Wanderings

Have been spending the last few days wandering around with no particular plan. The weather has been beautiful, cool and sunny. One day, I headed northwest passing behind the Pantheon and got as far as the Piazza Navona.Sant'Ivo alla Sapienza

On the way, I managed to find my way into a spectacular small church, Sant'Ivo alla Sapienza, facing the courtyard of a building that was the University of Rome from the 15th century until 1935. This is an unusual church even for the Baroque period. It is by Borromini and is based on a complicated and beautiful geometry using curves and spirals in a rather playful way. This scheme includes an unusual twisted spiral and thin iron crown on the top.
Piazza Navona

On Piazza Navona, almost across the street, I found that sadly, the main fountain (of the Four Rivers) in the Piazza Navona is under much needed restoration so it is not easy to see. However, the people hanging out in the Piazza are still fun, with performers and large groups of teenagers standing around looking cool. These aren't quite outnumbered by the tourists yet. And the other two fountains, the artists, and another beautiful Baroque church called Sant'Agnese in Agone, also by Borromini, are more than enough to make the visit rewarding.





Shopping anyone?

Heading for home I came across a shop selling clothes (vestments) for the clergy. Very ornate things in the window in front, with sensible shoes and plain undies in the windows off the street.

At the crossroads (side by side roads?) of past and present.

Yesterday I wandered past the Colloseo and the Arch of Constantine and spent most of the day on the Palatine Hill. Quiet and green with ruins scattered amongst the trees and grass and some of the best views in the city, especially if your interest is ancient ruins.

There is also a small museum which has some interesting Roman sculptures, many of which are copies of Greek originals. The handling of the drapery is especially nice.

A "manifestation"

Today, I awoke to men yelling. It went on for awhile so I went out onto the street to see what was up. The sounds reminded me a bit of the riots in Berkeley in 1970 and sure enough, lines of police, young guys with bull horns leading organized yells and lots of grim faces marching down the Via Cavour brought me sharply back to that time and place. This, however, had a very different political flavor as I was to discover later. These appeared to be student ultra-rightists marching to honor Italians who were killed in the disputed border regions with Yugoslavia at the end of World War II. The politics are very complicated.


Thru Piazza San Pietro and across the bridge towards home

Later, I returned to the present, if you can ever say you are there in Rome, and took the Metro to the Vatican. Didn't go in but wandered from there over the Ponte Vittorio Emanuelle II through the center of the city home.










Bought some wine glasses on the way and got a photo or two of loving doves in a ruined capital of the ancient Forum of Nerva. Can you find them?






The winter sun low behind the monument to the unification of Italy. This has been a political day.