Getting to know the "creepy" side of Rome



This was on the front of the church, in Latin,
meaning somewhere along the lines of
"me today, you tomorrow"...yikes!

This past week has been so busy! Between classes gearing up and trying to make some concrete plans to travel this semester, I feel like I've barely had any time to breathe. But it's all worth it, right? I'm definitely enjoying my classes--even Italian is starting to be interesting. The theme of this weeks classes for Italian was along the lines of the "grotesque" and Baroque period in and around Italy, which entailed us reading A LOT about different palaces, parks, and churches that are a bit more...creepy in construction. Despite the amount of translations that were necessary (basically my life revolved around them...), the material itself was interesting as I delved into the history behind the "Park of Monsters" in Bomarzo, Italy, and why the doors and windows of Palazzo Orsini (also near Rome) are in the shape of the mouths of monsters. Crazy, right? In conclusion to the week, we went on a mini-field trip during our class period today, and went to a church that was about a 20 minute walk away from the school.



The front door of the church...



This church is known for its actions during the Middle Ages, where it would perform a sort of mass-funeral for poorer citizens who didn't have family to honor them after their death. The crypt, which we "luckily" were able to go into, contains an unimaginable amount of skulls and human bones, all "used" as a sort of decoration for the crypt itself. Out of respect, I'm not going to post pictures from inside the crypt, but no worries, you can still see the outside of the church, which is adorned with cement skulls above the door. Not exactly what comes to mind when you think "Rome Architecture", but still extremely interesting. It was nice to get a bit off the beaten path, and explore the streets of this amazing and mysterious city a little more.

The Coliseum "on fire"

Earlier this week, my ISC and I attempted to attend a free gallery night at the Palazzo Barberini, which was showing some beautiful art that I had wanted to see. Of course, as always, I couldn't find it. But we ended up going to the Coliseum that same night, which was holding an event to bring to the attention of the public how the amphitheater is truly becoming "ruined", and in desperate need of money to save it. The exhibition used screens put up inside the Coliseum, which projected the image of flames, to make it look like the Coliseum was on fire. It was almost fearful, and one could almost imagine what this amazing monument would look like were it actually on fire. While I've already showed you a few pictures of the Coliseum, I thought I'd include another, to try to give you an idea of what I saw. It was much more powerful in person. I was also happy to see that there was a HUGE crowd around the Coliseum, both taking pictures and merely taking in the image itself, and hopefully (fingers crossed!) something will be done to save what I consider to be a main image of Rome. I'm currently making my way through a book called "Roman Imperial Architecture" (very VERY slowly) and I came across a very poignant quote from the Venerable Bede (the so-called Father of English History from around 700 AD) that said, "While stands the Coliseum, Rome shall stand; When falls the Coliseum, Rome shall fall: And when Rome falls--the World." The Coliseum is, in my opinion, an immense part of what defines Rome, and Italy in general, and I love how this exhibition brought notice to that point.

Tomorrow I leave for the Liguria region of Italy, where I'll be visiting La Spezia, hiking through Cinque Terre (the Five Lands), and going on a tour of an amazing vineyard. I'm so excited!! What I also love (and can't get enough of) is the fact that I don't have to pay for anything except for one lunch. The trip is sponsored by my program here, as a sort of field trip for the 20 of us that chose to go on it. Unfortunately, it looks like it will be raining the entire weekend we are there, but regardless I can't wait to experience it. I will upload (hopefully breathtaking) pictures when I get back!

Arrivederci!