Our Last Week

I've been remiss in my blog updates!  It's been a crazy week, though.  Our class is winding down at the same time that we're trying to see as many things as we can.

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!

Venezia and More

 Lots to update!

On Thursday, we visited the site of the original Collegio Romano, the school founded by the early Jesuits in the late 16th century.  It became one of the intellectual hubs of Rome, and "my" Jesuit, Athanasius Kircher, created a museum there that was famed across Europe.  Needless to say, I was pretty excited to visit the place.  It's now home to the national institute for meteorological and geophysical research, and their chief scientist was kind enough to devote more than 2 hours to showing us around.  It was very, very cool.  We climbed to the top of the tower where Galileo demonstrated his telescope to the Jesuits in 1611, and our guide -- who knew an astonishing amount of history -- filled in all the details.  The views of the city were fantastic.  We were also treated to a daily ritual, in which the sun pours through a small hole in the ceiling and onto a marble and bronze line on the floor: the line of the meridian. Over the course of the year the sun strikes the line at a different place each day, moving from the summer solstice at one end to the winter solstice at the other.  We watched this while surrounded by sophisticated meteorological equipment, a strange blending of ancient and modern science.  I loved it.

On Friday, I decamped and headed to Venice.  I first visited there a little over 2 years ago and fell in love with the city -- it's a beautiful place.  This time, I stayed in a B&B in a secluded neighborhood, so got a taste of real Venetian life first-hand.  I spent most of my time wandering next to canals, or sipping prosecco next to them, which was perfect.  Venice is so wonderfully quiet -- there are no cars or Vespas, only the occasional motorboat on the canals -- so it made for a much-needed break from the endless bustle and traffic of Rome.  I returned today to scorching temperatures -- 91 degrees today, and it's going to be the same tomorrow and Tuesday.  Yikes.  We're visiting the Vatican on Tuesday, where shorts are a no-no and the ladies have to have their shoulders covered, so we'll be sweating like nobody's business.  Fun.

This week will be our last in Rome; we wrap things up on Friday.  Hard to believe the end is in sight!

 Now for some photos.

 

The original site of La Sapienza, one of the earliest universities in Rome.

 

Piazza Navona, with Bernini's Fountain of the Four Rivers in the middle (with the obelisk on top)

Bernini's fountain with Palazzo Pamphili in the background (former home to an ancient Roman family which survives to this day, and which is still a source of scandalous gossip)

 

On top of the Collegio Romano.  That's the tower we later climbed.

The church of Sant'Ignazio, just next door.

A view from the tower with the Altare della Patria visible to the left.
 

The walls of the Colosseum in the distance. 

The dome of the Pantheon, with St. Peter's visible beyond it.

The sun striking the meridian line on June 14, 2012!

And now we have some photos from Venice -- nothing particularly noteworthy, just things that caught my eye:

The view from the courtyard of the house where I stayed.

The Grand Canal

The Grand Canal

More to come!  Ciao a tutti!

First Days In Rome

We've made the transition to Rome, though with some culture shock for all of us.  Florence seems like a sleepy little town in comparison.  There's a ton of traffic here, and every single person seems determined to kill us.  Of course, being Italian they slam on the brakes mere inches from us as we cross the street...but at least they stop.

My apartment is great -- mainly because it's air-conditioned -- and so far, things have gone well.  We visited ancient Rome yesterday: the Colosseum, the Palatine Hill, and the Forum.  Fantastic stuff.  The Colosseum is amazing, of course.  You can't help imagining what it would have been like with 60,000 screaming people in the stands while gladiators killed each other on the sand below.  Just next door is the Palatine Hill, where Rome was born, according to legend; the twins Romulus and Remus were supposedly suckled by a she-wolf in a cave on that hill, and it's where emperors built their villas in later times.  And there's the Forum, which was the civic center of ancient Rome -- "the most important meeting-place in the world," as one historian put it.  Today it's just ruins, but you can still see traces of ancient temples and other buildings.  It's all amazingly evocative, even after more than 2,000 years.

I have a bunch of photos, so here they are, with occasional annotations:

The lavish monument to Vittorio Emmanuele II, the first king of a unified Italy.  Known to locals as "the wedding cake" and "the typewriter."

Trajan's Column.  Beautiful.  This photo doesn't do it justice.

And now......the Colosseum:

 

The Palatine Hill:

(They planted these blue and purple flowers where there were once pools and fountains.  It's a beautiful effect.)

The Forum:

(The ancient temple of Romulus.  Those are the original bronze doors, more than 2,000 years old.)

Today we dove into the wonderful world of the Jesuits.  As I've been studying them for the past 10 years or so, I thought it only right that my students should meet them as well.  (Plus, they played a major role in the trial of Galileo.)  We visited Il Gesu, the first Jesuit church in Rome and the location of the tomb of St. Ignatius Loyola, founder of the Jesuit order.  I loved it; so did the students!  It's a great example of baroque opulence, with gold, precious stones, and colored marble everywhere.  Then we headed to the church of Sant'Ignazio, the other great Jesuit church, before making a stop at the Pantheon, which was nearby.  I love the Pantheon -- one of the oldest buildings in the city, it had the largest freestanding dome in the world for almost 2,000 years....until the Superdome was constructed in New Orleans.  A part of me can't help wincing at that...

This afternoon we were very lucky to get a tour of the Pontifical Gregorian University.  First founded by the Jesuits in 1553 as the Roman College, it's now one of the msot important Catholic universities in the world, serving 2,500 students from around the globe.  The building was beautiful, but then we went up to the roof and discovered some of the most amazing views in the entire city.  I really loved it, and I think the students enjoyed it as well.

More photos!

Il Gesu.

The shrine of St. Francis Xavier, one of the first Europeans to visit Japan, India, and other parts of Southeast Asia.  In the oval is a reliquary containing part of his right arm "with which he baptized 300,000 converts."

The tomb of St. Ignatius of Loyola.

The church of Sant'Ignazio.

 

When you first step inside, the dome is pretty obvious.....

 

....but as you walk underneath it, you realize it's a clever optical illusion.  The ceiling is actually flat, because they couldn't afford an actual dome, so they commissioned an artist to paint the appearance of one.  This completely blew my students' minds.

Another optical illusion, or trompe l'oiel, on the ceiling -- the columns seem to rise into an open sky filled with saints and angels.

 

The oculus in the dome of the Pantheon.

The tomb of Vittorio Emmanuele II, the first king of a unified Italy.

 

The Trevi Fountain.  Absolute mayhem.  Won't be back.

And now, views from the roof of the Pontifical Gregorian University:

That's St. Peter's in the distance.  It looked much more impressive with the naked eye than this photo suggests.  Oh well.


That's it for now.  I'm off to Venice on Friday for a couple of days -- a mini-holiday.  More updates to follow!

Ciao a tutti!