Palazzos

6/31 So my last couple of blog entries haven't been exactly awesome, and I apologize for that. Of course, at this point, I've fallen so much in love with the city that I would rather be out and about inthehan hiding out blogging all afternohaveon. ThisAndll  whole trip has had a positive affect on me. For one thing, I feel like the loose traffic laws and crazy drivers have made me braver. :D

This blog will be a little more awesome though because we actually got done with our day a little early, so while I'm too worn out to do any walking, I'm not  falling asleep due to coming home late.  XD  

So, today we got a tour of Villa Farnesina, which was Agostino Chigi's (a papal banker) sort of vacation home. The interesting thing about this place was that it had a lot of old GrecoRoman mytholgical themes, such as the ceiling on the banquet hall telling the story of Psyche and Eros.

We also saw a couple of Palazzi (palaces) that belonged to Roman papal families. One was Palazzo Farnese and the other waa Palazzo Massimo alle Colonne. Palazzo Farnese is significant because it was the home of whomever was the family of the pope for that time. Currently, it belongs to the French government, so I need to bring my passport there for some reason. Palazzo Massimo alle Colonne was funny because people at that time were not allowed to have elaborate portals along the road of the papal procession, so what the did was recess their portal behind Roman columns.

After that, I had lunch with my classmates, Thomas and Dylan. They actually went on this trip together as a couple. And they were kind enough to let me join them for lunch while the others had a more expensive lunch elsewhere. I had spagetti carbonera for the first time, and it was delicious. I couldn't finish it though, worse yet, it's very rude to not eat your entire meal in Rome. Thankfully, Thomas helped me finish it. Dylan thinks the mozerrela she had was buffalo mozzarella,  and it had a very chewy taste. It was weird.

I went on a mighty hunt for this gelato place that my one of my parents' World of Warcraft buddies, Jorge, recommended. I thought it was called Gelato Valentino, but I could find no such place. Per Jorge's instructions, I searched around the McDonald's a bit north of the Pantheon (man, that sounded badass for some reason XD) and next to the McDonald's (which, by the way, was still too crowded for my comfort). The closest thing I found was this place called Illy Creme. It was yummy though. :D Not sure if that was it. I have contacted Jorge with a request of confirmation on the matter.

Unfortunately, my excursion doubled with my lack of sense of direction, I got stupid lost and ended up about 15 minutes late for my meeting at Santa Maria del Travestere. Every local I asked for directions thought I was talking about a different church of a similar name. XD Lucky for me though, I didn't miss anything because they were having a mass not on the mass schedule. I went inside to take a look (as a fellow Catholic,  not a tourist, sitting in the pew and everything), and it looked like there was a small, intimate family mass of some kind. The inside of the church was absolutely gorgeous though. The golden mosaic ceiling just glittered brilliantly.

The last place we went was the bascillica of Saint Cecelia.  It was a beautiful church. There were white marble statues with drapery that was made in the 1920's, and the drapes looked like cloth instead of marble. It was so unreal.

The day ended with Andrew and I going to Santa Maria del Popolo in hopes to look at the art we would be doing our presentation on, but we got there too late and they closed up. It was sad. The Leonardo da Vinci museum was right next to the chur h, but closed 30 minutes early! XD oh well, we'll get it next time.

7/1 There were a couple readings we needed done for the class, of course, this is an eight credit class every bit as it has been an experience, which is very easy to forget now that im actually here. In relation to the events that will take place this morning, the required reading involved the Pallazzo Borghese was written by Patricia Waddy. In this segment, Waddy describes the purpose and functions of the papal palace throughot the fifteenth century starting with the fact that it was built Pope Paul V Borghese in 1608 in preparation for his possible visits in the summertime. The reading goes on to describijg a few key terms, such as QUADRO RIPRTATO the central field of ghe vault, SALA DEI PALFENEREI the guard room, RETROCAMERA service room, and PORTIERA or leather fabric hanging from the door, as these are some of the architectural and decorative elements  the visitors would see as they enter the palace.

It was also nice to read that even though the upper class who knew the family were probably given the best accomodations, people from the lower classes who dressed their best were still welcomed in the house, but since there were about two million Romans, and not enough space, Swiss guards were charged with keeping the house from flooding with guests.

As with a large multitude of houses and churches, the coat of arms was a prominant thing in this house as well. For instance, Antonio Barberni in 1653 inserted the coat of arms belonging to the King of France in order to gain favor with him.

And lastly, the most important thing about the place in my opinion; the art. Paintings by Carvaggio were displayed in the palace along with a multitude of devotional paintings and portraits of the papal family were displayed throughout the piano nobile in 1644. I cant't wait to see this art today.