Day 23

5/29/13

Ciao!

This morning I got up for breakfast at 9:15, went through my stuff to get rid of a few things before leaving Rome, read for about 30 minutes, then met everyone in the lobby to leave for the day at 11:45. Today was pretty much just the day Dr. Zaho set aside in Rome to have a few of us do our presentations.

First thing we did was hop on a bus to get to the fountain Katia was presenting on, the Fountain of Four Rivers by Bernini. It’s an incredible fountain with four monumental representations of four different rivers from different parts of the world. There’s a large hole in the middle, and above this hole is a huge Egyptian obelisk. The artistic and engineering aspects of this monument are very impressive.

After that we made our way to the Pantheon but stopped at a small grocery store nearby to grab some stuff for lunch. We sat on the steps of the fountain in front of the Pantheon to eat. After a nice break I finally got to present my research on my favorite building in the world!! As I said in yesterday’s post, we were told that our presentation should be around 20 minutes long. Geoff spoke for 45 minutes and I picked on him a lot for it. And then today I talked for 45 minutes.  Woops! It was awesome though and I really enjoyed just talking about what I’m passionate about to other people who are just as interested as me.

After that we began walking again and we ended up in Santa Maria Sopra Minerva to see a chapel frescoed by Filippino Lippi (the Chapel of the Annunciation). It was beautiful! After that we went to the Church of St. Ignatius Loyola to see the best example of Baroque quadratura in the world. It was incredible to see the ceiling frescoed as if the space extended into the heavens. And just past the main ceiling was a “dome”, and by that I mean a flat surface painted to look like there was actually a dome there. It was wild.

Once we left there we walked towards a gelato place and on the way stopped to look at a narrative column similar to Trajan’s. It’s shorter and wider than the other, so it’s much easier to read. After that we went to Giolitti, a classic Roman gelato place. I got chocolate and oreo cookie flavors in a cone with whipped cream on top. It was so delicious! After that we walked over to Ara Pacis, Augustus’ burial tomb. A very nice man let us in for free (as opposed to paying 19 euro each).

Next we made our way to the Church of Santa Maria del Popolo for Rosie’s presentation on the frescoes in the Chigi chapel. Annibale Caracci and Caravaggio decorated it, though they didn’t like each other at all. Caravaggio painted the Conversion of St. Paul and the Crucifixion of St. Peter. They’re glorious. The figures in them look like real people.

After that we separated for dinner! Geoff, Katia, Amber, Brittany and I walked through the city to get to a restaurant that Zaho pointed out as a good vegetarian restaurant. After maybe 40 minutes of walking we made it there and got seated. Katia and I shared a seasonal veggie pasta dish and a ricotta spinach ravioli. Man, that ravioli was one of the best things I’ve ever tasted. We had a good time relaxing and chatting in a smaller group then we walked to the bus stop nearby and rode it home. We all separated, showered, and now a few of us are hanging out in Geoff’s room, swapping pictures and stories.

Okay, good night.