Sunday, July 10, 1983
After breakfast, Marsha Cotter and I walked to
the nearby Diocletian Baths by 9:00. They did not appear to be open yet, so we
went around the corner to Michelangelo’s church, Santa Maria degli Angeli e
dei Martiri/of Angels and Martyrs. The vestibule of the church is built
over the hot baths, and the church is over the tepid baths. In the vestibule we
saw the statue of St Brunone by Jean Antoine Houdon on the right. The church
proper was in the shape of a Greek cross with 16 enormous columns. To the opposite
side were the tombs of Salvator Rosa and Carlo Maratta with the latter’s
painting of the Baptism of Christ. There was a sundial in the pavement to the right,
along a meridian line. We found the painting of St Jerome Surrounded by the
Saints by Girolamo Muziano, whose works were greatly admired by Michelangelo.
To the right was the tomb of Marshal Armando Diaz. Now to the main altar where
on the right is Domenichino’s The Martyrdom of San Sebastian, and to the left Pomerancio’s
The Punishment of Ananias and Sapphira. Behind the altar was the sepulcher of
Pope Pius IV attributed to Michelangelo. We went around to the National Museum
in the Diocletian Baths, which had free entrance on Sunday. Of course, many
areas were closed off, but we saw the cloister of Michelangelo with sculpture
remnants and funerary monuments. Upstairs we saw the frescoes from Villa Livia
of Prima Porta.
We left to catch bus #64 and got off at Piazza Venezia to walk
down Via del Plebiscito to the Chiesa del Gesù/Church of Jesus. This was
the mother church of the Jesuits with a Giacomo della Porta façade, a
transition from Renaissance to Baroque. It became the prototype for other
Jesuit churches with the tall center façade with scrolls connecting it to the
lower façade. Pride in their mission is seen in the decoration, showing the aim
of the Counter Reformation to make the Catholic church more attractive and
accessible, with a single nave to facilitate preaching and linked chapels. In
the nave vault is Giovanni Battista Gaulli/Il Baciccio’s Triumph of the Name of
Jesus. In the left transept is the chapel of the founder of the Jesuit order,
St Ignatius of Loyola. The saint is buried beneath the altar. The altar is said
to be the costliest in the world because of the solid silver statue of the
saint (now a silver plated statue since the original was melted down by Pope
Pius VI to pay a debt to Napoleon) and because of the globe of lapis lazuli. To
each side is a marble sculpture group; on the left is the Conversation of
Misbelievers of the Faith, and to the right is Christianity Triumphing over
Heresy.
Back outside, we saw the machine-gun toting
guard at the headquarters for the Christian Democratic Party. A little farther
and we came to Largo di Torre Argentina with the ruins of the Republican
Temples, three square and one round.
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| Largo di Torre Argentina |
Here cats are cared for, supposedly in memory of those eaten during the war. We next came to Sant’Andrea della Valle designed by Stefano Maderno, with the second largest dome in Roma. Giacomo Puccini’s opera “Tosca” begins here, goes on to the Palazzo Farnese, and ends at the Castel Sant’Angelo. We passed a begging gypsy before going into the church, and noted in the first chapel on the right a marble statue of Cardinal Gianetti. On the altar is Antonio Raggi’s Angel Counseling St Joseph to Flee Egypt. In the second chapel are bronze copies of Michelangelo’s Pietà, Leah, and Rachel. High on the wall at the end of the nave, on one side is the tomb of Pope Pius II, and on the other side, Pope Pius III. Giovanni Lanfranco did the cupola fresco of the Glory of Paradise. Domenichino did the four Evangelists and angels as well as the apse vault.
We continued to the Piazza Campo de’ Fiori.
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| Campo de' Fiori |
There was no market today, but there was one stall selling flowers. We didn’t see any hippies either, and the shops were closed and shuttered. Once heretics were burned here and criminals hanged. The center statue is of the heretic Bruno who believed life existed elsewhere in the universe. We went to check on the courtyard of the Cancelleria, supposedly designed by Donato Bramante, a three-story arched loggia with a Doric colonnade.
We couldn’t find the San Lorenzo in Damaso church, behind which Michelangelo once had a studio. (The church is part of the Cancelleria and we later passed its entrance.) We continued to the Palazzo Farnese on the Piazza Farnese where Pope Paul III had the houses pushed back or knocked down.
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| Palazzo Farnese |
Now there are two huge fountains made from granite bathtubs (okay, basins) from the Caracalla Baths. The palace is an example of the high point of the Renaissance. Antonio da Sangallo the Younger designed the façade with rows of windows, the vestibule, and the first two stories. Michelangelo finished the work, adding a large central window in the façade, the third floor, and moulding around the façade and sides. Giacomo della Porta did the rear façade and loggia. It now houses the French Embassy and is open only on Sundays at 11:00-12:00. We were a little early and walked around to the back to peek through a gate at the rear loggia. At 11:00, people rang a bell and asked about seeing the inside, and were told the palace would not open at all today. We continued to Palazzo Spada with its elaborate façade. Its gallery was closed for restoration. We tried the Palazzo Massimo alle Colonne, which was also closed. We stopped in the Church of Sant’Agnese in Agone, built on the site where St Agnes was exposed before her execution, however, her long hair covered her like a veil. The cupola frescoes were by Baciccio and there were marble statues and reliefs. We then decided to go to Tre Scalini to have a Gelato Tartufo again!
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| Tre Scalini napkin |
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| Tre Scalini receipt |
We continued down Corso Vittorio Emanuele and crossed the Tiber, heading up the Via della Conciliazione, which was crowded with tour buses. As we approached St Peter’s Square, we saw groups of people with banners and heard a loudspeaker. We assumed there was some kind of demonstration. We had heard the Pope has an audience at 12:00 on Sundays, but thought he was at his summer place of Castel Gandolfo. As we entered the Piazza, our eyes followed the others gaze to the right to look at the tallest building, and standing at a bannered window was Pope John Paul II!
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| Piazza di San Pietro looking towards the Papal apartments |
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| Pope John Paul II |
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| Piazza del Popolo |
There we looked down on the square, and across to the stairs up to the Pincio Park. The square is neo-classical in design and made up of two hemi-circular walls decorated with statues and fountains. In the center is an Egyptian obelisk, and to one side are the twin Baroque churches. It was here that the ashes of Nero were deposited, but because his demonic ghost was molesting people, Pope Paschal II ordered the mausoleum demolished and erected a chapel. This chapel later became the church of Santa Maria del Popolo/of the People. We went in to see the first chapel on the right with Pinturicchio frescoes portraying the scenes of the life of St Jerome. On the altarscreen is the delicate Adoration of the Magi. On the left wall of the chapel is the tomb of Cardinal della Rovere. The second chapel had a Carlo Maratta Assumption on the left wall above the tomb of Cardinal Foscari. The fourth chapel had an altar triptych by the school of Andrea Bregno, as well as frescoes by the school of Pinturicchio. On the main altar is a Byzantine Madonna, and to the sides are two tombs of by Sansovino. The ceiling has Pinturicchio frescoes. The apse has stained glass windows by Guillaume de Marcillat. In the chapel to the left of the altar are two paintings by Caravaggio; The Conversion of St Paul and the Crucifixion of St Peter, and we noted the composition and real-life people. The second chapel on the left, the Chigi Chapel, was designed by Raffaello, who also designed the cupola mosaics and the Lorenzetto statues of Jonah and Elias. Daniel and Habakkuk were done by Gian Lorenzo Bernini. The bronze relief on front of the altar was by Lorenzetto, and the Nativity was by Sebastiano del Piombo. The pyramidal Chigi family tombs were on the side walls.
We left the church to walk down Via del Babuino to Piazza di Spagna, named for the Spanish embassy to the Holy See/Vatican that used to be here. The flight of 137 Spanish Steps was designed by Alessandro Specchi and Francesco de Sanctis.
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| The Spanish Steps and Trinità dei Monte/Trinity of the Mountains |
It was not covered by flowers today. Down below was the Barcaccia/boat fountain by Pietro Bernini, commemorating a great flood. The design is said to have solved the problem of a fountain in a low water pressure area. The house to the right of the base of the steps had a plaque declaring the English poet, John Keats, died there. Percy Shelley and Lord Byron lived nearby. Farther right in front of the American Express office was a column, and on the far side the Palazzo di Propaganda Fide/Propagation of Faith with a Gian Lorenzo Bernini terracotta façade. The façade on the Via di Propaganda side is by Francesco Borromini.
We climbed the Spanish Steps to the church of Trinità dei Monte/Trinity of the Mountains, designed by the Zuccari brothers, Taddeo and Federico, who supposedly built themselves a palace nearby with an imaginative façade at the corner of Via Sistina. We couldn’t pick out which one was Palazzo Zuccari (we went too far, not seeing its façade on the square). At the top of the stairs was an obelisk, and I climbed up to the church to find it was closed. We admired the view over the city of Roma, then descended the steps.
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| View from Trinità dei Monte |
Walked down Via dei Condotti with its fashionable shops. Went over to the Augustan Mausoleum, a brick mound, and next to it in a glass building is the Ara Pacis/Peace Altar of Augustus with bas reliefs. We headed down Via di Ripetta, that became Via della Scrofa, to the church of Sant’Agostino, which was also closed, so we missed a Caravaggio and Raffaello. We returned to the Piazza Navona and the Café Tre Scalini for our third Gelato Tartufo of our stay in Roma!
After recuperating, we headed straight towards the Campo de’ Fiori, stopping at the Piazza del Teatro Pompeo/Pompei Theater, supposedly the site of the assassination of Julius Caesar. This is more specific than locating the deed in the Campo de’ Fiori. We continued past the Palazzo Spada to the Tiber, to find the bridge there was closed!
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| Fiume Tevere/Tiber River |
We had to walk along the river to the next bridge, which gave us a view of the Isola Tiberina/Tiber Island, on which there is a hospital. The island was made to look like a ship with an extended stone prow, since according to legend, Aesclepsius sailed a ship up the Tiber to Roma. A temple to this Greek god of healing was built on the island.
We could see no sign of a street festival in the Trastevere area, and this supposed most colorful area of Roma was dead on a Sunday morning. We headed up Via del Lungaretta, with all the loitering men, until we came to the Piazza di Santa Maria in Trastevere with its fountain raised up on steps. The church of Santa Maria in Trastevere is the oldest church dedicated to the Virgin, consecrated in 222. The mosaics on the façade were behind scaffolding and it was closed. We found our way to Santa Cecilia in Trastevere, built by Pope Paschal I who had a vision of the Saint telling him where her lost remains could be found in the catacombs. This church was also closed.
We decided to try to find our way to San Paolo Fuori le Mura/St Paul’s Outside the Walls, which we knew would be a long walk. We headed to the river, and saw a couple kids being chased by guys in a car, and it appeared their mothers were running behind them. No one was saying anything, so I couldn’t learn what was happening. We crossed the Tiber on Ponte Sublicio and headed down Via Marmorata to Porta San Paolo and the Pyramid of Caius Cestius (18-12 BCE), a tomb for a Roman magistrate. We asked for information and were told to take the #23 bus. We had a long wait for the bus, and about a mile ride down Via Ostiense. We entered our fourth Papal Basilica through the rear and first visited the cloister with the spiraling binate/in pairs columns with mosaics.
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| Basilica San Paolo Fuori le Mura/ St Paul’s Outside the Walls cloister |
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| Binate columns with mosaics |
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| Basilica St Paul's Outside the Walls Holy Door |
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