Ariccia: For the Birds, and the Pigs

Ariccia may be our favorite town in the Colli Albani.  The entrance to it is simply spectacular: over
an elegant and long bridge, spanning a deep gorge, the city center just at the end, magnificent views of the coastal plain and the Mediterranean beyond.










The tranquil main square, with a bar and exterior seating, is the perfect place for a morning coffee.
Around the corner is "main street," narrow and inviting, shops and bars, locals sitting--and trimming green beans.











Then there's a whole "other" Ariccia, just through the town and down left: a spilling semicircle with perhaps a dozen restaurants and cafes, all featuring some version of pork, most with some sort of pig logo out front. (The bridge to the right of the photo on the right is the same one pictured in the older photo, below.)

Today, the restaurant area is to the right, and down.  View looking north/northwest.  

And trucks delivering Ariccia pig meat going by.

One time we chose Osteria del Borgo and pappardelle with...pork (wild boar)!  And a plateful of porchetta (photos above and left).  All pork all the time (we first wrote about Ariccia's porchetta in 2011).  On another visit we discovered a street of restaurants heading up the hill alongside the Parco dei Chigi.  Men and women hawking their restaurants even crossed the street to accost us.  Nonetheless, we chose one - Osteria da Angelo (da 1920, "hand made pasta" - those factors attracted us), and had a terrific porchetta "starter" followed by that pasta.  We've now discovered the difference between dry and moist porchetta.  You definitely want the latter.  And, you need to eat it with some of the crispy skin and fat for flavor.  Just do it.

Bernini's Church of the Assunta - he was inspired by the Pantheon dome, as he was reconstructing the Pantheon into a church.
The small fountain to the left in this picture is the Fontana delle Tre Cannelli (Fountain of the Three Spouts).  The fountain
also sports the Chigi symbols - the mounds topped by a star.

A tasty town, yes, but the most remarkable aspect of this small community is that it has two monumental buildings by the distinguished 17th-century architect Gian Lorenzo Bernini.  We think that's two more than any other town in the Colli Albani (but we could be wrong).  The Bernini buildings are on the central square, facing each other.  The entire square, with the palazzo on one side and the church on the other, was designed by Bernini for Chigi Pope Alexander VII, and that is one reason we were so impressed by the view of the town as we came over the bridge.  The bridge, a 19th-century addition to the town, was destroyed in World War II and rebuilt after.

View of "lower" Ariccia (the dome of Bernini's church is visible), part of the immense park, and, beyond, the Mediterranean.  The nets at the side of the bridge are there to catch would-be suicides.  

Across the street from the church, the long white building is Bernini's (and Carlo Fontana's--a Bernini pupil) Palazzo Savelli Chigi (photo of entrance above). The two rebuilt an earlier structure in baroque style in the 1660s.  The palazzo belonged to the

Chigi Pope Alexander VII (we think), eyed by Dianne.

Chigi family for more than 300 years, finally ceded to the Commune only in 1988.

It was a setting for the 1963 Luchino Visconti film, Il Gattopardo ("The Leopard"), starring Burt Lancaster, Claudia Cardinale and Alain Delon, and now hosts exhibitions and events.

From the terrace.

The rather plain facade belies a complex and rich decorated interior.  A balcony/deck overlooks the gorge and park below--what used to be Chigi property - and fascinating enough to us that Dianne is writing it up as a separate post (all Ariccia all the time!).

In the Palazzo Savelli Chigi, we especially enjoyed the "admissions" room, with a ceiling delightfully painted in birds--and an animal we couldn't identify, devouring a mouse.   So don't forget to look up!

Bill and Dianne

The Roman Rooms of Saint Ignatius of Loyola, Jesuit Founder: Austere...and Baroque

A painting depicting an event in Saint Ignatius's life - in the corridor outside the Saint's rooms.

The rooms of Saint Ignatius of Loyola (1491-1556), founder of the Jesuits, are smack dab in the middle of
Rome and only lightly visited.  We've been there several times, and even we nonbelievers find them moving.  Here is where he wrote the Constitution of the Jesuits.  You can see the desk (which supposedly belonged previously to Saint Francis Xavier) on which he wrote, and his chair.

One of the rooms where mass is held.  In stark contrast to
Pozzo's decorated corridor.

In fact, most of what one sees visiting these rooms was built after Saint Ignatius's death, but the core 4 rooms, constructed in 1543, where he lived and worked, and died, remain - or rather have been restored - as they were when he was there in the 16th century.  As one passes through these simple rooms, one has the sense of walking back 5 centuries.

A haunting likeness of the Saint.  It was in one of the rooms decades
ago, and may still be there.  But we can't remember seeing it.
Photo courtesy of Bo Lundin, author of an excellent guidebook to Rome--
in Swedish.  

The entrance to the rooms was decorated in high Baroque style about 25 years after Ignatius's death by Andrea Pozzo - an accomplished painter less famous than some of his contemporaries - who also had a hand in the designs of the Church of the Gesù next door.  The Church gets most of the attention, and, so, being Rome the Second Time, we'll skip it for now and focus on Saint Ignatius's rooms.

Yes, that's trompe l'oeil perspective you are seeing here.

Flat angels?

Pozzo's elaborately painted reception area is worth a long look.  His elaborate use of trompe l'oeil is delightful here (even if puzzling to some visitors who say his angels look flat!). You have to know where to stand (there's a designated spot on the floor; guards will point it out) to get the full effect of his faux-perspective.  Although the ceiling paintings in the adjacent church of the Gesù are considered Pozzo's masterpiece, these corridor paintings are not to be missed.  They are stunning in their color, Baroque busyness, and "quadratura," which I now know means a combination of architecture and fancy.  It was by reading a 1991 New York Times article that we found Pozzo's frescoes had been whitewashed and only discovered with the late 20th-century restoration of the rooms.  Of course, Pozzo's high Baroque style reflects as well the Counter-Reformation, in which Ignatius played a major role.  In contrast to this Baroque feast for the eyes, the austerity of Ignatius's rooms provides a quiet interlude for contemplation.  On display are objects of the Saint's life, including his humble shoes (photo, left).

The Jesuits in charge of Ignatius's rooms have done a great service in providing many panels, in English, describing Ignatius's life - he was a Basque military man who, like Saint Paul, had a conversion and became a man of the spirit, moving from a life as an elite to a monastic existence.  The panels also describe the rooms and the objects in them.  This is an excellent self-guided tour.

Entrance to the rooms - to the right of the main entrance to
the Church of the Gesù.

The church and rooms are halfway between Piazza Venezia and Largo di Torre Argentina, on the cramped Piazza del Gesù where the very busy via del Plebiscito changes names to the equally busy corso Vittorio Emanuele II, easy to reach from any part of central Rome.

Hours for visiting the rooms are somewhat limited.  4-6 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 10 a.m. - noon Sundays and holidays.

There's very little online devoted to the rooms.  This Web site (in Italian, but one can use an online translator) is decent.

Dianne

In the shadow of the Pantheon: Santa Maria Sopra Minerva

As you exit the church of Santa Maria Sopra Minerva, you'll be in the
shadow of, and amidst the crowds swarming around the Pantheon

Santa Maria Sopra Minerva ("Saint Mary Above Minerva") is a treasure trove of artworks, as well as an emotional (to me) historic site.  Yet it is only lightly visited, perhaps because it is so overshadowed - literally and figuratively -  by the Pantheon, in its own Piazza della Minerva.

Construction began on this Dominican church in the 13th century, and it is an interesting, or perhaps unfortunate, mix of Gothic and baroque architecture.  "Sopra Minerva" is thought to derive from the Minerva temple over which the church may have been built.

Before one tries to identify all the magnificent art in the church, hie thee to the choir in the adjacent convent, reachable from the church, on the left side.  Here you can see where Galileo was tried - for history buffs, it doesn't get any better than this.  The tomb of Pope Paul IV (1555-59), the Great Inquisitor, appropriately is in this church.  Some church history is available online.  Also see http://romanchurches.wikia.com/wiki/Santa_Maria_sopra_Minerva.

Pope at rest

In the church itself, you can spend hours mesmerized by the art works that in every conceivable form commemorate death, as the Catholics do best.  You can start with Michelangelo's Christ Bearing the Cross, also known as Christ Risen, and then move on to Bernini's memorial to Maria Raggi and his tomb for Giovanni Vigevano.

Tombs to be walked on, or prayed against

Bernini's memorial to Maria Raggi

Bernini's tomb for  Giovanni Vigevano

You might save the best for last - Fra Lippo Lippi's Carafa Chapel frescoes from the late 15th century.  These are astoundingly beautiful, very accessible (no long lines and you can walk right up to them).  Have Euros available for the pay-light box; definitely worth it. A list of all the frescoes is online at: http://www.wga.hu/html_m/l/lippi/flippino/carafa/ 

The altarpiece painted by Fra Lippo Lippi in the Carafa Chapel;
 here St Thomas Aquinas is presenting Cardina Carafa to the Virgin Mary.
The angel on the left is the angel of the Annunciation,
and this fresco is sometimes described as The Annunciation.

And, of course, outside is the charming Bernini elephant atop a 6th century BC obelisk. The symbolism seems odd, but it has an historical basis.  The inscription, translated from Latin, reads: "Whoever you are, who sees here the figures of the Egyptian wise man carved on the obelisk carried by the elephant, the strongest of wild animals, understand the symbolism to be that a strong mind supports firm wisdom." 

The church is generally open 8 a.m. - 7 p.m., except not from 12:30-4 on Saturday and Sunday - long hours for Rome churches.  Check the times on the church's very basic Web site (in Italian).  You can also finish off your visit with a (expensive) glass of wine on the rooftop of the adjacent Hotel Minerva, with lovely views overlooking this piazza and the Pantheon.

In the piazza the last time I was there, a soccer game was set up.
The goalie (see photo above left) obviously disputed the call - with tears. 

You won't find lines like these, or waiting times at
Santa Maria Sopra Minerva

RST Top 40. #6: Villa Gregoriana

If you were in Rome and looking for a fine example of Italian baroque architecture, you would be wise to head for Francesco Borromini's San Carlo alle Quatro Fontane (San Carlo at the Four Fountains), for a look at that lovely, complex facade.

For the quintessence of Fascist monumentalism, you couldn't do better than the EUR (Esposizione Universale di Roma/Universal Rome Exposition) complex, where Italy's overblown imperial ambition is represented in the configuration of space and in almost every building. 



To capture the colorful exuberance of Art Nouveau, there's no place in Rome better than Galleria Sordi, on via del Corso. 

Tivoli, a town in the Alban Hills outside of Rome, has two such quintessential phenomena.  One of them, the Villa d'Este, is famous and a mainstay of area tourism; the other, Villa Gregoriana, is not so well known.  Yet Villa Gregoriana is in the RST Top 40--indeed, the RST Top 10--coming in at #6.  Da non perdere (not to be missed).

Actually, we recommend seeing Villa d'Este and Villa Gregoriana in tandem, because they're so different, separated from each other by almost three centuries (the Villa d'Este was built in the mid-16th century, Villa Gregoriana dates to 1826) and representing distinct ways of looking at nature and the world.  Although both are spectacular attractions, we've favored Villa Gregoriana because the 19th-century romantic perspective that it so perfectly captures--the visual equivalent of the poetry of Keats, Shelley, and Wordsworth--is rare in Rome, especially compared to the neo-classical perspective of the Villa d'Este.

The two villas are central to Itinerary 14 in Rome the Second Time, "Walking and Climbing Amid the Waters of Tivoli," where we provide guidance on how to get to Tivoli and what to take with you.  We also offer our own, non-guide-book interpretation of the contrasting meanings of the two villas:

"Villa d'Este is all about control, order, precision, repetition, and technology; one gets the sense here of human beings making water do tricks, of water engineers engaged in modern, scientific acts of manipulation, of nature bent to human will, to the logic of science. In contrast, Villa Gregoriana is about an apparent lack of control, about the power of water to erode and carve, about singularity rather than repetition, about a ferocious nature barely restrained.  Villa d'Este offers a lesson on the mind, a discourse on reason; Villa Gregoriana provides instructions on the body, on the spirit." 

And there's more. 

Bill