La Vita e` Bella

Happy 2006

HAPPY NEW YEAR
Bonne Annee
Buon anno nuovo

Look at the time! I'm once again tired but wired simply because I spent the last few hours until midnight napping on and off, and wouldn't have made it home without the taxi.

Nothing wild, just an evening with Mum at her hotel room, sipping interesting drinks and watching the fireworks.

We saw Chronicles of Narnia today. It is awesome! I could have cried in most of the scenes, don't ask me why.
I love Lucy! She is adorable, her face so well expresses the wonder and awe. Great little actress and I hope to see more of her in future.
And if I were younger I would totally devour the actor who plays Peter. I hope he keeps his classic good looks as he grows up.

My mother leaves on Wednesday so I hope to make her my tangy grapefruit duck breast recipe. I had forgotten she keeps me so busy. I get morning wake-up calls and everything. So perhaps you will hear of my holiday later on.

I am working on my photo captions, but they are online so you will see them soon.

And now I'm hungry...

Verona 2004

In the late summer of 2004, I joined two friends for four nights of opera in the magical city of Verona.
Because the train stopped somewhere between Venice and Verona, we were forced to take a bus that passed through every village, and dropped people off in the middle of cornfields.

I missed the fancy dinner where every lady received a boutonnier and I missed half of the Placido Domingo performance.
At the station, shamefully but at that hour with no hope for food, I grabbed a McD's and took a taxi to the Gabbia d'Oro hotel where I picked up my flowers and my ticket and hoofed it to the Arena.
I arrived just at intermission so they let me in, reproaching me in Italian for being late to such an auspicious performance.

The weather was so hot that we were not interested in taking day trips to Milano or Brescia. On the first day we did a thorough tour of the town and went to the museums and a couple of churches, climbed that hill, ran through the sprinklers...

After that we would just stroll about, watching and being watched. Beautiful people. We would spend hours at one gelateria, chatting, sketching, laughing and eating one gelato after another to stay cool. Tried a granita and was pleased with it. Ate lots of salad.

One afternoon I went clothes and shoe shopping alone for an infusion of Italian chic and I gave the girls a little fashion show back at the hotel.

In the evening we would return to the hotel to freshen up for dinner and go off to the opera.

We saw Aida, La Traviata and Il Trovatore. I saw it as a brief flirt with Verdi, who I will never like. After this I returned home with my heart intact and still in love with my Mozart.
But deep down, I am not all that keen on opera anyway.

Nevertheless, it was a special experience to sit in such a vast arena with thousands of people, thinking about the Romans who built that impressive structure thousands of years ago, and to feel the cool night air caressing my face.

Props for Aida outside the Arena di Verona

Serenaded on the train from Verona to Venice by Spanish tuneros from the Universidad de Salamanca

Imagine how unnerving it is to be faced with a staring seraphim as you climb in and out of the bath.

The little lobby at our hotel suite in a former palazzo (weren't they all?) - Gabbia d'Oro - a real treat.

San Giorgio in Briola

The River Adige which splits Verona in two.

Going to climb this hill. Bottles of water at the ready...The view is always worth it.

They responded to "Attention!" At the foot of the hill.

After a long climb on a hot day, we were rewarded with a view over the city of Verona

A belaboured knight at the Castel Vecchio

At the Castel Vecchio, a wonderful museum of Verona's history

At the Verona museum of modern art: "Other People's Lives" was a wax goat: hairless, lumpy, beaten and bruised, downtrodden and forlorn. Resigned to his fate. Even a year later I feel heartsick thinking about it.

I've never felt sorry for an inanimate object before. I did so want to cry...

(phonecam) A lovely curving view of the Arena di Verona

Lowering the scary dolly figure into place for the evening's performance of La Traviata. It was a revolving stage tonight.

A view from the top of the arena, where we sat sketching and singing in the blazing sun.

(phonecam) Set pieces waiting in the piazza for Aida

Shiho and me at the special wine restaurant. Watching the waiter serve the wine was like witnessing a beautiful ritual; there was reverence in his hands.

Verity and Shiho dodging the giant wineglasses. Every few minutes from the bar: the tinkle of shattering glass.

Part of the set for Il Trovatore, in the piazza behind the arena

Fibreglass figures for Il Trovatore. Nevertheless when looking at this my mind sings "Donnnn Giovaaaaaaanni!"

Building the set for the evening performance of Il Trovatore

Il Trovatore - the column opened up to reveal a gothic altarpiece!

Fun-loving Verity

Shiho savouring a grappa on the last night

ROME 2003 - Impressions

In March, 2003 we had a 5-day Christie's trip to Rome.

I arrived on Friday and spent some time soaking in the atmosphere. The next morning, I climbed to the top of the Vittorino at the bottom of the Via del Corso, after which I walked all the way to the top of the Corso, to the Pza del Popolo where we all met up at 2pm.

It was a packed itinerary and we did miles and miles of walking all over Rome, even though the buses were quite good. The only time we attempted public transportation was the metro to the Vatican, but when we couldn't buy tickets from the annoying machine, we all ended up in taxis anyway.

At this time of year, the days could be quite warm but the evenings cooled quickly. It was very pleasant. The colours in Italy are like nowhere else on earth, except, I hear, California.

Some places we visited are not represented in my photographs.
The Gardens and Villa Borghese.
The Villa Farnese with Raphael loggia.
Many churches and basilicas. I took pictures in the interiors of many of them, but felt bad about using my flash, so all I got were colourful blurs.
The Piazza Navona and Christie's auction rooms at Palazzo Massimo Lancellotti.
The Domus Aurea (Nero's Golden Palace) simply because it is underground, and there is nothing outside to see.

Each night, dinner increased by an hour, so that the last night's dinner lasted 4 hours and ended at midnight; we skipped dessert and jumped into taxis, our eyes rolling with exhaustion. It was almost like a Roman conspiracy to slow us down! But all wonderful.
The first night's dinner was funded by Christie's at the Enoteca Brillo Parlante. We'd started with wine at a Beergarten next door, and then wandered over to the Enoteca. They pulled out all the stops - there was wine, all sorts of antipasto, meat & cheese plate, bread with olive oil and balsamic vinegar, and the winning combination of pear and parmesan. Once we were full up, we got to order our very own pizzas.

We saw a couple of churches with ancient legacies underneath. The Basilica di San Clementi was dedicated to Mythodeas and Cyrillos, missionaries to the Slavic people who invented the Cyrillic alphabet that today forms Russian and its satellite languages. The Mithraeum in the bowels of the church was cold and spooky. We saw classrooms where the novices would learn secret rites, and an altar to Mithras himself...someone had thrown a rose into the room through the barred door...

I had a surprise experience in the Sancta Sanctorum at San Giovanni in Laterano. It is the private papal chapel in the church complex, but when we went in I forgot where we were. Thus it is without bias that I can say it really did feel holy and completely different to any other church we had entered. The ground in front of the altar was worn into a valley by the knees of hundreds of popes.
The altar image was supposedly one of the earliest portrayals of the face of Christ. Repaired, repainted, or recreated over the centuries, its latest version was a Byzantine-looking face on a silk screen. The first one, covered over many times, is said to be a wax engraving by St Luke. The docent told us that the eyes follow you.
The door of the chapel was of heavy riveted bronze, cut down from a much larger city gate-type door, one of the many that the Emperor Constantine had commissioned for the city of Rome. In the 4th century AD...
I felt slightly guilty that we had a special consular letter allowing us into the chapel, while all the pilgrims who had climbed the stairs on their knees in faith could only gaze in longingly from the other side of the iron grid windows.

Christie's had booked dinner on the last night as well but we paid our own way. Il Spirito Divino (there is surely a dual meaning there as you will see) is one of the smallest restaurants in Rome, in Trastevere (other side of the Tiber river). There were 18 of us to gather for dinner, so it was 8pm by the time we were all seated together. Between each course the table was cleared, reset, and then the orders taken. We ordered Antipasti, Primi piatti, Secondi piatti...and ran out of gas at I Dolci. However, the more adventurous of us allowed the proprietor to take us into the cellars, the remains of the oldest synagogue in Europe. Here, the Roman copy of the Apoxyomenos was excavated, which we would see the next day at the Vatican museums. By then it was midnight and we could keep our eyes open no longer, so the proprietor called taxis for us.

All in all, Rome is a magical place. It is the modern city which is forced to give way to the relentlessness of its ancient legacy.

The Hotel Regno on the Via del Corso. I arrived on the Friday and had time to relax and wander. The rest of the group arrived the next afternoon to immediately begin our packed itinerary.

Found the Piazza di Spagna. To the right is the Keats house, where he died.

After settling at the hotel, I went exploring and discovered the Fontana di Trevi, bought a mango gelato and threw in three - get it - THREE coins! In the legend, it is better than just one...

Approaching the Memoriale at the end of the Via del Corso, I turned to espy the hazy Colosseum at the end of the Via dei Fora Imperialii

The Memoriale di Vittorino Emmanuelle II was created in honour of his unification of the Italian states in the 1840s. It is called the Typewriter by those who disdain it.

Halfway up the steps at the Vittoriano

Altar to the patron goddess Roma above the tomb of the unknown soldier (ignoto militi)

Two churches from the middle steps of the Vittoriano.

Vittorio Emmanuelle II unified the states of Italy in the 1840s and is highly honoured for it

Vittorino Emmanuelle II surveys his kingdom from the top of the steps of the Vittoriano. This was my desktop wallpaper for a while.

The Colosseum at the end of the Via dei Fora Imperiali, as seen from the Vittoriano.

The peristyle-type loggia at the Villa Giulia. It stands on a hill with a view of the Vatican. So named because built in 16th C by Pope Julius to house guests of the Vatican. Why couldn't they just stay there, it's big enough!?!?

The Renaissance nymphaeum at Villa Giulia - a sort of water garden to keep the family cool in the summer

An Etruscan temple at Villa Giulia

Lara and Shinobu at the Etruscan temple in the gardens of the Villa Giulia

Santa Maria del Popolo in the Piazza del Popolo. In sepia effect.

The first night's dinner was paid for by Christie's, so we all ate together. Emily is hiding Ivetta; Ethan is behind a bottle, then Lisa and Lara. The food just kept coming at us, and we just about fit it all in!

Rebecca, me, Shinobu, and Alison with our own pizzas. I love pumpkin flower and bufala mozzarella best of all...mmmmmmmm. We nearly fell asleep over dinner, though.

The Pantheon, where we would meet our tutors every morning

Inside the cold and cavernous Pantheon, the Roman temple to all the gods. Of course converted into a Catholic church hundreds of years ago.

Emperor Trajan in front of the Forum Traiano. Soft focus.

The Arch of Constantine, made up of the parts of many other arches. Unmistakeable roundels, and statues of captives from Dalmatia...

The view through the Arch of Titus, the one who sacked Jerusalem. On the inside of the arch to the right is that famous frieze of the Roman looters carrying off a menorah from the temple.

A Baroque church seems to have hijacked a Roman temple

Remains of the temple of the Vestal Virgins in the Forum. We had just left the Roman Senate. Even the Romans walked among, and revered, their ruins.

The stunning courtyard where we made a very quick sidetrip into a little door, which opened out into a fair-sized chapel.

Via dei Fora Imperialii (?)

Lara, Alison and me at the Capitoline Gardens. In the two years since then, Alison has divorced her Canadian husband, married an Italian, and has a son called Nico. Wow.

The Forum from the Capitoline Gardens

Peaceful high gardens at the side of the Capitoline museum, in the shadow of the church of Saint Peter in Chains, with another view over the Imperial Forum.

Capitoline Museum, replica of Roman bronze statue of Marcus Aurelius. The original is in a huge, climate-controlled room probably because the Romans rarely made bronze statues...Capitolinium means 'dominant rise' which it does, on its own hill.

A distinguished lady in the Room of the Emperors at the Capitoline

The fearsome head of Constantine, and frescoes, at the Musei Capitolini

Through the keyhole of the Order of the Knights of St John - on the Aventine Hill. You can see the dome of St Peter's but the film didn't capture it. It had been my first stop in Rome, as the hotel transfer driver was nice enough to take me up there on the way from the airport.

View from the Aventine Hill, one of the most visible of the seven hills of Rome. This one reminds me of the beginning of a 1960s Panavision movie, maybe a spy thriller or an Audrey Hepburn romance

Stunning views over the city from the Aventine Hill. Like the Eiffel Tower, the Vittoriano is visible from many points in Rome.

Some of our group at a park behind Santa Sabina on the Aventine Hill (really gorgeous neighbourhood too)

Colosseum at night - later found a postcard of the same image! (Copycats...)

Il Vittoriano at night

One of the earliest Christian baptisteries. About 4th century AD. Converts attending mass baptisms lined up outside one door, exited from another.

San Pietro in Montorio (Il Tempietto, or the little temple). It really was tiny and set in the courtyard of a Spanish school at the top of a very steep hill.

San Pietro in a niche at Il Tempietto. He always holds the keys of the Church.

The Ludovisi Ares at the Palazzo Altemps. Not sure who the female figure is.

Bust of an ugly satyr atop an altar in a wonderfully frescoed room at the Palazzo Altemps

The Painted Loggia at the Palazzo Altemps

A Romanised Egyptian figure, probably of Antinoos, beloved of the Emperor Hadrian who had his face commissioned on many sculptures. He rather aptly died in the Nile.

The ceiling of one of many impressive long galleries at the Vatican

View of the basilica, snapped while leaning out of an open window in a long gallery

We were whisked from the busy Stanze dei Signatore, into the silence of the Pope's private Loggia di Raphael

Raphael was inspired by the 'grotesque' work in the newly-discovered Domus Aurea, (Nero's underground palace opposite the Colosseum)

Some of the sumptuous frescoes in the ceiling of the loggia

Sneaky! Got a pic of a Swiss Guard in the Pope's while in the passage - he disappeared a second too late.

Basilica de Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri. Michelangelo was commissioned to convert part of the Terme di Constantine into a church.

Gorgeous Baroque window - anyone remember the name of this shape?

Some fine early vaulting

One of the last areas to see at the Baths: a small courtyard with bits of Roman graffiti affixed to the walls. The Romans didn't have word spacing which doesn't make it fun for us: "Apollinaris qui bixit annos XXVIIII - Qui fecit cum Bircina...Annos VIII in pace...nonas sep..." Dictionary out...can't be bothered. Something about A making peace with B in this year?

Another Greek. The Discobolos, or disc-thrower. Roman copy of Gr.....you know the rest by now...

An Egyptian obelisk and the back of the Pantheon from the steps of Santa Maria sopra Minerva (?). See it is brick. I think the builders either ran out of money, or it was stripped of its marble facing.

Giant pine cones were everywhere and mean something in both Roman and Catholic symbolism...I forget what...

Shinobu, Ivetta, Ben, Alison - courtyard at Vatican museum. Peacock signifies the incorruption of the flesh but was really another adoption from Roman paganism.

Cool brass sculpture with a backdrop of the dome of St Peter's Basilica. Colour focus in b&w.

The Apoxyomenos, thank goodness the Romans made copies of it. This one was found under the restaurant we'd dined at the night before. He embodies the 7 Canons of Proportion. Simply put, the length of his body measures no more than 7 times that of his head.

The incomparable Apollo Belvedere

Cutting off the heads of tourists means cutting Apollo off at the knees

A river god in the Vatican's Octagonal Courtyard

Beautifully pensive...can't remember who this is...

Jason slew Medusa using the reflection in his highly burnished shield. Otherwise her gaze would have...*petrified* him.

Oops, he looked at her!

Athena Parthenos is always my favourite

Laocoon and his sons being suffocated by Poseidon's sea serpents for speaking against the Greeks during the battle of Troy. This is a Renaissance sculpture.

The Persian god Mithras, adopted by the Roman military - a close call whether Mithraism or Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire. Here Mithras slays the white bull under a full moon, ushering in the Spring.