The Villa Borghese

Romans stroll about, smoking, or ride crazy on pedal carts – the sheer chaos of the place. Wild excess of the palazzo – every room decked in late Baroque frescoes, every niche filled with sculpture, the ancient, the Baroque, the merely kitsch. Italian Unification heroes on massive brass horses. Buses barreling down the avenues, dodging the pedal carts. The whole park is the massive grounds of the Borghese palazzo; really obscene wealth in the 16th and 17th centuries.

The equestrian grounds, the Piazza Siena, are a long oval filled with sand and some kind of fibrous fluff, wool or cotton, that keeps the sand down. At one end theater steps climb the hillside. As the sun sets, people sit on the stairs in the last rays and smoke, read newspapers. Children play baseball in the piazza, Ben joins in, it’s all Italo-American goofiness, surrounded by crumbling 17th century glory. Later, Ben rents a pedal cart that’s low to the ground, red, a go-cart almost, and races his new baseball friends down the paths, dodging giggling four-year-olds, driving each other off paths like squat chariot racers in Hollywood movies.

I go for a stroll, find myself on the edge of the park, a promenade on a steep cliff overlooking the Piazza del Popolo and the city. The sun is setting behind the dome of St. Peter’s, a military orchestra is playing something not very marshal, something quite charming, in the piazza below. The rooftops are tinged pink, and a murmuration of starlings is diving and weaving across the sky. We have decided to stay in Rome an extra two weeks.

- by Sarah

Election night in Rome

Ben is the only child. He has begged to be allowed to come and after first saying no (as his Evil Twin emerges when he is tired), I relent. After all, what is more important to his future: A good night’s sleep so he can be alert for a one-hour Italian class and some math out of a workbook or witnessing the most historic presidential election of our lifetimes? I am so glad we are all here together – and our friend Eve – and the sweet interracial couple from Ohio who sit next to us – and the other wondrous folks in the room – and the thousands dancing in the streets of DC – and the millions celebrating around the world.

You can read my full posting on our wild night in Rome over at the other blog: sarahbrowning.blogspot.com

Woo hoo!!!

The Duomo

Blog Entry—Ben Browning

As you know from the last entry, last weekend we went to Orvieto. It’s a small city, with 22,000 people, just north of Rome. Pretty much all of the city is made out of tufa, a volcanic rock that’s incredibly soft. It’s so soft, that I can’t believe the whole city hasn’t fallen down by now. And not only is the city made of tufa, but it’s on top of a tufa mountain! Because we didn’t have a car, we took the funicular, a cable car that runs straight up and down the side of the mountain. So when we got off the train, we bought our tickets and went up the funicular. We wandered around on the medieval streets until we found our hotel, and after we settled in there, we went to the first tourist destination, the Duomo.

This mind-blowing cathedral was started in 1290 AD, and was not finished for another three centuries. It was originally started in the Romanesque period, but carried on into the time of the gothic churches, so you can see a little resemblance from both periods. But mainly, the façade. Starting at the bottom, there were four huge 30-foot-tall panels of bas-relief, with scenes from the Bible. On the 1st panel, there were scenes about Adam and Eve, and then at the top of the panel, Cain and Abel. On the 2nd panel, there were some other Old Testament stories that I didn’t recognize, with something about King David. On the 3rd panel, there was the life of Jesus, and finally, the 4th panel, heaven and hell. The part about hell was awesome. There were devils smashing people’s faces while double sided snakes and dragons attacked two people at once. In heaven, people were just sitting around, which really looked like eternal boredom, not eternal bliss. I mean, if they were relaxing in sun chairs, then I’d understand. Anyway, above all of this, there were a few (not so interesting*) frescos, (*only by my opinion) surrounding a circle of anonymous sculpted heads, and in the middle of all of these, the head of Jesus.

On the sides of the church, the stone pattern was striped, black and white. The pattern continues on the inside of the church, much simpler than most of the basilicas and other churches in Rome. Part of the gothic style is pointed arches. The arches in the Duomo must have been built in the Romanesque period, because they are not pointed. The ceiling isn’t that interesting. Ugly cross-hatched boards cover the ceiling, most likely a restoration. But the floor is something. Another amazing mosaic floor done by the Cosmati family, complete with a cool M.C. Escher style pattern right in front of the altar. There is also a stained glass window visible as soon as you walk inside.

But probably the coolest part about the inside of the church is the chapel on the right. Here’s some pictures:
















As you can see, this chapel is really cool. There were scenes about the end of the world, where God kills everyone and they all get sorted: they go to heaven, or they go to hell. There were scenes of people emerging from the ground. Pretty much all of it was about the Last Judgment. After we went to the Duomo, we ate lunch, went in this cool place called underground Orvieto, and then we climbed up a tall tower. I’ll tell you about that in my next entry. Bye!!!!!!!!