Wednesday February 8th: Bernini

While the weather in Rome may have been mimicking a dreary day in Seattle, the clouds did not stop our group. We ventured on the 116, mini-bus, to the Museo de Villa Borghese. The Villa Borghese was built by Cardinal Scipione Borghese. Scipione was a patron of the arts and with the money he received from his uncle Pope Paul V he built the Villa Borghese to house his art collection. The museum was turned into a gallery in 1903. So, we hopped off the little bus and walked up the path to the villa, surrounded by trees and gardens.



Once we arrived at the Villa we were bombarded by Italian youth who also wanted to stare at Bernini’s works (we spent a lot of time avoiding the other groups). Now onto Bernini, which is a way cool topic. Bernini was a master of marble, we looked at his sculptures of Pluto and Persephone, David, and Apollo and Daphne. Each of these sculptures is meant to engage the viewer. One has to walk around the piece in order to understand everything that is happening in the sculpture. Bernini also uses different textures in his work,: the ground is unpolished and raugh, there is obviously hair covering the dog, the faces are smooth while the bodies are so highly polished that they shine. We wandered around the museum on our own for awhile until our stomachs began grumbling so loudly that we knew it was time for our group lunch!

Pizza and Pizza Re! In Italy, when you go out for pizza you normally finish the whole thing. These are not particularly small pizzas, but somehow they are so good that they just seem to vanish. This was the case with Pizza Re. The pizzas were laden with goodies, dripping with cheese and every bite was divine. So we hung around and laughed and had a great time and then it was on to our next adventure of the day: fountains!!!!



Julia Troutt had her presentation on “fountains and aqueducts, history of water as a political/propagandistic tool.” It was an absolutely stellar presentation that distracted our class from the fact that it was drizzling slightly outside. We spent the afternoon in the Piazza Navona: home to Bernini’s Four Rivers Fountain. Here are some lovely pictures of our group (I think we look prettier than the fountain) as well as some candid shots of Julia giving her presentation.




We wrapped up the day by talking about the talking statues of Rome. In order to have a voice there were these statues erected that people would post their thoughts on government and the election of the Pope, all under the cloak of night. During the day the posts would be taken down, but this gave people the opportunity to discuss/vehemently berate government.

So overall it was a jam-packed awesome day that not even the lack of sunshine could put a damper on.

Ciao,
Ema Land