Today perhaps has been our shortest 'school' day thus far.
We started out the morning with some of my french toast and then headed out to meet the other gals at the Villa Farnesina - our only site visit!
The Villa was built basically as a pleasure mansion for a very wealthy banker and friend of Pope Julius II - Agostino Chigi (kee-gee)...I know you like those pronunciations...admit it.
Anyways, the mansion included works by Raphael - one specifically called Galatea that I presented on! - and many featured themes not of religious iconography, but much more sensual, pleasurable imagery...it was very exciting...
Galatea...
...see what I mean?
...this room was cool too - the Sistine Chapel had something similar with this painted drapery decorating the lower-half of the walls
...it's all just an illusion!
...this was really cool too - it's graffiti left by the mutinous soldiers of The Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V, who sacked Rome in 1527 talking mainly about how it was their right to take over the city and how victorious they were.
...they were good artists too...obviously. *cough, cough*
...little harder to see, but shows some of their scratchings into the frescoes
Altogether, the Villa was really interesting and a nice break from the chaos of yesterday - hardly anyone else was there besides our small group!
Afterwards, we were let loose. Many of the girls went and started packing up for their weekend trips away to Pompeii or Sorento, and even Tunisia. However, since I'm staying put, I decided to simply tag along with Sabrina and another classmate, MaShawn, who needed to buy their train tickets for their own trips. Then we decided to go ahead and visit the church we are required to see on our own anyways for our class. It was Santa Maria della Vittoria and inside one of the chapels was the famous Baroque sculpture by Bernini, The Ecstacy of Saint Teresa.
The rest of the church itself though was also very oppulent and simply dripping with gold, marble, and sculptural details. We had to sit down for a bit and simply look around just to take it all in!
So, when our eyes finally started to bug-out, we decided to grab some gelato and then head back towards our own neighborhood. We planned to try and see if we could get in to see Bramante's Tempietto - a real masterpiece of High Renaissance architecture. It was located in the courtyard of San Pietro in Montorio, a church at the top of a hill that literally around the corner from our apartment complex. Unfortunately though, we were a little late and couldn't actually get into anything, but we did snap a few pics from the outside between the wrought-iron gate!
And the view from the hilltop was also pretty nice!
Guess I'll just have to come back later this weekend! Sabrina and MaShawn plan to go to some Italian themepark called MagicLand tomorrow...don't ask me. And then later, they're also going to try to travel down to Pompeii and the beach. I, however, shall be following my own agenda and hopefully get to some more museums and churches that aren't on the list for our study program.
But for now, I think I shall post my latest video (of Raphael's rooms in the Vatican!) and then head off to bed!
Till tomorrow then! Buonasera!
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