My Centro Roma List

This is my list:

1. Grande Peroni
2. I hate door 6
3. Dov'e il fiume?
4. Black feet
5. Student/girlfriend discount at Filippo's
6. Julie's hair flip
7. Cuckold/Rock On gesture
8. Bagno for the bread
9. Sempre piu scale
10... to be continued

So I am happy as a clam because I made the most satisfying lunch today! I bought salad greens and chopped red peppers, carrots, moz, and a little chicken on top then drizzled some of that good old EVOO (extra virgin olive oil) and balsamic vinegar on top. The oil/vinegar adjustment was one of my concerns before I left the US. No salad dressings?!?!?! But it's so yummy and goes on salads, bread, tomato and moz, pasta, basically anything! Still haven't gotten sick of it yet.

Today my Baroque class had an intensive Caravaggio field study! First to San'Agostino to see Madonna of the Pilgrims. This is the first time I've run into problems with the lighting. In many churches they protect the paintings by leaving them in the dark and then the visitors have to pay a euro or so into a slot that briefly illuminates the work. I'm happy the paintings are being preserved but San'Agostino in particular was a rip off. I've never studied the work before and so I got the full beauty of it without random facts or previous slide images of it slipping into my head. It's fun that I will always compare slides I see in the future with my memory of the real deal.

Obviously these pictures don't
do the works justice, but it's an idea

Second stop on our trek was to see Caravaggio's first public works. We would have gone to see them first except San Luigi dei Francesi (that is St. Louis of the French) doesn't open until 10am! So inside I had another fabulous "I love my life and studying in Rome and art history is amazing" moment when I saw Caravaggio's three works: Martyrdom of St. Matthew, St. Matthew with the Angel, and The Calling of St. Matthew!! The Calling of St. Matthew is just the most Caravaggio-y painting out there! It perfectly displays his symbolic, artistic, and creative/innovative talents. I really liked seeing all these paintings in the context they were intended because the simplicity of The Calling is placed facing The Martyrdom and they contrast just like his famous chiaroscuro. My professor is a conversationalist and pointed out the work she recently completed in the chapel right next to the one dedicated to St. Matthew and I'm so impressed with her dedication to viewing works in the context they were originally intended. Basically this one chapel had four different window light sources that were boarded up for safety a long time ago and nobody ever took them down. This ruined the glowing brilliance of the chapel and just a week or two ago she and her colleagues finished restoring the windows to their original condition!!!

The Calling of St. Matthew

The Martyrdom of St. Matthew

The chapel with Caravaggio's works

This is the chapel my professor restored
I'll try to find a recent picture with the
windows opened

Last destination on our trek was a familiar one! We went to Piazza del Popolo to Santa Maria del Popolo where I have visited with Ginny, Sophia, Kat, and Julie. We looked at the Conversion of St. Paul on the way to Damascus (not to be confused with Caravaggio's first work "The Conversion of St. Paul") and The Crucifixion of St. Peter. Both were wonderful to admire again with the knowledge my professor was spouting out. I also learned that the central painting is a (not very good) Annibale Carracci whom we will be disucussing a lot in class and I'm sure visiting more of his works.

Crucifixion of St. Peter

Assumption of the Virgin by Carracci

After our adventures with Baroque Julie, Kat, Hope, and Pepperoni and I went back to IES for classes like Forma Urbis! Gianni spoke about Estrucan tombs for a little bit and Circuses (not as fun as you might think, imagine gladiators and such) and temple orders. Some of this I already knew so I felt smart and the rest was interesting. We're going on a field study on Thursday to see a couple things on the Paletine Hill I believe. Getting ready for Italian now, it's my short one hour class today but it starts at 5! Nobody's perfect