Rome – Most Obsessed

It is Rome, not Paris, that is most obelisk-obsessed.

A Virgin and a Bride in Piazza Navona

In the year 304 at the age of twelve a young virgin of noble blood lost her life here.

68 Minutes in Not More Legroom Economy Class

It’s 8:20AM PST on a rainy Thursday morning in March. I’m seated in 27C on a United Airlines 757 on my way from San Francisco, California to Boston, Massachusetts. I have been flying this route at least four times and sometimes as many as 24 times  a year since 1994.  This is one of the longest flights in the continental U.S.  On a good day with the winds at your back, you can make the trip in just under five hours of flight time. Add two hours on the front end for check-in, security and boarding and another 45 to 60 minutes on the back end for de-planing and baggage and roughly speaking, you can cross the country west-to-east, from sea to shining sea, in about eight hours. 

Paris – Obelisk Obsessed

I love Paris. Whenever landing at Charles de Gaulle, it is like coming home. Not that I have ever lived in Paris, but having visited so often, it is without mistake that Paris and I belong together. So on our way to Rome, we spent a few days there.

 

Silver in Paris

Several years ago a French friend living in California told me that French women don’t dye their hair. “Why should they?” she asserted. 

 

“Really!” my tone of voice demurring. I wondered what fortunate combinations in the French gene pool kept Catherine Deneuve’s tresses, among others, from turning gray.

 

Homage to Two Great Romans – Valentino

At the time of our visit to Rome, the Museo Dell’Ara Pacis was also hosting an exhibit of the designs of the Roman couturier Valentino to celebrate his retirement after a forty-five year career. At first, we thought it was a strange juxtaposition: The 2000-year-old marble altar exulting the Emperor Augustus and the tribute to twentieth century fashion designer Valentino. The effect, however, was stunning. 

Homage to Two Great Romans – Augustus

On our last day in Rome, before heading out the next day to Fiumicino airport and the long return trip across Europe, the Atlantic and the North American continent to California, we decided to visit the Museo Dell’Ara Pacis.  We had two reasons for visiting the museum: One was the Ara Pacis, the Altar of Peace, and the other was Valentino.

Ama Roma

“Ama Roma,” that’s what every trash collection vehicle in the City of Rome shouts out. Big and small, all bright green and white, their sides are gaily painted in large letters Ama Roma. And, I do.

Sweet and Bitter

The goddess Venus had two fountains in her garden: One providing sweet and the other bitter water. 

Coffee, Raphael, and Caravaggio – Part II

Part II: Churches – Caravaggio and Raphael

 

While Roman cafes are busy serving delicious coffee its churches are just as assiduously serving Caravaggios and Raphaels (also Rafael).  Late one afternoon on one of our marathon church spins, we entered Sant’ Agostino. A renaissance church built between 1479 and 1483 and then extravagantly remodeled in 1750, it sits in a small piazza not far from Piazza Navona. We had come here to see Raphael’s Prophet Isiah and Caravaggio’s Madonna di Loreto. Antun had especially prepped me to check out the scandalous-in-their-day bare-footed Madonna, kneeling peasant’s imposing dirty feet and heavy-set Christ child in the Caravaggio. But, having been on artistic pilgrimage for several hours, I became light-headed as I entered the dark space.