Friday, October 1, 2010
Footsteps: Journey Of An Artist "All Roads Lead To Rome (Roma, Italia)"
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Podcast Episode Summary
As we walk along Via della Conciliazione leaving St. Peter's Basilica and St. Peter's Piazza behind. We walk past the Roman guards taking prisoners for hostage. ...and we walk past the cowboy mannequin collecting change. Don't ask. We move along the bank of the Tiber River towards Castel Sant'Angelo. Also known as The Mausoleum of Hadrian, Castel Sant'Angelo, is a towering cylindrical building initially commissioned by the Roman Emperor Hadrian as a mausoleum for himself and his family. The building was later used by the popes as a fortress and castle, and is now a museum. The Tiber or in Italian Tevere, is the third-longest river in Italy and has achieved lasting fame as the main watercourse through the city. Now they say Rome wasn't built in a day but today after the Vatican I feel josko is going to attempt to show us Rome...in a day. For example he's already at the other end of this bridge. In keeping up with the general i noticed Rome is constanly discovering old things buried somewhere. This piazza my good looking self is Piazza Navona. A city square built on the site of the Stadium of Domitian, built in first century AD, and follows the form of the open space of the stadium. This is the Fountain of Neptune done in 1574 by Giacomo della Porta. In the center is the famous Fountain of the Four Rivers done in 1651 by our friend Giavanni Bernini...remember St. Peter's. The church in the Piazza is Sant'Agnese and at the southern end is the Fontana del Moro also sculpted by Giacomo della Porta in 1575. Just as I said lots of fountains, keep your water bottles. General Josko gave us a break so what can be better than real pizza accompanied by live jazz. The Trevi Fountain or Fontana di Trevi standing 25.9 meters high and 19.8 meters wide is the largest Baroque fountain in the city and one of the most famous fountains in the whole world. Roman technicians located a source of pure water some 13 km from the city. (This is the scene on the present fountain's façade.) But getting here was no easy feat. See after pizza we met up with the group and visited San Luigi dei Francesi to see the famous "life of St. Matthew" paintings by Caravaggio. Goga went to light a candle and pray and when we left the Church Josko was gone. Panic set in and all roads leading to Rome no longer lead to Josko. Running around aimlessly we tried calling but Josko wasn't picking up his phone. We did however stumble across the Pantheon in all the chaos. Cool, some quick pictures then it's back to the amazing race. In the Vatican Josko gave us these wakie talkie head sets that allowed him to talk with out screaming and allowed us to listen. His voice kept cracking in and out like a ghostly radio which meant he was near. We heard him say Fontana di Trevi so out comes the iPhone's map, Goga starts asking people, people who unfortunately only spoke Italian. Finally some one gives us directions and using the iPhone's map we found our street, ourselves and Josko. That story should be Steve Job's next iPhone commercial. Like a lost sheep herded by Josko the Shepard we reach the Piazza di Spagna. In the Piazza at the base is the Early Baroque fountain called the Fountain of the Old Boat, built in 1627 to 1629 and often credited to Pietro Bernini, father of a more famous son, Giavanni Bernini. This guys name keeps popping up all over Rome. He is recently said to have collaborated on the decoration. Pope Urban VIII had the fountain installed after he had been impressed by a boat brought there by a flood of the Tiber river. The Spanish steps are a set of steps climbing the steep slope between the Piazza di Spagna at the base and Piazza Trinità dei Monti, with it's church of the same name at the top. They are the longest and widest staircase in Europe. We already spent most of the day walking and running around the streets of Rome, what's climbing a couple of steps? 138 steps to be exact and was built to link the Bourbon Spanish Embassy to the Holy See. The church Trinità dei Monti is a late Renaissance church best known for its commanding position above the Spanish Steps. The church and its surrounding area (including the Villa Medici) are the property of the French State. The present Italian Renaissance church was eventually built in its place and finally consecrated in 1585 by the great urbanizer Pope Sixtus V, whose via Sistina connected the Piazza della Trinità dei Monti (outside the church) to the Piazza Barberini across the city. The view from here is pretty nice. From here we hop on the subway at Piazza di Spagna travel a few stops to Republikka station and exit at the Basilica of St. Mary of the Angels and the Martyrs. The basilica is dedicated to the Christian martyrs, known and unknown. It was also a personal monument of Pope Pius IV. St. Mary of the Angels was built inside the frigidarium of the Baths of Diocletian. Frigidarium is a large cold pool to drop into after enjoying a hot Roman bath. The Baths of Diocletian were the grandest of the public baths built by successive emperors and dedicated in 306. Well if that image on the floor isn't self explanatory, then I don't know what is. Michelangelo worked from 1563 to 1564 to adapt a section of the remaining structure of the baths to enclose a church. The art work here is rather interesting to say the least. We walk through the side streets and ended up at The Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore. This is the largest church in Rome dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary. According to the tradition, Pope Liberius wanted a shrine built at the site where an apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared. Wow what a day. Fill up our water bottles, then dinner inside Termini, the main train station in Rome. We hoped on the tour bus and headed back to the hotel. My leg's and feet are swollen plus we got another 6:30am wake up call...so I'm done, man. Good night.
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