Italy, Viewing a Masterpiece: Survey #4

A trip to Italy can easily become a check list of MUST SEE historic buildings and masterpieces. That said, Rome definitely has masterpieces that will feed your soul if you allow yourself to spend quality time with them.

On top of all the Must See Lists is the Sistine Chapel and its ceiling by Michelangelo. The Sistine Chapel gets over 10,000 visitors everyday. It takes 12 full time museum guards to manage the crowd flow, and to remind these people that the Sistine Chapel is a house of worship, so be respectful, be quite, don't talk on your cell phones, or take photos. (I would absolutely hate to have that job)

You enter the chapel by a small nondescript side door. The first impression is seeing a mass of people all looking up. Then your eyes move upward and there it is... and then you stumble off the stairs that you didn't notice because you were looking up.

I could go on and on about the impact of seeing this masterpiece, but there is already plenty of that on the internet. So, I am skipping to later that day, around 4:30, when we went back for a highly recommended second look. There was only 15 people in the chapel!!! There was actually setting available! We hung out for about an hour and a half, soaking up as much as possible. Quietly pointing out the beautiful details to each other.

One question did come up, What exactly were Adam and Eve doing just before the snake in the tree interrupted them?

Rome, Bits and Pieces of History: Survey #3

It didn't take me long to realize that beneath every step I made in Rome, I was walking on top of history. The Roman Forum is one of the more famous historic holes dug around the city, a city that is passionately linked to the history buried under its feet...

or incorporated into its buildings (Theater of Marcellus)...

or simply given right of way because it was there first. This respect for the past is because modern Rome knows that the dirt and stones they walk on are the embodiment of tradition and family.

This respect leads to the preservation of ancient fragments no mater where it might be found. Midway up a wall in the sub-basement of the Capitoline Museum or...

as a subterranean window boxes in a Metropolitana station.

Rome Art, Sculpture and Food: Survey #2

I get the feeling that every trip to Rome could result in the creation of a travel book on art, history, and food. I know I filled up a moleskin with drawings and notes. Brought home a few pounds of post cards and magazines. And I still haven't finished sorting out the hundreds of photos.

So to help me get a handle on some of this information I'll be posting some thoughts and photos over the next few days on things that stand out for no obvious reason.

These photos are from the Capitoline Museum. The first 2 are marble fragments from the colossal sculpture of Emperor Constantine the 2nd. I've wanted to see these detached body parts since I was a little kid. Next is a giant bronze hand, also of Mr. Constantine. 

These are just some of the large sculpture fragments I saw scattered across Rome. It just goes to show, if you make it really big and flashy, future generations may only remember you by the sized of your toenails.

Rome: A Quivering Woman and Monk Bones: Survey #1

We arrived in Rome with only the normal inconvenience of having the live on air plan food for 7 hours. We have a small apartment not far from the Spanish Steps, and not far from a small moldy church that happens to be where Bernini's Ecstasy of St. Taresa is located.

And around the corner is the Cappuchin Crypt. I got a big snort full of moldy bone dust but no photos. A lot of the churches don't allow photos, but they have post cards for sell, which are better quality than anything I can snap with my dime store digital.

Tomorrow,  good food and the Roman Forum.