Thurs., 10/13-14/16 – Rome – on our own
We have three days on our own in Rome, to do what and when we want, to walk at our own pace and stop to look at things and to eat meals in quiet companionship. OAT had made arrangements for us to have a private driver take us from Ostia to the Albani Hotel in Rome. He was a very nice man who spoke enough English to answer questions and give us a sightseeing drive through Rome. It was raining a little and with rush hour traffic the trip took an hour and a half. We tipped him even though we did not have to. Our room was not ready at 10:30 AM so we sat in the cocktail bar area and ate our sandwiches from breakfast and read. We did not mind the time to rest. Our room was ready at 1 PM and is a nice roomy room with two luggage racks! This time our room has lavender wallpaper, pink woodwork in half of the room and orange where the beds are, and chartreuse carpet. The bathroom is yellow and the curtains are a bright colored pattern. We love this hotel!
At 2 PM it had stopped raining but was cold (45°) as we walked to the Borghese Museum. We had internet reservations for 3 PM. We started on the top floor and toured the 13 galleries in beautiful rooms with marble decorations and paintings on the ceilings and walls. We found Raphael’s “Entombment” and Titian’s “Sacred and Profane Love” that are on Marge’s Great Courses list. There were also paintings by Bernini, Botticelli, and Caravaggio. Then we walked down the circular stairs to the first level and looked at many Roman copies of Greek style sculptures. The best were Bernini’s “David” and his “Apollo and Daphne” but there were others of interest and more paintings. We like the Egyptian room with wonderful mosaic floor pictures and hieroglyphs in the floor and in panels on the walls.
We did not take a camera or cell phone because our material said they were not allowed. We did see lots of cell phone photographers. Our two-hour visit was just enough time. The Borghese is certainly one of the most beautiful galleries in Italy.
For dinner we walked the two blocks to La Balestra and enjoyed the small local Italian restaurant we went to twice last year. It is real Italian!
In the morning we visited some places we did not get to see in Rome last year, especially several paintings by Caravaggio in two churches near the Pantheon. Marge had planned it out so we could use the city buses (#63/83 and 628) to get around. We arrived at the bus stop just as an English (GB) tour group of 50 people arrived to catch the same bus. The next bus was a crowded #83 bus but some how we all got on. Marge struck up a conversation with a lady from Wales and a nice man from the group validated all of our tickets. The crowd was very pleasant and polite.
Somehow, we got off where we planned and walked to the Church of San Luigi dei Francesi (Church of Saint Louis of the French). The church inside was very ornate like Louis 14th of France with gold trim and colorful marble. The crowd (and tour groups) led us to the Contarelli Chapel with the three Caravaggio paintings: The Calling of St. Matthew, the Martyrdom of St. Matthew, and the Inspiration of St. Matthew - wonderful works!
Borghese Gallery
Column of Marcus Aurelius in Piazza Colona
Column of Marcus Aurelius in Piazza Colona
Obelisk of Montecitorio in front of the Palazzo Montecitorio
Church of San Luigi dei Francesi
Church of San Luigi dei Francesi
Church of San Luigi dei Francesi
Poster of the three Caravaggio paintings found in the church
Martyrdom of St. Matthew
Inspiration of St. Matthew
Calling of St. Matthew
A block away is the Basilica of S. Agostino in Campo Marzio where we found Caravaggio’s “Madonna di Loreto” and Raphael’s fresco of “The Prophet Isaiah.” This church had many beautiful chapels in addition to the famous paintings.
Basilica of San Agostino
Basilica of San Agostino
Caravaggio - Madonna di Loreto
Raphael - The Prophet Isiah
We stopped in the Pantheon, which is an engineering marvel the way the dome and the oculus were built 2,000 years ago.
On the way to the Capitoline Hill, we passed the Bernini - Elephant and Obelisk in the Piazza della Minerva and the Largo di Torre Argentina, neither of which we had ever seen. The Largo contains the ruins of four Roman temples and the remains of Pompey’s theatre.
Bookstore - wouldn't you just love to go in and find something?
Pantheon
Bernini - Elephant and Obelisk in the Piazza della Minerva
Largo di Torre Argentina
Largo di Torre Argentina
From Largo di Torre Argentina we walked to the Capitoline Hill and the huge monument to Victor Emanuel II. Last year we drove around it a few times but never walked around the area. The monument is spectacular but the Roman ruins of Roma Capitale, temples to Fortuna and Minerva and several others and the Forum of Trajan (112 AD) were all worth seeing.
Trajan’s Column is another of the several Egyptian monuments that are erected around Rome. Trajan’s Column commemorates his victory in the Dacian Wars. It is famous for its spiral bas relief of the 1st c. wars.
Victor Emmanuel II Monument
Victor Emmanuel II Monument
Victor Emmanuel II Monument
Statue of Julius Cesare
Forum of Cesare
Church of Saint Luca e Martina
Roman Forum
Coliseum
Forum of Nerva
Forum of Nerva
Forum of Augustus
Trajan’s Column
Trajan’s Column
Trajan’s Column
Trajan’s Column
We found our way to a bus stop for the #628 and even got seats and guessed the correct place to get off to get to the Piazza Popolo and the Church of Santa Maria del Popolo to look at more Caravaggio's. This church also has several Bernini statues.
Our trek to del Popolo was really to visit the Da Vinci Museum. For 8 € we looked at and played with working models of some of Leonardo’s inventions. They had posters of many of his dissection drawings and several videos describing this genius of a man and his work. I especially liked the video on Leonardo’s Vitruvian Man. It explained all of the symbolism and measurements. It was a wonderful find that we did not have time for last year.
To return to our hotel, we walked through the large Villa Borghese Gardens, stopping for a gelato and some bananas on the way.
Pizza for dinner.
Santa Maria del Popolo - Bernini - Habakkuk and the Angel
Santa Maria del Popolo - Caravaggio - Conversion of St. Paul
Santa Maria del Popolo - Caravaggio - Crucifixion of St. Peter
Da Vinci Museum
Da Vinci Museum - model for a tank
We slept in this morning, had a leisurely breakfast, and reorganized ourselves for our move to Spain tomorrow. We were just getting familiar with Italian words and ways of doing things and now we have to change over to Spain’s Spanish. It sure is good that European countries teach English beginning at an early age and that many signs are in two languages, which means English.
After lunch in our room and we took the #83 bus down to Barberini Piazza and found the Barberini Palazzo that is now the Galleria Nazionale D’Arte Antica. We found and enjoyed the collections of Raphael, Tintoretto, Tiziano, El Greco, Caravaggio, Fillipo Lippi, and Fellini paintings. Hans Holbeins’ "Henry VIII” was also recognizable. The ground level had crosses and altar paintings from churches and chapels around Italy.
Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Antica
Barberini Coat of Arms
Caravaggio - Narciso
Caravaggio - Judith and Holofernes
We took the "long way" back to our hotel so we could stop at the Saint Maria della Vittoria Church to again see the wonderful Bernini statue of “The Ecstasy of Teresa.”
That done, we walked on to the best gelato place in Italy – La Romana and got three flavors in cones with dark chocolate poured in the bottom of the cone. We sat and enjoyed our cones and then walked back to the hotel.
Dinner tonight was at La Balestra again.
Church of Santa Maria della Vittoria
Bernini - St. Theresa in Ecstasy
Best gelato in Rome
Chocolate faucets for adding chocolate (dark or white) to the bottom of cones before adding the gelato
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