I woke up this morning to a love note (complete with stick-figure drawing) from the maritino in honor of our nine-monthiversary. (I guess we're still in that annoying honeymoon phase.) In addition to making me giddy and teary at the same time, it reminded me it's time for another wedding post! (I missed this little tradition last month).
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I warn you now, dearest bloglings, the Pines of Rome is going to get a bit exhibit-heavy in the next few days. There are just so many amazingmostre on right now! One in particular, free of charge and hosted at the Complesso del Vittoriano, took me three weeks to see because of two weekend snowstorms in Rome that saw nearly every site in the city closed all weekend.
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I'll never forget the first time I saw a Tintoretto painting. I was in Venice for Carnival with an old friend nearly ten years ago, and we decided to visit the Scuola Grande di San Rocco. I was blown away by the immense output of this prolific painter. His works seemed to cover every wall and ceiling in each one of the countless rooms. The drama, the color, the detail; it was dazzling.
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Just a few more days until Carnevale is over and interminable Lent will be upon us! In fact this is the last weekend, and as rain is predicted for the next few days, I recommend you hurry to Piazza Navona or one of the other spots in the city where festivities are taking place today, while the sun lasts!
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For the past few weeks, my laptop has been in the shop. As a result, I've had to do something I haven't done in ages: writeon paper. And not just grocery lists, but actual blog posts and articles (including this one), written out longhand to be typed up later. At first it seemed impossible. Without a keyboard in front of me, I almost couldn't remember how to write, but now that I've gotten used to it, I'm not sure I want to go back.
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I meant to post yesterday, something informative and well-researchedabout the origins of Saint Valentine's Day, but the day got away from me, so that post will have to wait until next year. I did, however, write a Valentine's day post for the blog of the wonderful Beehive Hotel. Linda, the owner and a friend of mine, asked me to write a post about my experiences getting married in Italy, and you can find it here.
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Today is the first day of Carnival, and we all know the celebrations in Rome can't rival those Venice. In fact these days no one associates Carnival with Rome. But just a few hundred years ago (the blink of an eye in Rome-time), Rome was the place to be to celebrate this raucous, bacchanalian late-winter event.
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If Rome can't get enough of Caravaggio, you certainly can't expect me to. In fact, there's a disgraceful lack of Caravaggio in the contents of this blog. I'm going to start remedying that right now. One of my favorite aspects of the Rome in the time of Caravaggio exhibit is that most of the works, instead of simply hanging on the wall at eye level, have been inserted into replica altars, with faux marble and porphyry, because almost all of them are part of altarpieces.
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That last time it snowed in Rome, it was the first time in 24 years. That was less than two years ago. No one was expecting it again so soon, especially because, as they say, a Roma nevica ogni morte di papa ("in Rome it snows every death of a pope"--not really translatable. Similar to our "once in a blue moon"). Just like last time, I took about a zillion photos, so here are some highlights.
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One of the best reasons to visit the Rome in the time of Caravaggio exhibit is the opportunity to study side by side two paintings of the same subject painted in the same city in the same year by two very different artists. The subject is the Madonna of Loreto. According to legend, the Holy House, where the holy family lived and Christ spent his childhood, was miraculously transported from Nazareth to Loreto, Italy in the 13th century.
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Rome is obsessed with Caravaggio lately, and I, for one, can relate. I mean, how can you not love art history's favorite bad boy? The artist who dared to paint the world as he saw it and not as the church told him to? I have travelled to Naples, Sicily, Malta and further, just to track down Caravaggio paintings. One of my life’s goals is to see every work he ever painted.
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For those of you that have been following this blog, you know by now that one of my personal obsessions is toponomastica (toponymy), the study of place names (one of the first words I ever learned in Italian before English!)So far I have discussed Via del Mascherone, Via del Piè di Marmo, Via del Babuino, Vicolo dell'Atleta, Piazza della Pigna, Via dell'Arco della Ciambella, and Vicolo della Spada d'Orlando.
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