Roma..Exquisite, Eternal City, Most Magical
I fell in love with Rome the moment I arrived. Rome captured my mind, and heart with such interest and intensity because I have spent several years studying Ancient Rome from politic, city plan to art and archictecture. You cannot escape the grandeur in Rome, it captivates your eye first, then grabs your heart. I know that it is Rome, that I will return to some day. Discovering Rome with a school group is nearly impossible, and we had to move quickly through very large crowds.
Thankfully, I am a intensive observer, willing to take bits and pieces, learn what I can from them and remember to revisit those thoughts later. Rome needs careful and thoughtful attention, it is discovered by revealing layer upon layer of 2700 years of history. The food, the sounds, the people are a tantalising benefit of just 'being there', but Rome is so much more!
At Villa Borghese, I saw the most beautiful and elegant sculpture by Bernini, his David is prepared to conquer the giant and reign victoriously. His masterpiece for Cardinal Scipione Borghese depicting the chaste nymph Daphne being turned into a laurel tree, pursued in vain by Apollo god of light, will linger in your thoughts for days. It was truly exquisite. Upon entering the room you first see Apollo from behind, then the fleeing nymph appears in the process of metamorphosis, brak covers most of her body. Ovid wrote that Apollo's hand can still feel her heart beating beneath it and you sense she is still pumping. Thus the scene ends by Daphne being transformed into a laurel tree to escape her divine aggressor. The presence of this pagan myth was justified by a moral couplet composed in Latin by Cardinal Maffeo Barberini, who later would become Pope Urban VIII, and engraved on the cartouche on the base, which says: "Those who love to pursue fleeting forms of pleasure, in the end find only leaves and bitter berries in their hands".
At Villa Borghese you cannot disregard the pines of Rome, they dance with the breeze that glides over the beautiful gardens and landscape. The pines hang like shadows over the entrance to the catacombs. When you stand at the navel of the universe, above the Appian Way, you can see the pines there also, standing guard. I imagined the army of the Consul advancing towards the Sacred Way, mounting in triumph the Capitoline Hill. I was in awe!
The photograph I took from the Sistine Chapel looking into the Vatican gardens through the window, elegantly captures what I Rome gave to me in my short time there, I will carry that in my soul, until I return there someday.
"The most important monuments I take very slowly; I do nothing except look, go away, and come back and look again. Only in Rome can one educate oneself for Rome."
Goethe
Thankfully, I am a intensive observer, willing to take bits and pieces, learn what I can from them and remember to revisit those thoughts later. Rome needs careful and thoughtful attention, it is discovered by revealing layer upon layer of 2700 years of history. The food, the sounds, the people are a tantalising benefit of just 'being there', but Rome is so much more!
At Villa Borghese, I saw the most beautiful and elegant sculpture by Bernini, his David is prepared to conquer the giant and reign victoriously. His masterpiece for Cardinal Scipione Borghese depicting the chaste nymph Daphne being turned into a laurel tree, pursued in vain by Apollo god of light, will linger in your thoughts for days. It was truly exquisite. Upon entering the room you first see Apollo from behind, then the fleeing nymph appears in the process of metamorphosis, brak covers most of her body. Ovid wrote that Apollo's hand can still feel her heart beating beneath it and you sense she is still pumping. Thus the scene ends by Daphne being transformed into a laurel tree to escape her divine aggressor. The presence of this pagan myth was justified by a moral couplet composed in Latin by Cardinal Maffeo Barberini, who later would become Pope Urban VIII, and engraved on the cartouche on the base, which says: "Those who love to pursue fleeting forms of pleasure, in the end find only leaves and bitter berries in their hands".
At Villa Borghese you cannot disregard the pines of Rome, they dance with the breeze that glides over the beautiful gardens and landscape. The pines hang like shadows over the entrance to the catacombs. When you stand at the navel of the universe, above the Appian Way, you can see the pines there also, standing guard. I imagined the army of the Consul advancing towards the Sacred Way, mounting in triumph the Capitoline Hill. I was in awe!
The photograph I took from the Sistine Chapel looking into the Vatican gardens through the window, elegantly captures what I Rome gave to me in my short time there, I will carry that in my soul, until I return there someday.
"The most important monuments I take very slowly; I do nothing except look, go away, and come back and look again. Only in Rome can one educate oneself for Rome."
Goethe
posted by Linda at 8:03 AM
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