Day Trip to Bracciano

 

The view from the castle ramparts.

It took us decades of living for months each year in Rome finally to get to Bracciano, the lovely town with its astounding castle overlooking the lake of the same name - Lago di Bracciano. Over the decades, we've hiked all around the lake, dallied in the lovely town of Anguillara (named for the ubiquitous native eels that have clogged some of the aqueducts over time) at its southeastern end, scootered around it, including on its windy volcanic lip. But visited the town? Never until last year. Maybe it was its attraction to celebrities that made us stay away so long (among those married in the castle were Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, Italian singer Eros Ramazzotti and Swiss model Michelle Hunziker, and Martin Scorsese and Isabella Rossellini).

Now without scooter, we figured out the train timetables and took the almost 2-hour-long ride - stopping almost 20 times along the less than 50-mile route. Worth it?  Definitely! (It's the F3 interurban train that can be accessed at Stazioni Tiburtina, Ostiense, Trastevere, etc.)

Right, our first view, from the narrow streets of the old town, of the Orsini-Odelscalchi castle.

The castle is in wonderful condition and you are allowed to roam all over it.

Built in the 15th century by the wealthy Orsini family, the Orsini bear sightings are many. ("Orsini" means "little bears"). The family crest sports both the bear peaking over the top, and a rose.

The town and castle were also the focal points of many conflicts between wealthy families, some connected to Popes. The Colonna, Medici, and Torlonia were involved. In 1948 the castle was purchased by a prince of the Odescalchi line. Hence the full name: Castello Orsini-Odescalchi. (See photo of map below of the extent of the Orsini family rule when they started the project.)

The armaments room (photo above) is particularly impressive, as is the painting showing the various comings and goings of the families controlling Bracciano (close-up below). In case you are not into weapons, you'll also see the kitchens, bedrooms, frescoed ceilings, courtyards, and rooftops. You won't go away wanting for much. The website also features private tours of many varieties, including a kids' tour with a "princess" and re-enactments.  Website here. We couldn't get the English version of the web site to work, but you'll get the idea, or use an online translator.

A few more photos are at the end of the post. (We haven't included too many so you can enjoy the sight first-hand.) We don't want to leave out our trek down to the beach (a path for locals will get you there fairly easily), and some great seafood pastas. We also strolled along a beach area clearly designed for night-life, with one place even called "Movida" (the Italian word for the crowds that move among the hot spots in the late evening, the bane of residents' existences in some Roman neighborhoods like Trastevere and San Lorenzo).

The lake and beach from the castle grounds.

A few families ventured out on this sunny May weekday (right).

The "Movida" club, photo at left.  Near here was also a boat scheduled to take people across the lake. Some Brits were waiting for it, but it clearly was not going to show. Advice: don't depend on it.

Dianne

Above, map of Orsini holdings. Lake Bracciano is the small light blue spot towards the lower left. They had property in and out of the Papal states. Virginio Orsini lived in the late 15th and early 16th centuries. The castle has many explanatory panels in both Italian and English.

Stay Out: The Signs of Via Della Brianza

 

We read all kinds of signs, and we enjoyed two signs that guarded the courtyard/street of an apartment complex (off via Imperia) in our Piazza Bologna neighborhood (above). We would guess that the complex dates to about 1950. Although anyone could walk unimpeded into the courtyard/street (via della Brianza), two signs, one on the right of the entrance, and one on the left, may give pause. 

The sign on the right, of older vintage, reads: "Access is prohibited for those who don't have the right [to do so]." It's not clear what "right" that is, though the sign is apparently based on a section of the legal code, noted on the sign.

The sign on the left, perhaps more recently posted but probably decades ago, reads: "Via della Brianza (Private Property) Entrance is prohibited to vehicles of strangers [estranei]." You have to like that word "strangers." Also, driving in would be difficult, given that there are potted plants in the way.

Bill 

PS - We've lived in the Piazza Bologna area - in many different parts of it - 6 or more times. This part was new to us last year. It's not far from the Policlinico Metro stop.

Homage to Italian Sculptor Arnaldo Pomodoro

Bill in front of the 'opening' piece, Le Battaglie ("The Battles" 1995), which Pomodoro says was inspired by Paolo Uccello's "La Battaglia di San Romano" ("The Battle of San Romano" - first half of 1400s) in Siena. (Hisham Matar's "A Month in Siena" has many incisive pages devoted to this painting.)

Italian sculptor Arnaldo Pomodoro died a little over 2 weeks ago, June 22, the day before his 99th birthday. His works are prominently featured in Rome, including his "smooth-skinned orb slashed to reveal a complex core"--to borrow from the New York Times obit here in front of the Farnesina (the Italian Department of State/Foreign Affairs). To mark his passing from his extraordinarily fruitful life - to the end - we are reprinting here our June 2023 review of an extensive and educational (for us) exhibit of his works in the Fendi-restored Palazzo della Civilta' Romano in EUR.

******************

A little late to the game, we "discovered" Arnaldo Pomodoro, thanks to a newspaper ad on the opening of a new exhibition of some of his large-scale works at Fendi's gallery at the restored Palazzo della Civilta' Romano in EUR. It's not that we hadn't seen his work before - we have long appreciated the globe/sphere in front of the Farnesina, the Italian "state department" in Rome. His "sphere within a sphere" are all over the world, we now know.

The exhibition at Fendi  - Il Grande Teatro delle Civilta' - "The Great Theater of Civilizations" - is remarkable for its installation of numerous enormous works - on the scale of Richard Serra's (though Pomodoro's are one-sided - one cannot walk in and around them).

The Palazzo (also known as the "Square Coliseum") is itself so imposing that at first we found Pomodoro's works installed outside of it simply too small and squatty.

Case in point, right.  Dianne tries to figure out what it is - against the backdrop of a much more imposing statue from the building's original design. Turns out it's Agamemnon, and the design was for a Greek theater production in 2014 in Siracusa and so, makes sense. It wasn't designed for this place.

Two aspects of the exhibit appealed to us. First, the delight of children grooving to the artwork, as at left.

Second, the excellent and informative flat material that gives shape to Pomodoro's lengthy career. He's about to turn 97 (the English language Wikipedia entry says his active years WERE 1954-2005 - whoops!). These are displayed in bright, large glass cases, slide-out drawers - both vertical and horizontal. We were intrigued by his work in the graphics medium.

And we learned about the placement of his works around the world. Newspaper articles and drawings showed that one of his obelisk-type sculptures had been installed on the Gianicolo, in a highly visible but unlikely spot - the traffic circle on the way up to the Bambino Gesu' Hospital that hosts the large entrances to the bus parking for the hordes visiting St. Peter's and the Vatican (you can also access the Caput Mundi shopping mall Bill wrote about recently from this underground parking venue). Below is the sketch - but it must have been there because there also were photos of it being installed. We missed it "in the flesh."

Left, Dianne checking out one of the drawers with sketches, newspaper articles, graphic works, and explanations. (If only my kitchen drawers worked this well!)

A hand-out at the exhibition shows the location of Pomodoro's works around Rome. We later were on a tour of Palazzo dello Sport (Nervi's ground-breaking building for the 1960 Olympics; Ali - as Cassius Clay - won his gold medal here), which features a Pomodoro obelisk in another once-traffic-circle (named Piazzale Pier Luigi Nervi), now abandoned and rather forlorn.

The photo at right shows the condition of the piazza and statue.

We've heard the complaint (and are tempted ourselves) to view Pomodoro as a "one-trick pony." If you unwrap the obelisk, it looks like the flat pieces. The shapes are similar throughout his work. 

The exhibition at Fendi ends with a newer piece (1996-97, below) that is a complement in white to the introductory Le Battaglie that leads off this post.

To us, it didn't seem to move the needle much in terms of his art. 

The title of the work is Movimento in pieno aria e nel profondo ("Movement in free space and in the depths" - or something like that!).

Close-up at right.

On the other hand, if one looks at his costumes, graphic work, public art - the way it is placed in the world, his vision seems greater.  

We close with some of these other pieces, including our having fun with them - which is a benefit of art as well.

If you can't get to Rome to see Il Grande Teatro delle Civilta' - "The Great Theater of Civilizations" before it closes October 1, the website is comprehensive. It includes all the works, plus a visual tour, plus a map of his works all over the world.

In Italian and English here: https://arnaldopomodoro.fendi.com/en/

Dianne

RST with one of the costumes, this one from 1986 for Didone (Dido), one of my favorite tragic heroines. .

There's a relationship between the faux "printer's wheel" outside (Rotativa di Babilonia - Babylon's wheel, 1991) and the graphics-type work inside (Tracce I-VII - Traces 1-7, 1998) (above and below).

A close-up of Il cubo ("The Cube," 1961-62), one of the first works in the show, and one one of us found intriguing - maybe because it had some "white space" in it.

Below is the most recent of Pomodoro's sculptures in the exhibition - Continuum, 2010 - one that seems to highlight made-up hieroglyphics. Pomodoro's large, rectangular pieces remind us of Richard Serra's, but the Italian sculptor's are very much 2-dimensional with bas relief, not the 3-dimensional, run-around-and-through-it of Serra.

The artist with his barbed take on Fendi's Peekaboo bag - on display during the exhibition: 

(Image credit: Carlos & Dario Tettamanzi)

Contemporary Artisanship in Rome: Trompe L'Oeil

Artisanship is alive and well in Rome. We've found it in odd places (a luthier, a watch-band store, a glove shop - though some of those did not survive Covid). And, most recently, in our landlady for our San Lorenzo Airbnb. 

Licia Rossi (aka the landlady) is a wonderful artist, and also, with her partner, a purveyor of trompe l'oeil. We visited her San Giovanni studio and watched her at work.

Licia Rossi in her San Giovanni studio.

Her painting, which is her passion, has been exhibited widely. The trompe l'oeil, which we had not seen so pervasively in contemporary interiors, was equally intriguing.

Right, a design for a bedroom wall - and the painting for the wall design to the left of the photo of the bedroom.

Left, Licia's partner, Antonio Malleo, working on one of their wall paintings.

 

And here, a true tromp l'oeil from their Facebook site:

Another work we liked that shows off their "chromatic" approach (their Facebook and Instagram pages bear the word "cromaticamente"):

You can see more of their art - and Licia and Antonio at work - on their Facebook page, which will lead you into more photos on Instagram.

https://www.facebook.com/malleorossi/

Below this post, a few more photos, including the unassuming "street" in San Giovanni where Licia's studio is located.

Dianne

Licia with her sketches.

Visiting the studio.

C'era Una Volta: Once Upon a Time, there was a Tram

San Lorenzo is known for its wall art, and justly so, and most of it is where one would expect--on the exterior walls of the neighborhood's buildings. But one that caught our fancy is located not only inside, but inside a commercial establishment that's only been around a few years: C'era Una Volta [Once Upon a Time There Was...] Il Caffe--basically a bar like any other bar, serving coffee and sandwiches. On some evenings, men gather to watch a soccer game on a small TV. There's a place to bet on sports. 

C'era Una Volta is located at a critical intersection in San Lorenzo, where the historic via Tiburtina (San Lorenzo's "Main Street") and via dei Reti (the core of the area's transportation system) come together.

A grey day in San Lorenzo, looking straight up via dei Reti, with C'era Una Volta at right

The back room, usually open only for lunch, is a pizzeria/cafeteria, and on its back wall is that mural. "Once Upon a Time," the mural tell us--and it was only a few years ago at most--via dei Reti was a thorough for trams, though cars and trucks used it too. As far as we know, the only tram that ran on those lines--one in each direction, between Piazza Verano and Porta Maggiore--was the #19, right there in the mural. Until earlier this  year, several miles of the tracks used by the #19 tram were being repaired. The tram had been replaced by a bus--yes, the #19.

The mural (above) doesn't do justice to the bar's clientele. While C'era Una Volta has women customers, most of its patrons are men. Indeed, of the 5 or 6 tables on the sidewalk outside the bar, one or two are usually occupied by older men (or one older man), using the table as a space for social interaction, sometimes without any purchase. Just a place to hang out. 

Inside, too, most of the patrons are men

In contrast, the only patrons in the mural are women, and upper-class women at that, with fancy coats and vintage hats out of the 1930s. Their red lips--and the empty chair covered in red--are a nice touch, suggesting an elegance that the caffe', comfortable and efficient as it is, doesn't possess. On the sidewalk, a woman in more ordinary dress appears to roll up a sleeve, and another, behind her, seems to be picking something up. 

There's only one obvious male in the mural, and not a single student, or so it would seem, even though today's San Lorenzo is populated by, and enjoyed by, students from the nearby university. 

Prominently featured, although it hasn't been in operation for more than a year, is the #19 tram. 

Bill 

San Lorenzo is a fascinating neighborhood. Here are a couple prior posts featuring it.

San Lorenzo: Where Maria Montessori Got Her Start

The Mural on Scalo San Lorenzo: Reading the Politics of the Neighborhood

Rome's Public Markets: a Cautionary Tale

Cemetery wanderings - a great trek through Cimitero Verano in Rome

Sites of Anti-Fascism: Trionfale, Garbatella, and San Lorenzo