We had a guided city tour today of some of Rome’s most iconic locations: The so called Spanish Steps, the Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon, and the Plaza Navona.
I’ve been pleasantly surprised by how walkable Rome is. Building a mental map is a little hard— there is no grid and many streets are short. However, the landmarks are abundant so getting a general direction to aim is easy. Rome is also safe. Our guide pointed out pickpockets to us today, and the cars and motorcycles/Vespas are a bit combative, but it’s not scary once you get used to it.
Our bus dropped us off near Piazza del Popolo, where Mark and I had been on Sunday. From there we walked to Piazza di Spagna, where the French paid for the widest outdoor staircase in Europe to make it easier for people to get to the French church Trinita dei Mounti. The stairs are near the Spanish embassy, giving the piazza its name, and English speakers some time ago named the steps after the piazza. Romans though, would call the steps Scalinta di Trinita dei Monti.
Rome has water, wonderful, clean, abundant water. The emperors and then the popes made people content by assuring good water. To show off this gift to its best advantage they commissioned fountains by skilled sculptors. Public art for everyone.
The Piazza di Espagna’s fountain is by Bernini’s father, (also a Bernini of course), and in the charming shape of a boat.
We took a meandering path through small side streets with painters displaying their work on the way to the Trevi fountain.
This fountain is one of Italy’s most famous, and the crowds were thick. There are lots of stories about this fountain, but the best one we learned today was about the barber whose shop was in the piazza. He was a vocal critic of how large the Neptune of the fountain was. In exasperation, the architect, Nicola Salvi added a large marble cut like a mug of soap into the design to block the grumpy barber’s view.
In the same piazza is a church with three Caravaggios. Today is a holiday in Italy, All Souls Day, and many times the churches were having services and it was not possible to enter. We were lucky with our timing though, and did slip inside to see the paintings.
The Pantheon was next, but only from the outside. We were not able to arrange a ticket for entry due to the holiday. The outside is intriguing, with its solid columns that were a temple to all the gods before becoming a Christian church (Basilica of St. Mary and the Martyrs) . Notice all the holes in the stone. Some were for clamps to hold the original marble, others were for Middle Ages livestock or wooden beams. We will have to arrange a visit inside the next time we are in Rome. Good thing Mark threw a coin over his shoulder into the Trevi Fountain.
Our next stop was the long and lovely Piazza Navona. The plaza has a couple of fountains, and the biggest depicts the four major rivers of the known world at the time. I did get a photo of the sculpture de la Plata river, which represents the New World.
We had lunch and it started to rain. We’ve been very lucky that rain has come only at times that we don’t need to be outside. We had taxi vans to take us to our afternoon at Villa Borghese.
Villa Borghese holds the art collection of Scipione Borghese who was named a cardinal at the young age of 26, by his uncle Pope Paul V. Scipione had an eye for art, and was a special patron of Bernini and a collector of Caravaggio. His acquisitiveness was so keen, he would throw art owners into prison on trumped up charges, holding them in a kind of ransom until they agreed to transfer the desired art to him.
The legacy for us is great though. With timed entries, the galleries are not as crowded. And with a guide, it was possible to learn a lot in a short time. Here are some beautiful Bernini’s that we saw today. Bernini worked the stone as if it were clay; the texture is so real.
We’re packing to leave Rome tomorrow. Here are some last thoughts from this city:
- We should always fly in and out of Rome when we come to Italy, and stay a few nights
- We should try different neighborhoods each time. I especially want to stay in Trastevere
- Anything we visited this week would be worthwhile visiting again. I especially would like to spend more time in the Forum
- I want to improve my timeline of emperors and popes
- I want to go back in time and take Vassar’s art history course
