Guido Reni a go-go

Remnants of the Early Christian monastery at S. Gregorio Well today was pretty interesting – we met at Palazzo Pio before walking around the corner to SS. Trinità dei Pellegrini, one of only a handful of churches in Rome who have revived the Tridentine Rite – at least for Sunday Mass. Why is this relevant? [...]

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Family Fun with the Farnese

Palazzo Corsini (it’s not the Farnesina, but it’s across the street!) Well our morning began at the Farnesina, the ‘little Farnese’ villa on the Trastevere side of the river, right next door to John Cabot University. Fortunately for our apartment, we were able to meet the rest of the group on site (rather than crossing [...]

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It’s showtime!

Irises from the Villa d’Este WHEW! As of 16h30 this afternoon, the site presentation I’ve been stressing out over all week was over! Done, finished, kaput – the best feeling in the world. The whole thing ended up taking almost three hours – including my formal presentation and discussion, and an hour for everyone to [...]

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del Popolo

Columns in Santa Maria del Popolo Today began with a brief stop inside Sant’Agostino to see Caravaggio’s Madonna di Loreto and discuss the complications of decorum and representation c. 1600. We particularly considered these issues as applied to the Madonna, which was sharply criticized in the later 17th century for being indecorous – showing too [...]

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On the way to Valzani…

Classic Fiat sitting outside Valzani I can at least say I was productive today. I didn’t really leave the apartment, but I made serious progress on my presentation on Villa d’Este for Tuesday – hey, it’s only 20% of my grade, no sweat. Presenting in the field, you say? Oh, well that changes things. Yes [...]

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Villa Aldobrandini

Carlo Maderno’s Teatro dell’Acqua at Villa Aldobrandini, c. 1600 This morning was unbelievable. Kit, Vicki and I traipsed through the pouring Roman rain to catch a Regionale train to Frascati to see Villa Aldobrandini. We arrived at Termini around 9h25, in plenty of time for the 9h52 train – so we thought. We bought our [...]

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In Memoriam

Gluten free Amaretti cookies with Earl Grey tea I’ll be honest, I had the most productive morning: I read, I researched, I worked on my thesis and my presentation – woo! Then I went to work and all hell somewhat broke loose. After checking my e-mail, I received a startling update. A friend’s sister wrote [...]

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Roman Rooftops and the Other Michelangelo*

Today was unbelievable, but I’ll be honest, it had its moments. Pro: We started off the day with our best discussion yet – oriented around Caravaggio’s Bacchus (1595) , Amor Vincit Omnia or “Love Conquers All” (1602-03) and The Martyrdom of St. Matthew (1599-1600). Con: we had class twice today, and our discussion lasted forever. [...]

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Musei Vaticani

View of St. Peter’s from the Pinacoteca Okay, the Vatican Museums – as much as I disdain them for treating art and history as material assets – have a few things going for them. First of all: sheer size. Holy cow (literally?) – so big! Second, the most awesomest stuff ever. EVER. Just look. And [...]

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Primavera (no, not Botticelli)

Gluten free Penne Primavera I’m still exhausted from yesterday- even with an hour’s late start, it’s going to take me a few days to recover. Even still, we had a great class meeting – discussing the Vatican, the Cortile del Belvedere and the new design for St. Peter’s basilica (Bramante’s, Michelangelo’s and ultimately, Bernini and [...]

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Orvieto and Civita di Bagnoregio

Civita di Bagnoregio Today was another long day in the field – but so amazing! We met our charter bus at 7h45 this morning, driving (albeit rather slowly) for almost three hours to Orvieto. We took the funicular from Orvieto Scalo to Orvieto proper and proceeded first to the most adorable artisan chocolaterie, then to [...]

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Ah, Roma!

Stazione Roma Tiburtina Today was beautifully, remarkably uneventful. We woke up early and caught the 9h39 train as we had planned, arriving back in Rome around 13h15. Unfortunately, we arrived back at Roma Tiburtina at 13h15 and couldn’t catch a local commuter to Stazione Termini until 14h00. Ah well, the sun was warm and there [...]

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Seaside

Pier out over the Adriatic Sea Happy May Day! I’ll be honest, it was a little more (or less) happy here! In Italy, May 1st is also Labor Day and everyone takes the day off to be with their families, hit the beach, whatever. On the down side, everyone takes the day off and practically [...]

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Taranta Peligna

Window + balcony of another abandoned building in Taranta Peligna Well, as it were, Tony’s friend ended up not being able to go with us this morning, so Tony drove us himself. It’s roughly an hour and a half drive from Chieti Scalo to Taranta Peligna, the small mountain town where Maria’s great grandmother, Maria [...]

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