Roma nascosta!!!

Roma nascosta by Pannini

Rome was one of the main destinations during the Grand Tour...so if you go on holiday don't forget to stop in Rome!!!!

A presto!

Auguri Roma: Saints Peter and Paul!!

St. Peter's Basilica by Simona Albanese

The feast of St Peter and Paul, patrons of Rome, is one of the oldest solemntities of the Church introduced into the liturgy long before Christmas. It is celebrated in Rome every year. It seems that it was created to Christianize the pagan festival of Romulus and Remus, the mithological founders of Rome, and underline in this way the Apostoles' central role into the growing-up Church: Peter as first vicar of Christ and Paul, the apostle of the peoples, the Gospel spreader.

On this day the pope nominate new metropolitan archibishops celebrating a long solemn liturgy in St Peter's. 

In the evening this festivity is celebrated with the Girandola at Castel Sant' Angelo. The Girandola is not only a mix of fire-work, but also, as a traveler said in 1579 - it's like if all the stars are falling on the earth - an event that until 1861 has brought to Rome thousands of visitors. 

This Girandola started in 1481 to celebrate Sixtus IV papacy and then it was extended to all papal solemnities. It seems that among the 'masters' designing and projecting the fire works there was also Michelangelo.

La palla di Pomodoro

Palla di Arnaldo Pomodoro in Pesaro

Have you ever been to Pesaro? Pesaro is an interesting town, with a population of around 90,000; the second-largest town, after Ancona in Le Marche region, on the eastern side of central Italy. The town is at the northern end of the region, near the riviera romagnola, where are the most famous city of Rimini and Riccione. 


Like most Italian seaside resorts, the original settlement, dating to the Roman era, is a short distance inland, and so the centro storico is separated from the Mediterranean. But if you go in Pesaro and you give someone an appointment, the best place to meet is "La Palla di Pomodo". Everyone knows this place!!     The bronze sculpture at the end of the main street on the edge of the Adriatic Sea has become a common fixed point for anybody permanently or temporarily passing through the city.

The dramatic "Grande Sfera" or Big Sphere– in a polyester incarnation – first made its appearance at the Montreal Expo in 1967, but in 1971 the artist Arnaldo Pomodoro donated it to Pesaro, where he previously worked in the mid-1950s. When you look at the orange glowing globe in the evening, when it reflects the last rays from the setting sun, you have the impression to see a new world order, where the planet are molded in metal.

A similar example of Pesaro is in Rome.

"Sfera con Sfera" by Arnaldo Pomodoro at the Vatican Museum

The "Sfera con Sfera" is the centerpiece of the Courtyard of the Pinecone at the Vatican Museums.  This bronze sculpture is called Sphere Within Sphere and it measures four meters in diameter.  It was created by artist Arnaldo Pomodoro in 1990 for the Vatican Museums.  Pomodoro's specialty is the casting of gigantic columns and/or globes.  In this magnificent sculpture, the fractured surface of the outer sphere reveals a very complex inner sphere that represents the harsh difficulties that the modern world finds itself in at the end of the second millennium.  

A wonderful achievement for this artist!


Other works from this artist are even in Brisbane, donated for the 1982 International Expo! 

The Grand Tour was a big move? It's time to move again!

Maybe is crazy....maybe is time to move on....been here for less than six months after the flood, back to a normal tranquil life and it's time to move again!!! We have time to organize ourselves, nevertheless is so inconvenient especially for the kids, who deserve some stability!!!

How could the noble elite travel in the past? 

They journey was a life time experience while for us we are so use to move from one country to another, we have no roots....we are vagabondi.

Will I stop somewhere one day?

Travelling to Italy: need some Italian?

The World by Arnaldo Pomodoro in the Vatican Museum by Simona Albanese

So...you like Italy and you have intention to travel very soon...would you like to enjoy the Vatican Museum and other art places, but even the food and the culture?

Maybe you have already purchased your ticket...so what's next?

Can you speak Italian?How are you going to book that restaurant table?Order from the menu?Explain what you want in accommodation?Tell the taxi driver where you want to go?Book a train ticket?Report a stolen wallet?Take a local out to dinner?Describe an emergency and asking for help?

Well I can help you....classes start on a regular base at New Farm State School, but if you prefer I run private tutorials to suit your needs.


Just get in touch!!!

To contact me click HERE


Ci sentiamo presto!!!
Simona

Sant’Andrea della Valle: Domenichino’s Evangelists

Lanfranco and Domenichino's works in Sant'Andrea della Valle

Wandering around Rome? Looking for something different not far from Piazza Navona? On Corso Vittorio Emanuele II there is a big, magnificent Baroque church: Sant’Andrea della Valle. Walk directly towards the apse, there you can see Domenichino’s Evangelists: the apostles Matthew, Mark, Luke and John painted in the pendentives.

Almost in response to Lanfranco’s Assumption of the Virgin, who painted the apse, Domenichino decided to develop colossal figures that were able to contrast with the illusionism of the undefined contours of Lanfranco’s work. The evangelists, the result of his remarkable ability, were a common subject used in many other circumstances by other artists. In fact, during the Byzantine period and the Middle Ages the evangelists were considered the most representative figures of the Catholic faith and of the Church, because they professed the word of Christ on earth. They were represented in the churches decorated by frescoes or mosaics, shown writing the Gospels, sitting at a desk, or standing up with their manuscripts or a roll of parchment, and with their appropriate attributes, such as in the façade of St. Francesco d’Assisi Basilica. Sometime their single attributes were represented instead of the evangelists themselves, symbolizing the Gospels, the foundation of the Catholic faith, as in the mosaic of the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia in Ravenna (ca 425-430).

When Domenichino received this commission, he was already known in the Roman environment for his previous commission, the Assumption of the Virgin in Sta. Maria in Trastevere (Rome), commissioned by Cardinal Pietro Aldobrandini (1571-1621). The pendentives differ from this previous commission; they are considered a sign of artistic maturity.

Domenichino's Evangelist - Saint Andrea della Valle by Simona

Domenichino's Evangelist - Saint Andrea della Valle by Simona

Domenichino's Evangelist - St. Andrea della Valle by Simona

Domenichino's Evangelist - St. Andrea della Valle by Simona

In his representation Domenichino decorated the four evangelists all engaged in their own thoughts, except for Luke, who turns his attention outside the frame of his pendentive. They all sit on top of a cloud, surrounded by angels. The work realized by Domenichino, totally opposite to the work offered by Lanfranco, who believed in producing a more explicative work and a faster one, where the result is different and less researched, probably because he wanted to express new ideas.

The Evangelists are vibrant and larger than the normal standard size, filling the entire space. In his work Domenichino has clearly made reference to Michelangelo and especially to the ignudi painted in the Sistine Chapel. He has imposed the figures of the evangelists, who seem coming out of the frame of the pendentives to give a sense of spatiality and perhaps even superiority, in front of Lanfranco.

Enlarging the figures to this colossal scale, the artist demonstrated his competence both as a painter and as an architect, finding the right solution for the intersection between the longitudinal nave and the vertical thrust of the dome.

Going to Rome soon...don't miss out on that!!

Piazza del Popolo: the twin churches

Piazza del Popolo by Simona Albanese

Piazza del Popolo is an oval shaped square and is remarkable because of the twin churches, Santa Maria di Montesanto and Santa Maria dei Miracoli designed by Carlo Rainaldi and commissioned by pope Alexander VII in 1658. 

The original project was for two twin churches, but during the construction various necessary modifications were made. The architect, Carlo Rainaldi, finished the construction of Santa Maria di Montesanto in 1675 and began the work on the neighboring Santa Maria dei Miracoli, and the work was completed in 1681. 

In the early 19th century the domes were restored and covered in slate tiles, an unusual technique in Rome. Santa Maria di Montesanto is known as "The church of the artists" because of its proximity to via del Babuino and Via Margutta, a famous artist street, making the church a common venue for the funerals of artists, film directors and letterati.

 

Both churches are rich of decorations, especially for the allegorical stuccoes, produced by Antonio Raggi, a pupil of Gianlorenzo Bernini.

There are three streets departing from the square, referred to us as the Tridente. 

On the left, Via del Babuino, which will take you directly to the Spanish Steps, after you have look around the nice beautiful shops along the road. At the center Via del Corso which runs up to Piazza Venezia, where is the monument to Vittorio Emanuele II, and on the right, Via Ripetta, which will take you near the Ara Pacis, on Piazza Augusto Imperatore.

Last, but not less important is an outstanding obelisk at the center of the square to commemorate the conquest of Egypt by Augustus in 10 BC. 

The obelisk was moved from its original place at Circus Maximus by Pope Sixtus V in 1589.

and leaving the churches on your back and looking on the other side...towards Via Flaminia...which important church is there? ....

to the next posting...