Day 9

Orientation Day 2:

We had a walking tour of the city with our architecture professor, Andrew Kranis, this morning. He is one of the best speakers I have heard in a long time. Every sentence is spoken with purpose and extreme intelligence. When he is explaining something, it almost sounds as though he has rehearsed it many times, but he is just coming up with it as we walk.

First, we went to Piazza Navona. On the way, he pointed out some basic information about Rome. The city is comprised of three basic elements: the inner courtyard, the street, and the piazza. “Piazza” literally translates to “place,” making a piazza an area where void is a means for creating a sense of place. Piazzas are extremely important as gathering places. The counterpart to the piazza is the inner courtyard, which appears in almost every neighborhood in Rome. Because of the density of the city, inner courtyards are important for breaking up the dense clumps of buildings and allowing for light and air circulation. Instead of broad open streets, closely positioned buildings make for very narrow streets, but the courtyards served as a relief from that density. Kranis also pointed out the historic drinking fountains that pop up along the streets. They are very old and provide some of the best drinking water because they are sourced directly from fresh springs through aqueducts. Water was an extremely important aspect of ancient Rome. Not only were the aqueducts an example of their masterful architectural and engineering ability, but they allowed the Roman Empire to thrive by preventing disease, and providing sanitation and hydration. They are still a pride of the city today, and I have to say that the water is, indeed, delicious.

An inner courtyard with a view of a church by Borromini

 

Piazza Navona itself has an interesting history. It is horseshoe shaped, curved on one end and flat on the other because it was once used for chariot racing. The sides were not buildings, but seats of a stadium. There is a plaque on the end of the square inscribed with the year of the great “inundation” or flood of the Tiber River. The line on the plaque shows the level to which the water rose, and represents an important point in Roman history when the emperor decided it was time to build walls along the river to prevent another flood from happening.



Plaque showing the level of the huge flood

Sant’Agnese in Agone is a 17^th century Baroque church located in the center of Piazza Navona and was designed by Borromini. It is unique because of what Borromini managed to create in very little space. Because of site restraints, there was no space to create a long-axis church like most of them are, so instead, Borromini extended the length of the arms of the church and lifted the dome so that the church is almost three times as high as it is deep. He also used visual illusions at the end of the transepts to make it look as though they extended a lot further than they do, which I find fascinating.

The dome

The illusion to make the sides look longer than they are

 

The front
 

The fountain in the center of the square, which faces the church of St. Agnes, does not have much relation to the church because it was designed by Borromini’s rival, Bernini. Kranis told us a story of how Bernini got the commission. Apparently, the emperor favored Borromini and was most likely going to give the commission for the fountain to him, so Bernini made a scale model of his idea for the fountain and secretly left it on the emperor’s desk. As soon as the emperor saw the model, he said he had to have it, and the commission went to Bernini. It’s a magnificent fountain not just because of the gorgeous craft involved in the sculptures, but also because of its masterful engineering. Since there were no water pumps back then, they had to use gravity to get the water flowing, and running the water through a series of small tubes built up enough pressure that when the water reached the large spouts, it would come out in gushes. The tall column on top is an Egyptian obelisk. They show up all over Rome, having been found and taken by the Romans, and although no one knew what the runes on them meant, they were still used often as decorations.



The fountain by Bernini



We also passed a building with hardly any windows. Kranis explained that this was most likely once a mini fortress where people could go if they were in danger. To give it protection, there were no windows, the walls were very thick, and there was a lookout spot on top where they could go to throw things on their enemies below. They most likely never lived in the building, but nearby where it was accessible from an inner courtyard. A few windows have since been added to the structure, and it has been adapted to the modern city. Newer neoclassical buildings were simply tacked on to either side of the structure and made to fit together. I love this about Rome. Not only is it historical, but it can also adapt. There are so many hidden treasures among the streets and even in the homes. As we walked through one of the richest districts of the city, Kranis said that there were probably countless relics and masterpieces inside many of the homes, simply lying undiscovered. There is always more to find and more to learn here. It seems every building, street, or courtyard has a story behind it, and a lucky few of us have the opportunity to uncover those stories. I wish we could build like they once did, creating beautiful structures meant to last, so that someday in the distant future, the stories encapsulated in those walls can be discovered and appreciated.

The old fortress with few windows



Old relics

 Next we went to the “most important building in Rome,” which is, of course, the Pantheon. It was my first time seeing it in daylight, and getting to see the light from the oculus streaming in really was spectacular. “Pantheon” means a temple to all gods. Hadrian is given credit for its erection, and his goal was to create a structure that was both spiritual, providing space for a statue of all the Roman Gods, and civic, giving people a place for gathering and even holding public trials. First and foremost, the Pantheon is a masterpiece of architecture. The front is built in the typical Greek style with a line of columns and a pedimented roof, but then one enters and is taken almost completely by surprise by the dome spanning the entire structure, which can’t be seen from the front. There is still debate as to how the dome was built, but the general consensus seems to be that the wall were built first, the interior was filled with dirt and mounded into the perfect dome shape that they wanted with the coffer designs on the exterior. Then, the concrete was poured over the top and allowed to set. However they did it, its genius, in my opinion. There was no modern technology. Sheer man power and masterful engineering brought this structure into existence, and it is still standing today.

Pantheon dome

On the way to the Trevi fountain, we passed through one of the largest indoor malls in Rome with gorgeous stained glass roofs. It is so different from malls we have in the U.S. Back home, malls tend to be plain concrete structures. Here, they are art in and of themselves, and the architecture trly enhances the shopping experience.

The indoor mall

 

 

Unfortunately, the Trevi fountain is being cleaned, so all the water was drained and there is scaffolding everywhere, but we were able to walk across it and get closer to the sculptures than if the water had been flowing.

We ended our walking tour in Campo De’Fiori, which means place of flowers. It has a spectacular market as well as one of the most famous “pizza-to-go” restaurants called Forno. To order, you tell them how much to cut off, and they charge you by weight, so half a pizza could end up only costing 2 Euros. My mushroom pizza was right around there. Typically, the pizza is folded in half and eaten like a sandwich in the streets. They also have amazing pastries and actual pizza sandwiches there, which are made with the same famous Roman bread as they use for the pizza crusts. It was a spectacularly delicious lunch for a reasonable price, and I am definitely going back to try more.

After the pizza, Kristen, Nicole and I went in search of gelato. We ended up going back to the place we had tried on the first night and eating it in front of the Pantheon just as before. I have to say, I like it better at night, but there was still music in the piazza, and it still didn’t seem real to be eating gelato in front of the Pantheon.  

Pistachio and Hazelnut...yum!

 

Our last class of the day was called, “Survival Italian.” I was really looking forward to this because I am tired of not being able to converse at all in Italian. Of course, I have been picking up phrases here and there, and Kristen has been teaching me a lot, but I still can hardly order a coffee.

We were split into two groups, and I was in the group with Mario. He was great! Such a nice and encouraging person, he made the learning fun, and he made me feel as though I was doing very well. We learned numbers and basic greeting expressions and such, and I felt a lot better afterwards!

We went out as a large group after dinner. Nicole and I just stayed in and cooked because I missed home-cooked food and was tired of eating out. I made chicken with spinach and mushrooms in a wine balsamic sauce. It was delicious. Then I taught Nicole how to make a bechamele sauce for her pasta. Unfortunately, all we had was wheat flour to make the roux, so it didn’t get as thick as it normally does, but I think it was still pretty good.

Almost everyone from the program went out, and it was a large group to manage. We walked back to Campo di’Fiori where there were a few bars in that area. “The Drunken Ship” was the name of one of the most popular ones, but it was filled with Americans. Personally, I want to go out to an Italian bar and meet some Italians, but until my Italian gets better, I’m a little nervous about that. It was good getting to know the people from our program a little better. We are with people from Colorado State University, and five of them are in architecture. They have an “Environmental Design” course that sounds fantastic.