On Monday we were able to make a (brief) visit to the American Academy in Rome, to see the exact spot where, 401 years ago, Galileo not only demonstrated his telescope to Roman nobles and officials, but also coined the word "telescope." That was pretty neat. The big highlight of this week, however, was our visit to Vatican City on Tuesday. It was utterly exhausting. We had a guide for our 3-hour visit to the Vatican Museums -- he's a professor of art history and was a fantastic person to see the Museums with -- but the sheer number of people that we had to push through was staggering. I'm rarely claustrophobic, but there were moments in the Museums when I almost lost it. Thousands and thousands of people crammed into corridors and rooms and the Sistine Chapel. I'm afraid it really did detract from the experience, especially in the Sistine Chapel, where people are supposed to be silent and cannot take photos. That didn't stop the insane crush of tourists from talking incessantly and snapping pictures, though, while security guards shouted "Silenzio!" every 30 seconds.
Once we escaped into St. Peter's basilica, however, we were able to relax a little. It's unbelievably vast -- we've seen a lot of impressive churches on this trip, but St. Peter's is in a different league. Unlike the Vatican Museums, I hadn't seen it before, and it kind of blew my mind.
Here are a few photos from the Vatican:
An amazing work by Raphael -- our guide went into raptures over it.
The interior of St. Peter's. This gives you some sense of scale.
Michelangelo's amazing dome.
On Wednesday we visited an amazing exhibition by the Vatican Secret Archives -- 100 documents from their collection, displayed at the Capitoline Museum. (The website is here: http://www.luxinarcana.org/en/ . Worth a visit just to get a sense of what was in the exhibition.) It was phenomenal. So many pivotal and fascinating documents from centuries and centuries of history....including the official abjuration signed by Galileo in 1633, where he confessed to holding the heretical doctrine that the Earth moves around the sun. Seeing his actual signature was awesome, and we all really enjoyed the rest of the exhibition as well. No photos, alas, as they weren't allowed.
Today was our last excursion. First we dropped by Santa Maria Sopra Minerva, the church where Galileo's actual trial took place. We couldn't see the room where he was tried, but the church itself was very impressive and beautiful:
Then we took a self-guided tour following in the footsteps of Dan Brown's terrible Angels and Demons. I asked the students to read it as an example of the modern myths that have sprung up surrounding Galileo, and it was a good excuse to visit some beautiful and important places in Rome. The characters in the book have to race around the city finding clues hidden in works of art and architecture. We'd seen St. Peter's Square on Tuesday, so today we visited Santa Maria della Vittoria to see Bernini's famous (and controversial) The Ecstasy of Saint Theresa (the so-called Altar of Fire in Dan Brown's book):
It's difficult to see, but it was controversial because Bernini sculpted Saint Theresa in what looks like the throes of an amazing orgasm. Tsk.
Then we headed to Santa Maria del Popolo to see the famous Chigi Chapel. Imagine our surprise when we arrived and found.....this:
I was seriously displeased. Ironically, in the book the entire church is undergoing restoration so this is actually exactly what the chapel looked like. I was disappointed we couldn't see the real thing, though.
As a random point of interest, in the piazza outside there was a 3,500-year-old obelisk. That was pretty cool.
We then traveled to Castel Sant'Angelo and spent some time wandering around. Originally built as a mausoleum to Emperor Hadrian around 130AD, it's been expanded and built up over the centuries. It was really neat, and the views were amazing (as was the cool breeze blowing off the river, thankfully).
We ended the day in Piazza Navona at the Fountain of the Four Rivers, the last "Altar" in Dan Brown's book. I then accompanied a bunch of students to a nearby English pub where we celebrated in appropriate fashion.
So there it is. One last class tomorrow, and we're done. I may do some sightseeing this weekend before heading off to Amsterdam for a few days on Monday. And in one more week, I'll be heading home! It's been a fantastic experience, but I'm looking forward to returning to my life.
There may or may not be future updates here, but I hope everyone has enjoyed following along! Ciao!
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