Rome, Tuesday, April 30
Vladimir was eager to visit the Vatican Museums, and who were we to spoil his fun? He had procured advance tickets which helped us avoid a no doubt horrendous wait. The scene at the entrance was a bit chaotic, since the guards made sure that you entered only at your allotted time…with a couple of thousand other penitents.
Once inside, we were in a kind of cattle chute which surged past great art and papal tchotchkes alike as the guards bellowed, alternately, ‘Silenzio!’ and ‘No Stop!’ It was as far from a ‘cultural experience’ as one can imagine. We were finally herded into the magnificent Raphael Rooms, where we managed to stem the flow of bodies long enough to get a good look at the frescos.
Some, like the School of Athens, mark a kind of apogee of the high renaissance.
We had less time to look at the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, and none at all to look at the fresco cycle, including work by Perugino and Botticelli, below Michelangelo’s frescos.
The tickets to the Vatican had come with passes for a hop on hop off bus, which Vladimir wanted to try. It proved not to be the most efficiently organized system in the world, but we were eventually aboard and heading across town. First stop: Santa Maria Maggiore.
We grabbed a very light bite and then visited this extraordinary church, one of the four papal basilicas (along with St. Peter’s, St. Paul’s Outside the Walls, and St. John Lateran).
In the piazza in front of the church, a column from the Basilica of Maxentius in the Roman Forum soars into the sky, crowned with a statue of the virgin.
The basilica almost certainly dates from the time of Sixtus III (432–40), who built it and dedicated it to the Virgin following the declaration of the Council of Ephesus in 431 that Mary was the Mother of God (Theotokos). Nicholas IV (1288–92) added the apse and transepts and completed the cycle of mosaics.
The campanile dates from 1388, while the facade was designed in 1743 by Fernando Fuga; it stands in front of a facade from the 12th century.
As massive as the interior is, the eye is drawn immediately to the ancient mosaics that recount biblical stories.
The later mosaics in the apse are equally moving.
Continuing our afternoon of ancient churches, we cabbed it to the Basilica of San Clemente, one of Rome’s oldest medieval churches (12th century).
The interior is comparatively austere, dominated by a schola cantorum surrounded by a lovely marble screen.
San Clemente also holds some of the earliest examples of Renaissance frescos in Rome. Masolino was commissioned by the titular cardinal of the church, Branda Castiglione, to decorate the chapel of Saint Catherine.
Elements of the frescos like those below lead some scholars to speculate that Massacio collaborated with Masolino on these frescos. They had worked together on the Brancacci Chapel in Florence, and Massacio was known to be in Rome in 1428, when the frescos were painted.
San Clemente is especially interesting because of its preservation of layers of history. Below the upper church seen above lies a fourth century church, and below that a Roman “palazzo” from the first century. We hoped to see all this, and Vladimir went in search of tickets while the others went in search of another ancient church, Santi Quattro Coronati.
The church dates from 1161; it is part of a large Augustinian complex. Unfortunately, everything was locked tight and we were limited to a couple of the convent courtyards.
When we returned to San Clemente, we were disappointed to learn that tour groups had gobbled up all the tickets for the tour of the lower strata.
We consoled ourselves with a circumnavigation of the colosseum, where we parted company with Vladimir, who needed a siesta.
Connie, Sue, and I then took a leisurely stroll through the Imperial forums.
Two apprentice Romans in front of Trajan’s Column and the dome of Santa Maria di Loreto.
A view looking up toward the Campidoglio and Santa Maria in Araceli.
We had a drink at a gorgeous bar in a courtyard of the Palazzo Doria Pamphilj before heading home.
Dinner was interesting. I had built in a break from our usual trattoria fare…at the rooftop terrace Divinity Restaurant. We had a variety of dishes: ravioli with ricotta and lemon, spaghetti with bottarga, even a squid dish with coconut sauce. it was all pretty good if perhaps a bit pricey. We had a delightful server named Antonia, full of life and good spirits. And the Benanti Etna Bianco wasn’t bad either.
We finished the evening with a gelato at the famous Giolitti shop.