Entry 1

Today has been a day of extremes.  It started out incredibly.  We took a bus over to the Capitoline Hill and stopped for a moment to acknowledge the cloaked statue of Cola Di Rienzo on our way up to the museum.  The museum itself was mindblowingly amazing.  It might honestly have been the best museum I've ever been to.  We approached it on Michelangelo's entryway which led to a square between three buildings with a copy of an equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius in the center.  We then entered the museum and came into a courtyard which housed fragments of a colossal statue of Constantine.  The fact that only a small amount of the statue remains adds to the sense of awe I get from it.  I can only imagine how massive it used to be.  We went up the stairs to the main gallery.  This place was a maze.  We were put into groups and assigned themes which we needed to find representations of in the gallery.  My group found a green marble dog to represent luxury.  As we wandered through the museum, I was struck by how many pieces I recognized.  I reached the end of a long room and suddenly I was looking at the statue of Commodus as Hercules.  I also saw the awkward tetrarch hug.  The presentations were all really well done.  Each group gave the assignment a lot of thought.  Along the way we saw the original of the statue of Marcus Aurelius that was in the square.  We also saw the foundations of the temple of Jupiter on the Capitoline Hill, over which I think the museum is built.  The significance of the ruins only became apparent when I noticed a miniature of clear plastic, inside of which were small stones representing the foundations in front of us.  The temple must have been beyond huge.  After we finished with the main area we, we walked underground and to the adjacent building.  We then found the good view of the forum and took some pictures before doubling back to the building across from the entrance.  The first thing we saw was the statue of Mars Ultor that probably stood in the temple in the Forum of Augustus.  It is an absolutely incredible piece of sculpture.  We then heard Sarah D's first presentation about the talking statues.  After she finished, a few other people and I went up to the second floor to see the gallery of busts that Florence Nightingale mentioned in her letters.  This floor is what truly made the museum amazing for me.  I know that the sculptures would have been painted, but the almost uninterrupted whiteness of the heads and bodies, combined with the offwhite colors of the walls, somehow made me feel as though I was cut off from the outside wold and that all that existed was the art in front of me.  It was an experience unlike any other.  I spent a long time looking at the heads.  I was extremely happy when I found my favorite sculpture of Cicero.  I could barely contain my excitement.  After a while, I went down to the main entrance, after buying a book, to discover that it had started pouring.  Here's where the day took a downturn.  I really don't like the bus system in Rome.  We ran out into the rain and had a tough time finding the right bus.  After getting soaked, we got onto a bus we thought would take us back to St. John's.  However, I checked my phone and saw that we were going the wrong way.  We had a bit of trouble deciding whether or not to get off and to try to find a metro stop, which I had much more confidence in, or stay on and hope it would loop around.  Eventually, I got off with Sarah D; I could barely breathe on the bus.  I felt bad as the bus drove away with Ally and Elyssa still on it.  We soon found a metro stop and got back without further incident.  However, when we got back, the headache that had been brewing for a while got really bad and I had to rest for a few hours until dinner, which did the trick.  I felt much better.  After listening to a small talk by Prof. Curley's friend, Allesandra, we went to eat.  I ate the best meal I've had in recent memory.  The two waiters we had were also excellent.  I ordered gnocchi with a white truffle sauce for the first course, breaded veal cutlet for the second, and a chocolate and cream concoction for dessert.  After dinner, a mistake was made and we got on the wrong bus, but Victoria came to the rescue and asked the driver how to get back, which we eventually did without any serious problem.  I'm just resting in my room right now.  What an interesting day.  

Personal Journal Day 4 (5/21)

Entry 1

Palatine Hill and Roman Forum today.  After a presentation about the Arch of Constantine, I stood looking up at the Palatine Hill and found myself thinking that it seemed isolated.  That probably had something to do with the fence that surrounded the hill, but it also was tough to see through the trees.  After we entered, a small an constantly changing group of us began to climb the hill.  As we walked, I forgot we were in the middle of a city.  I looked to my left at the remains of a once mighty building, now just a series of brick walls and arches.  I didn't know what many of the ruins were, which I liked.  It gave the place a sense of wonder.  We continued up the path, which narrowed before opening out over a sunken courtyard, which I learned was the Stadium of Domitian, a non-functional racetrack built by the emperor.  We turned left and came to more ruins, continuing on to reach an overlook to the Circus Maximus.  Even in its somewhat pathetic state (it is now just a field), the massive size of the old track is awe inspring.  It must have been incredibly impressive in ancient times.  We then went back to the ruins, which began to feel a bit like a maze.  So much of what remains looks similar.  I wonder if it was always like that or if it was easier for the emperor to find his way around.  I had a hard time telling where one complex ended and another began.  Sarah and I found a bench to relax on and then went off to make a quick stop at the Palatine Museum, which is on the hill, but not before almost losing her phone.  There was some great sculpture on the second floor of the museum.  We then went of to get lunch.  I had a mediocre pizza, but the place was cool.  After that we went over to the Forum.  We wandered through the remains of the Basilica Fulvia and then I gave my presentation on the Curia Julia in spite of some very rude tourists.  After I finished we walked up the sacra via, following the old triumphal route before continuing on to Victoria's presentation on the vestal virgins.  It was good and we even got to go inside the house of the vestals, which was very exciting as it is usually closed.  We also saw the massive Basilica of Maxentius/Constantine which dwarfs everything else around it, even though only a fraction of it remains.  Just three massive apses.  We finished the day by going to the temple of Venus and Roma to take a group picture in front of the Colosseum.

Personal Journal Day 3 (5/20)

Entry 1

This morning/afternoon is going to be tough to beat.  We started out by taking the train to the Colosseum.  The Colosseum is the first thing that seemed proportional.  What I mean by that is that its size and slight separation from the surrounding area make it seem like a separate monument.  The inside was incredible.  It reminds me of Fenway Park, but on a much greater scale.  We had a tour guide who did a good job of hitting all the high points of the history of the building.  The tour itself was short, but fun.  She focused quite a bit on the labyrinth of passageways below the arena.  I can only imagine how hot and uncomfortable it must have been during the games.  It was too bad we couldn't go down and see them up close.  We only stayed for a little while in the Colosseum , but it was enough for me to get slightly lost.  This is one of the prices of modernity.  In ancient times, the Colosseum could be filled and emptied in minutes because there are so many entrances and passageways laid out in a clear way.  Now, many are blocked off to keep people from sneaking in.  It's a shame.  From there we proceeded to the Church of S. Pietro in Vincoli by way of the street where Tullia ran over her father's body.  The church/basilica was magnificent.  It was surprised at how few pews were in the church and also by the imagery containing the angel of death.  I was also surprised how close were able to get to the chains of St. Peter and the sculpture of Moses by Michelangelo.  Now, after I've finished eating, I'm sitting in the Forum Romanum.  This is just amazing.  I've been strolling the same streets Cicero used to walk.  I've gotten as close as I could to the place where he gave so many amazing speeches, though the comitium area is closed.  I feel so immersed in history right now.  I think I'll stay a little while longer.

Stay Tuned

The journey may be over, but the blog is not!  Stay tuned as I post my daily journals that I simply didn't have time to while in Italy.

Envoi (6/5)

Well, I suppose this is it.  I find it somewhat amusing that my final assignment at Skidmore is a blog post, but quite honestly, I wouldn't have it any other way.  It allows me to express myself with an intimacy that a final paper can't quite capture.  The last two days have been largely spent reflecting on my time in Italy and adjusting to life back in America.  On my way home from the airport, my dad and I stopped for food in New Haven, and after we left I found myself looking for a gelateria.  I had gotten so used to being able to just wander into a shop for a coffee or gelato, and I wasn't prepared for how much I would miss that.  But Rome meant more to me than just coffee and gelato.  I felt as though I was able to observe the passage of time in a way that I never have before.  I think the Theater of Marcellus is the best example of this.  The building consists of ancient arches, modern extensions of those arches, and modern apartments above those.  It was amazing to see the past integrated with the present, and it made me wonder about the future.  But there were also opportunities to focus on slightly more specific points in history.  Seeing the Colosseum for the first time made me stumble in awe, as did turning the corner to find myself face to face with the Pantheon (much to Professor Curley's amusement).  It was just so incredible to finally see these monuments I had known about and studied for many years among the hustle and bustle of Rome, and we saw so many of them.  The experience of seeing the pope was one of the more amazing things to happen in Rome, and this is coming from someone who is not religious.  I found myself enraptured by his speech, even though he was talking in a language I didn't speak.  The Capuchin Crypt was one of the more disturbing places I've ever been to, but I definitely enjoyed my time there.  Wandering the forum and imagining it as it was when Cicero walked through it might have been the highlight of the trip if it hadn't been for Ostia.  I really had no idea such an amazing place existed.  I totally felt like I had gone back in time.  I could close my eyes and imagine that there were ancient Romans walking beside me.  But what was most incredible was how I got used to these experiences.  We went to the Colosseum stop on the metro enough times that I began to expect it, though it never lost its majesty.  In many ways its similar to the experience of growing up in Concord.  I am surrounded by historical monuments, but they become part of my day, even though they are still special.  Rome became part of my day, and that's pretty amazing.  However, the biggest takeaway from the trip is the friendships I made.  Throughout the semester, I got to know everyone by sight and I knew the names of most people in the class, but I didn't really think I'd be able to become friends with everyone in 17 short days.  I was wrong.  I could not have asked for a better group of students or better professors with which to fly off to Italy.  I felt like we were all on this grand adventure together to try and appreciate as much of the city as possible, and I think we succeeded.  The course at Skidmore provided us all with a context with which to integrate new information that we picked up in Rome.  Even when we forgot something, it was easy to put the pieces back in place because we had an idea of the concept of Rome.  I miss it already.  I now am thinking about the next phase of my life.  I have some job interviews lined up and then will start thinking about a long term career.  I have no idea when I'll be able to see the rest of the world again.  But that's ok.  I don't think I'd want to take another trip anytime soon, because it wouldn't have a chance of living up to my time in Rome.  I have made friendships that I hope can last, and memories that I will definitely have until the day I die.  These really were two of the best weeks of my life.  I'm sad that it's over, but I'm so lucky that I was able to finish my college career in the best way imaginable.  Thank you all so much!

Giornale 4 at Basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere (6/2)

For my fourth and final Giornale, I went to the Basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere.  I thought this was really appropriate as this is the same church that some of us briefly visited on the first day.  To be perfectly honest, I remember sitting on the steps on the fountain in the square and looking at the collection of Greek and Latin inscriptions on the walls underneath the portico, but I don’t remember going inside.  Sarah B, Frini, and I all walked over there together after Kevin and Sarah D. had gone home following the Republic Day parade.  The church sort of snuck up on us as we were wandering through Trastevere.  It is a very unassuming building in a very inconspicuous square, with the entrance almost hidden from view underneath the portico, almost as if it is hiding.  We approached and I stopped to admire the inscriptions for a minute before walking inside.  The inside almost overwhelmed me with gold when I first saw it, but I soon grew accustomed to it and really began to enjoy it.  The ceiling is covered with a gilded pattern, framing a painting of a woman in the center.  The front apse was also covered primarily in gold, but with some paintings as well.  The most prominent was depiction of Jesus flanked by several men on each side and a woman sitting next to him.  The background was gold with the faces and clothes of the people in color.  Underneath this was a painting of several lambs or sheep, but this time with a darker background.  Many other people were depicted on the walls of the bema.  The altar was quite plain, with solid dark columns holding a roof above it.  I was sitting in a pew near the back for a bit as I took this all when people began to sing.  It might have been in Latin or Italian, I couldn’t tell.  I sat and listened for a while before getting up to investigate the side apses.  The right aisle was mostly in shadows and many of the apses were similarly dark.  The first one, closest to the back, contained a portrait of a woman receiving the Eucharist.  The second apse displayed a scene depicting baby Jesus.  I continued down the area, peeking into the other apses on my way up the stairs to a small, empty chapel to the left of the central apse.  It seemed much removed from the rest of the church and very serene.  There was a sign saying that it was exclusively for prayer, so I didn’t enter.  I then descended the stairs and met up again with Frini and we both went to investigate the right hand chapel as well as the singing that was still coming from it.  The left aisle was much brighter than the right one because of the sun.  As we got closer we saw a crowd and I stood on tiptoes to see a young man dressed in white looking very happy and hugging people.  Frini said that she thought it was a ceremony for a newly appointed priest, and that seems logical to me.  It was a very nice thing to happen upon.  We stood there for a bit, enjoying the happiness in the air before running into Sarah on our way out of the church. 

Momentary Blindness (Ostia Antica 5/31)

Right now it is alternating between very loud and very quiet.  Conversation engulfs me along with strong high pitched chirps.  However, when the people stop talking, the birds seem to as well, leaving a silence that cannot be found in Rome.  I am walking along a road.  I can feel the uneven stones beneath my feet forcing the soles of my shoes into my feet.  Each step feels different.  Sometimes I step on a flat, smooth surface, other times my foot falls on a sharp rock.  But they are all at different angles, making the walk quite exhausting.  I can really feel it in my calves and the bottoms of my feet.  The hot sun beats down on my head and arms, warming my hair.  The cool breeze does a bit to help cool me off, but overall it is a bit uncomfortable.  I start to veer left, off the stones and under flat, firm dirt.  It is much easier on my feet.  I extend my hand and gently run it across rough stone, feeling the toll that time has taken on the building.  As I follow the wall, the stone turns and suddenly I can’t feel the sun anymore.  The air feels damp.  My footsteps echo slightly.  I am inside an ancient ruin.  I sit down to enjoy the cool oasis.  The dirt feels pleasant under me.  I try to extend my legs, but find that there is a second wall blocking them.  I tuck my legs in and just sit, enjoying the presence of the past around me.

(Ostia Antica, 5/31, 10:47-11:00) 

Giornale 3 at the Santa Maria della Concezione dei Cappuccini aka the Capuchin Crypt (5/30)

For my third Giornale, I went with Kristin, Kevin, Emily, Sarah and a few others to the church of the capuchin monks.  As we were taking the metro over, Sarah mentioned how scared she had been of this place when she was younger.  I thought this was interesting.  Churches don't usually inspire fear.  I asked what was so scary about it and was told that it was a surprise.  So I stopped asking and resolved to go into this blind.  We got off the train but were a bit too early, so we went across the street to get gelato.  After waiting a bit for everyone to show up, we entered the museum.  As we bought our tickets, I was warned not to look at the book open next to the cash register, and I didn't peek.  Tickets in hand, we entered the museum.  I looked at a lot of stuff, but didn't read much so as not to spoil the surprise.  I saw brown robes of Franciscan friars in a glass case.  I walked a bit more and saw a picture of a friar holding a bloody hook on a chain.  I read enough to learn that he was hung from the hook for three days over a fire.  I turned around from the painting to see a very bloody drawing of Jesus on the cross.  It looked like a macabre doodle some schoolboy made to liven up his day.  It wasn’t very detailed, but the body of Jesus was completely red and large droplets were coming off of him.  I started to think that this order of friars was a bit strange.  Sarah then called to me and asked if I saw the pocket watches, so I went back to look at a small collection of very cool watches behind glass.  I then continued to make my way through the small museum until I turned a corner and read a sign informing me that I was approaching the crypt.  I could see the bottom of an arching ceiling through the doorway I was standing behind.  It looked like there was bone on the ceiling.  I stepped though the doorway and yep, it was definitely bone.  I have never been so amazed, repulsed, and drawn in, all at the same time.  The room was full of bones.  They were very artistically arranged, which made it much more disturbing.   Two robed bodies were lying under an archway made of bones over a bed also made of bones.  Two other robed bodies were standing under archways made of bones on the wall opposite to me.  I looked up to see a small skeleton attached to the ceiling in the center of a design of decorative ribs.  There were three more rooms like this.  The next room was predominantly filled with skulls with some robed bodies among them.  The room after that was mostly decorated with pelvises.  Then we got a break and there was only a coffin.  The last room was particularly disturbing because the faces of the bodies hadn’t quite finished decaying.  We reached the gift shop and took a minute to recover before heading up to the church itself.  The church was one of the darkest I’ve ever been to.  There wasn’t a lot of light, but there was also a lot of dark wood used in its construction.  The paintings on the side walls were all of friars in brown robes.  But what really made me feel uneasy was the music.  I have never heard such dissonant church music.  The only real light part of the church was a beautiful painting of Mary above the altar with a crown of actual gold stars. I sat in a pew for a bit taking it all in before leaving.  Definitely one of the more interesting churches I’ve ever seen.