Of Museums AND Music….

First stop today was Palazzo Corsini.(See the man walk his dog who lies down in the middle of the street in front of the Corsini!) (Thanks, Stephen!) It is really fun to see these wonderful old homes/mansions used to display all this amazing art from the 14th to the 18th centuries. It was formerly the residence of Queen Christina of Sweden in the 1700’s. One of the guidebooks said that they don’t usually even get fifty visitors a day, so that was a real plus. It was especially interesting that one of the guards, perhaps a volunteer, followed me from room to room!
Right across the street was the Villa Farnesina, which was very small, but also interesting. Banker Agostino Chigi, the original owner in 1511, was also known as “the Magnificent”, as he entertained his guests in great style. There was a wonderful trompe l’oeil landscape by Peruzzi (new to me today) that I especially liked. There were fifty steps to the next floor, so either the kitchen was upstairs too, or they had their food sent up!
Heading over to the Ghetto, I decided to visit the Spada Gallery, although it should have been easier to find than it was! It is actually in a complex that also houses various offices, including a police office. In the courtyard, there is the famous (also new to me today) F. Borromini “Perspective”. It is a series of columns with a statue at the end, which looks huge, but, in fact, the statue is only 2’ tall. The male guide who is “one meter 85” walked through the columns to show me. It was really pretty funny to see. UNFORTUNATELY no pictures! I’d noticed the sign at the cashier which said it was not safe for people to go thru the columns. On the second floor there were more pictures. I was especially interested to see two paintings by Artemisia Gentileschi(1593-1652/3), whose father Orazio, was a famous painter, but she was all the more unusual because there were no women painters in those days!
All three of these small galleries were certainly interesting, but difficult to really appreciate, because they were CROWDED into the space!
Next stop…back to the Ghetto, and visited the Jewish Museum of Rome. This included a tour of the synagogue, which is much more ornate than most synagogues, according to the guide (of the 15 minute tour?). However, it was VERY interesting, as the museum contained all sorts of information about Judaism, as well as the history of Jews in Rome.
When Mallory, Dayle, and I returned from the Vatican on bus 40, we met a young woman in a period costume who gave us a brochure about a musical program of arias from various operas at San Paolo Entro Le Mura. So tonight I went over to hear it, and I really enjoyed it, in spite of the twelve fans which didn’t do much to cool the church off. Actually the church is part of the Anglican Episcopal Church and has services in English and Spanish. The Rome busses run almost around the clock, but this was over at 10, so with some on-again-off-again bus action, I got back here by 11)