MAY 21, 2014, Wed:
Borghese gallery, Piazza del Popolo, Santa Maria del Miracoli, Palazzo Barberini, Quattro fountains, Moses Fountain
We had fixed our 9 am
appointment with the Borghese gallery through phone and started off before 8am . We had noted down 150F as the bus from our
Piazza Maggiore but did not see the number on the stop info board.
So took our frequent 105 right from near the entrance of our
apt, validating our Roma pass for 1st time use on transport and
reached Termini. I had read tourist accounts of getting lost in the gardens
and taking a long time to trace their way to the museum, so was alert that we
should get down near the museo side , not just anywhere near the garden entry…
At Termini, we were trying to look for 116 when a bus
stopped near us, the driver was directly in view, we asked him Borghese museo,
he nodded and we got in.
I was constantly looking out for landmarks and saw the
gardens on the left… knew it was time to get down, asked Museo Borghese?... to
co passengers… they nodded…we got down and sure enough, the entry gate was just
opposite. We crossed the road, got in… the museum was visible right down a
small path… it was just 8.30.
Borghese gallery
At 8.40 or so, people started going in through the door, we
stood at one of the counters… got directed to another where we showed our
confirmation number got over the phone and the Roma pass. We were given our
tickets, we deposited our bags in the cloakroom… camera included… and filed in
… waited near the entrance which opened at 9 and we were inside.
Lovely museum… Caravaggio’s controversial Madonna of the
Palafrenieri is beautiful though one can see why it got rejected from the
altar at St Peter’s… who can digest seeing the Virgin’s figure portrayed like
this?
His David with the
self portrait of himself as Goliath is terrific as well!
Bernini’s sculptures are so life like… veritable poetry in
marble… with even indents of fingers sinking into the flesh in Pluto and
Prosperina!
AWESOME!
I had read there are
some 200 persons for each 2 hour sessions, we had much less… made for a great
experience. We lingered over each room and heard announcements saying 15
minutes more … there was a further countdown. The docents started hurrying
people out from the last rooms… quite efficient and well run establishment…
only whinge… wish they had allowed flashless photography
Used the facilities, collected our bags and came out into
the lovely gardens… would have loved to have our picnic right there but we
wanted to walk over to Piazza del popolo and visit the Chigi chapel at Santa Maria
del Popolo.
Started walking through the lovely gardens…
pausing ever so often to take pics of the statues, ponds, flower beds etc, even the drinking water fountains were so well embellished… looking like a sarcophagus with relief work …
pausing ever so often to take pics of the statues, ponds, flower beds etc, even the drinking water fountains were so well embellished… looking like a sarcophagus with relief work …
there was a pedestal with Goethe’s statue—with statue groups
of his characters frozen in agony…
I kept a lookout for buses as 495 and many others pass through the gardens and go onward to piazza del popolo but we did not see any. There were no sign boards … just names of the streets.
We only had a general map of the gardens, the one with street names had printed out quite illegible. We walked in the general southwest direction –made difficult by the fact areas were fenced off and they definitely wanted people to walk on roads… not cut across.
Son kept confirming we were on the right track by asking the gardeners/maintenance guys we met on our way and was mighty pleased he understood their Italian replies… OK… at least all the direction words and the eloquent gestures, above all…(he had been in charge of the walking navigations through out the trip and always used only the local language and got excellent responses…. He was so proud of his accomplishment!!)
We met with people going toward the museum… they were also floundering as there seem to be no boards with arrows pointing to the museum… we guided them best as we could… at last reached the road…
it had a lovely portal guarded by lions and 2 obelisks flanking it and we were very happy to have yet another nice photo op…
we loved our obelisks… in fact we clicked quite a number of the 13 obelisks
Son took particular delight in clicking me with the whole obelisk behind me (or the whole Eiffel tower, leaning tower of Pisa or any other bell tower as the case may be)… a difficult angle to capture but he was bang on every time, I could only manage a portion… pics shot by me always cut off the top of the obelisk and some times most of the body as well …so he gladly enjoyed the title of obelisk specialist! In fact any tall building/ domes had to be covered… he was the master!
We reached Porta della Popolo (porta= gate)
We walked to the Piazza… very lovely with 2 beautiful churches and of course fountains and our favorite…yet another obelisk.
Walked to the church on our left, Santa Maria del Popolo … were very disappointed to see it had closed for the noon … it was just 12.05. I had hoped the closing would be by 12.30… the church next door was open… Santa Maria del Miracoli… we entered and there was a mass going on. It was a beautiful church, the experience obviously enriched by the lovely singing.
We already had our strategy in place for Rome … we’ll visit the churches till noon and then visit the museums when the churches closed for their afternoon break.
So our target was Palazzo Barberini. We retraced our steps, went to the piazza del popolo, looking for a bus stop. Could spot one in the distance once we crossed our twin obelisks…
crossed over and filled our water bottle from the beautiful nassoni with lots of bees on it…
Caravaggio’s Judith beheading Holofernes was
riveting… I literally gasped when I saw it… it was like walking on to the scene
when it’s happening! His narcissus was great as well with the reflection in
water…
Bernini’s busts were awesome, for that matter all the
busts by the artists whose names we were not familiar with it were top notch—as
son said… unsung heroes! The detailing of the dress, every crease, every
embellishment was amazing…
Rafael’s fiancée portrait was lovely
The piece de resistance was of course Pietro da cortona’s
ceiling of The Triumph of Divine Providence
The other ceilings of the palace have also been by him but
this is ultra special. We lay down on the red couch and gazed transfixed… the
three dimensionality is to be seen to be believed!
I walked over to the corner where they have stacked
laminated explanations of the master piece… armed with the English version, we
again looked at the figures and could appreciate the nuances of the story that
unfolded… bits like the war temple getting closed etc…
Of course, Time/Chronos devouring kids, giants felled by
Minerva are all very graphic! We feel as if the legs are really dangling
from the ceiling and the giants are about to fall on us!
A short version of the explanation is available at: http://www.galleriaborghese.it/barberini/en/edivina-provvidenza.htm
The accompanying pic hardly does justice to what we get to
feast in the gallery…we must have spent a good 40 minutes admiring the ceiling…then
walked around and saw the figures moving and their clothes rustling when viewed
from certain angles!
There seems to be just one English version copy… we gave
ours to a couple who came by. They said they did not have time to decipher
where north/south etc are as the explanations are based on direction—they just
got the gist from us and moved on!
The only thing I took exception to in the masterpiece were
the giant bees in the painting… they kind of took away from the divine beauty
of the composition… no matter that they represented the family symbol of the
Barberinis
We reluctantly moved on to the other rooms, peeped at the lovely
staircase built by Borromini
and came out with such a sense of awe and happiness!
and came out with such a sense of awe and happiness!
There had been just a handful of people in this awesome
museum when we were there. So surprising that people miss out on such a treat!
We walked on to the Quirinale square… took pics with
the Quattro fountains,
entered San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane--Borromini’s church and loved all the octagons and ovals around…
Bernini’s church had closed for the day… bitter disappointment..
entered San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane--Borromini’s church and loved all the octagons and ovals around…
Bernini’s church had closed for the day… bitter disappointment..
We took pics of the Moses fountain,
took our daily dose of gelato from the shop with the penguin statue outside… got 4 big scoops of our choice on cones of our choice for 6 euros as opposed to 8 and more near Trevi!
Then after a pic with an obelisk in the distance, caught our bus back home!!
took our daily dose of gelato from the shop with the penguin statue outside… got 4 big scoops of our choice on cones of our choice for 6 euros as opposed to 8 and more near Trevi!
Then after a pic with an obelisk in the distance, caught our bus back home!!
Yet another lovely day to be followed by another great one!
covers our Rome Trip Report Day 3a: St Peter’s basilica
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