villa borghese fountain and dog park--how fabulous would it be to take paco to play here every afternoon?more pictures! these are days three and four in rome--they were rainy, but that only made for better pictures (photo tip: cloudy, wet days bring out details that bright, sunny ones tend to blast out/obscure in inanimate subjects). it was a fountain-y kinda time in rome, which is exactly what i wanted. there is something so alluring about the color of the water there.
santa costanza, a lovely little jewel next to sant' agnese fuori le mure
this is the architectural plan for santa costanza--it's round, which is unusual for a church (but not for a mausoleum, its original function)
side view of santa costanza
interior, santa costanza
interior ceiling mosaic, santa costanza
interior ceiling mosaic, santa costanza
exterior wall detail, sant' agnese fuori le mure
fontana degli api (fountain of the bees), at piazza barberini and via veneto. i had to shoot this in honor of my name (melissa), which means 'honeybee' in greek
gorgeous brick ruins at villa borghese
fountain near galleria borghese, where i may or may not have gazed upon canova's "paulina borghese as venus" with someone who may or may not have been the male star of "titanic," and i may (definitely not "or may not") have been the only one of the two of us who actually looked at the glorious work of art in front of us and didn't spend all my attention texting on my smartphone...
fontana dei cavalli marini (fountain of the sea horses), villa borghese--love the color of the water here
piccolo lago with temple of aesculpius (god of medicine), villa borghese
piazza del popolo and twin churches santa maria di montesanto and santa maria dei miracoli--via del corso runs straight up the middle (and will take you to piazza vittorio emmanuelle due); via del babuino runs to the left (and will take you to the spanish steps); via di ripetta runs to the right (and will take you to the tiber)
after a rich afternoon of shopping and eating and drinking and looking (all the wonders of rome right there), i attempted culture, again, at the crypto balbi--detail of 1st century drill work above--then went and passed out at my hotel.
elefante! i love this little elephant holding an obelisk in front of santa maria sopra minerva--this is an excellent statue to show kids visiting rome, as they can usually remember it (it was gus and our meeting point if we were to get separated in 2003).
roman bikeshare--this was the only time i regretted wearing a skirt/dress everyday, as i really wanted to rent one of these
piazza di san pietro, now quite different from bernini's original intention for the space
the colonnade still looks lovely, however
fontana delle chiave (fountain of the keys), vatican city--this is my favorite fountain in rome, especially after i shot a series of gus holding a sycamore leaf in it in 2003 (see here)
detail, fontana delle chiave
detail, fontana delle chiave
detail, fontana delle chiave (again, look at the color of that water!)
one of a pair of giant fountains outside of st. peter's, which, alas, just don't do it for me
why does the space around st. peter's irritate the shit out of me? because we were never meant to experience it in a hyper-controlled manner, as we do now. it is definitely controlling, to be sure, but we aren't supposed to be conscious of it. the crowd-control gates, the conspicuous security, the utterly obnoxious jumbotrons and the fucking disgusting billboards right up next to the basillica are just painful. the difference between piazza san pietro in 1982 (when i first saw it) and piazza san pietro in 2010 is marked, to say the least--and that is only a span of 28 years. i can only imagine bernini is rolling over in his grave for what it was intended to be (and remain) 400 years ago.
coppede! i've decided that when i hit the lottery if i can't get my villa on the aventino i am definitely moving into quartiere coppede.
every inch of this late art nouveau structure is absolutely covered with decoration, most of which has no relation to anything or each other. it is all total whimsy on the artist/architect's part and follows no convention that i can identify. love it.
of course coppede has a fabulous fontana of its own (fontana delle rane; fountain of the frogs)...
...which made me realize i needed to see the grande dame of roman fountains, la fontana di trevi
it was a rainy day, indeed, and kept most tourists (save a few hardy souls) away
lovely little ivy carving on the trevi fountain
from the trevi to fontana della barcaccia (fountain of the old boat), piazza di spagna. love. that. blue.
detail, fontana della barcaccia
le swoooooon...that's not technically italian, but you get the drift. i so want one of these--with a matching sidecar for gus and sophie(speaking of want, the next post will be a break from culture and a look at rome, 2010 (shopping).)
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