The Fountain of the Four Rivers, one of Bernini's many masterpieces. This (apparently) represents the four continents as they were known at the time of the Renaissance: the Danube (Europe), the Ganges (Asia), the Nile (Africa), and the Rio de la Plata (the Americas). Chris and I still agree that Michelangelo is the best of the Renaissance-era artists, but we have to admit, Bernini deserves the title of "Master," and was certainly one of the most prolific artists of his era - he's got fountains and public sculptures EVERYWHERE.
In St. Peter's Basilica is this early work by Michelangelo, one of the few marble sculptures actually signed by the artist. So the story goes, when he unveiled his finished work, the gathered dignitaries of the Vatican were so astonished at the lifelike qualities brought forth from solid marble that they didn't believe a twenty-four year old could have produced something so evocative. In a fit of picque, Michelangelo signed the work, even incorporating a big "M" into the folds of Mary's robes. In later years, the artist took even less guff from his patrons, even incorporating critics in embarrassing positions into some of his paintings.
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The sheer scale of things at St. Peter's Basilica means you're in this position much of the time. Even monuments, crypts and statues resting at ground level are so tall you'll still get a crick in your neck looking at them for too long at a stretch; we figure some of the saints were about fifteen to twenty feet tall, while some of the monuments to the popes were even larger.
Here's the Arch of Titus, at the high end of the Via Sacra in the Roman Forum, which depicts Titus' conquest of Judea, ending the Jewish Wars (66-70 AD). There are a number of arches in Rome, each erected in honor of a different event or a different person, including the Arch of Septimius Severus at the other end of the Forum, and the Arch of Constantine, down by the Colosseum.
We've got to mention the cats here. There is a serious feral cat problem in Rome, and they've formed colonies in most of the major ruins, since they're some of the few places where traffic is simply not allowed to go. This is at Torre Argentina, a lesser set of ruins that are so old there are questions about their purpose, but with one of the most lively cat colonies in the city. Volunteer organizations such as the Friends of Roman Cats and the official Torre Argentina Roman Cat Sanctuary care for these abandoned and feral cats, feeding them, taking care of spaying and neutering as well as other veterinary care when possible, and setting up adoptions to loving homes, even internationally. Since they're in the middle of the city, however, the cats are quite accustomed to having people around, so Chris was able to get right up close and personal with this sleek fellow.
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The obligatory stop by Trevi Fountain. We got a night tour of Rome by bus because it was really the only way to see all the major sights illuminated by floodlights in one night without a lot of walking and without getting seriously lost. TRAVELLERS NOTE: Beware men with cameras near Trevi Fountain and the Spanish Steps, for they are rip-off artists of the highest caliber.
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Along our tour of the Vatican, we found this masterpiece of a fresco by the twenty-seven year old Raphael Sanzio, depicting a fictional gathering of history's great philosophers, including Plato, Timeus, Aristotle, Pythagoras, Diogenes and Heraclitus (who, leaning on the marble block and writing on parchment, looks suspiciously like Michelangelo, since that gentleman was working on the Sistine Chapel ceiling at the time, and Raphael was so impressed with what he had accomplished so far he included him in his own fresco, along with himself (the figure on the right with the black beret).
Also taken inside St. Peter's. I just liked the play of light through the high window. Since most of my flash photographs didn't really come out as well in such a large space, I took this on slow shutter speed with my digital camera, and got a much more ethereal look out of it. By the way, the inlaid tile flooring? Marble. The columns and arches? Solid marble. By today's economy, St. Peter's Basilica would have cost literally billions to build.
About halfway up the stairs ascending the cupola or dome of St. Peter's Basilica. Since you're walking around a dome, as you get higher, the walls naturally curve inward, making the usable space in which to walk increasingly narrow, unless you simply give in and lean against the wall the rest of the way up.
Speaking of the colosseum, we made a memorable stop there as well. It's rather amazing to see something that was built in the 1st Century AD and still standing after all this time. Sure, it's a little beaten up, but considering it's weathered the elements, the fall of the Roman Empire, the Dark Ages and the plundering of its marble facades and metal fasteners, the capture of Rome during WWII in 1944, and several major earthquakes, not to mention several efforts over the centuries to simply tear the thing down and make it a strip mall or a parking lot, it's a wonder it's still there at all. Some of the walls have been shored up with metal bracing and modern brickwork to prevent further collapse from seismic damage, but it's otherwise all original masonry from 1900 years ago.
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