Day 7 cont. - 3/900

Did you know there are over 900 churches in Rome?  I had no idea.  Well, I do now because I looked it up.  900!!!!

And it seems every blessed one of them has artisitic, architectural and/or cultural significance.  Which means they are all worth seeing if not spending some actual time inside.  I doubt if there's person alive who has given all of them the credit they deserve by seeing all of them, but I know there are enough fanatics in the world to think there are those that have seen a lot of them. 

It's all a bit exhausting for my little brain to think about.  I have decided that I will visit three. 

The first was not actually chosen by me but rather presented itself as an opportunity.  While walking home from dinner one night our host exclaimed - "Hey, look! the Sant'Angese in Agone is open!"

Thinking he'd eaten a bad mushroom I wasn't surprised to see him race towards the Fountain of the Rivers, but then noticed his steps moved on past the fountain and towards a large church about halfway along the west side of Piazza Navona.

The large, white Sant'Angese in Agone, commissioned in 1652 by Pope Innocent X, was designed by Borromini, a rival of Bernini.  It is said that Bernin's fountain's statues were designed to shield their eyes from the ugliness of the church.  A bit petty if true, but I've never felt comfortable believing hearsay and rumour!  I'm sure Bernini was magnanimous in his appreciation for others' artistic efforts.

The story of the church itself is that it was built where St. Agnes was stripped naked, but she was miraculously saved from disgrace due to an extraordinary growth of hair.  I assume on her head but the story isn't clear.  She was later burned and then beheaded.  Seems a bit overkill to me but I guess whomever wanted to make sure she was really dead.  Her skull rests in a chapel inside the church.

Apparently it's not often open, at least according to Eric, who has passed by this spot many times over the last few weeks.  Given that he is an architecure prof.  he has more than the usual interest and awareness genes so I believe him. 

Wider than it is deep, it contains 8 huge red marble Corinthian columns supporting the dome, seven altars, and frescoes by Gaulli, Ciro Ferri and Sebastiano Corbellini.  Quite lovely.

My second church of choice was Santa Maria Sopra Minerva, Rome's only gothic church, which I explored with cool priest Father John on Day 5, so you'll have to go back to that posting I'm afraid.  Worth it I assure you!

Our last day took us to Basilica di San Clemente, a 12th century ediface that has fabulous marble patterned floors, frescoes and luminous tile mosaics of the cross as the tree of Life.  We arrived just as the Sunday service was beginning, so we sat in a back pew and took in the beauty of the tiles under our feet and the glitter of the mosaics in the candlelight.

But, what makes this church even more worth visiting is below.  In the mid-19th century, the prior, Fr Joseph Mullooly, for some reason decided to see what was going on downstairs and began excavations where he found the original fourth-century basilica directly underneath.

And that's not all.  He obvioulsy either got the bit between his teeth or had way too much time on his hands, for going down even deeper through the cool dark stone he found a 2nd century pagan temple and the remains of a first century nobleman's house!

One must pay and line up to descend as only a limited number of people are allowed at any one time.  But one is rewarded with early Christian art on the walls and carved on teh floors.  At the deepest level passageways are dark and narrow.  One can hear the sound of water gurgling, and every once in a while it's possible to see this underground river rushing past only a few feet below the original foundations.  No doubt this water supplied the household and made life marvelously cool in the hot summers as well. 

I can't believe there's a church like it in the world - a fantastic window on Roman life though the centuries!

Day 5 - hanging out with the cool priest

Finding out it was possible to buy bishop's robes and priest's cardigans, we planned on doing a little ecclesiastical shopping after lunch.

But how much better is it to go shopping there with a priest.  And a priest who is a professor of the philosophy of art in Rome.  And a priest who is fun to be with and likes the same kind of food and wine we do. 

Father John is one such priest, 'the cool priest' as our friends call him.

We met over coffee and immediately got engaged in deep converastion, and then moved the party to Enoteca Corsi, where we ensconced ourselves (Father John is well known at the establishment was lead through to the back of the place) in a corner surrounded by wine reaching from floor to ceiling. 

The owner ordered for us with Father John's help and our encouragement and it wasn't long before the 5 brains around the table all started clicking and popping with discourse on various topics and musings.   Well, what did you expect with a priest, an architect, two writers and a knowledge consultant, four of which work with the post-secondary education sector, and all of whom travel, read, and question for a living?  It might just have been one of the best lunches of my life.

Wandering around the streets of the old centre with a art philosopher and an architect provides a special sort of perspective as well. I would have passed these buildings with much of a thought, but looking at it with these two guys opened up my eyes to this mashup.  Which came first do you think - the church or the house?  And which building claims those two windows in the middle? 

The only Gothic church (Basilica of St. Mary over Minerva, so named as it was built over an ancient temple to the goddess Minerva, a favourite of mine as she is the goddess of wisdom) was seen anew too from its ancient flood markings on the outside (and Bernini's elephant scupture out front) to the art inside.

There were tombs of popes and St. Catherine (except her head which is in Siena) but Father John pointed out something I've never seen on a grave before - both Roman and Arabic numbers at the same time (on artist Fra Angelo's grave). 

 

I could have stayed so much longer and was especially rivted by one particular fresco by Lippi,  an absolutely gorgeous Assumption that includes Pope Paul IV being presented to the Virgin Mary by Thomas Aquinas (another historical mashup!)

Ok, ok, Martin I hear you - let's go buy some cardinal's socks!