Day 3, Rome [Piazza Navona, Caravaggio paintings, Pantheon, Galleria Borghese, & Spanish Steps]– September 20, 2017

We woke up to a beautiful day in Rome and a full schedule.  To begin, we traveled to the Piazza Navona, which is a popular place.  It is lined with fine Renaissance and Baroque buildings of the 16^th and 17^th centuries.  In the center of the piazza is Bernini’s Fountain of the Rivers, which is positioned in front of the church of Saint Agnes in Agony (same St. Agnes as the St. Agnes church we visited on our first day, but a different church).  

The dome and façade of the church was designed by Borromini, who used a lot of convex and concave lines.  From the piazza, we walked a short distance to the church of San Luigi dei Francesi

(completed in 1589), which contains the three Caravaggio famous paintings of St. Matthew – St. Matthew and the Angel (writing the Gospel), the Calling of St. Matthew, and The Martyrdom of St. Matthew.

The interior of the church contains marble, gilding and stucco work, and paintings with themes that denote the French status of the church.   

A short distance away, we stopped for coffee at Sant’Eustachio, which is in a busy intersection, and then continued past Santa Maria sopra Minerva.  This church contains the famous Bernini statue of an elephant with an Egyptian obelisk on its back (sculpted by one of Bernini’s pupils in 1667).
Next, we visited the Pantheon, whose dome is the largest in circumference in the world.  

The diameter of the building (142 ft) is equal to its height.  At the center of the coffered ceiling is a hugs oculus through which the interior receives its light. 

The weight of the dome is distributed over arches incorporated into the walls and onto eight masonry piers.  Built originally as a temple by Agrippa in 27 BCE to all the gods, it was rebuilt by Hadrian and then closed by the first Christian emperors in the 4^th century.  At the beginning of the 7^th century it was converted to a church dedicated to St. Mary and martyrs.  The bronze tiles were removed in 356 by Constantinus II and taken to Constantinople for embellishment.  Pope Urban VII removed all the nails and bronze plates from the beams of the porch roof, which is supported by 16 monolithic granite columns, and melted these down to make the baldaquin in St. Peter’s.   

After a quick lunch from a food truck in the Villa Borghese gardens we proceeded to the Galleria Borghese, which houses a magnificent collection of Bernini sculptures and renaissance and neo-classical art.  Cardinal Scipione Borghese, a nephew of Pope Paul V, collected these works of art (Caravaggio, Rubens, Reni, and Guercino) and commission works from some of the best known sculptors (Bernini and Cordier) of his time.  Our timed visit was from 1:00 to 3:00 pm.  The main floor contains exquisite sculptures and the Caravaggio room, which has 6 Caravaggio masterpieces.  The first sculpture is Pauline Bonaparte reclined on a couch holding an apple (apple of discord from mythology) to denote her as the most beautiful woman. 

From there we pass through the Bernini rooms, which house famous works:  David at the moment of about to release the stone,

 Apollo and Daphne showing the metamorphosis of Daphne from nymph to laurel bush;

Three headed dog

  Rape of Proserpino;

and Aeneas carrying Anchises. 

We had to leave at 3 pm with some people returning to the convent and others including us, walking through the magnificent Villa Borghese gardens with its fountains,

water clock,

and a panoramic view of Rome.  

 Upon leaving the gardens, we descended into the city at the entrance to the Church of Mary of the People with its two famous paintings of the crucifixion of St. Peter

and transformation of St. Paul

by Caravaggio. 

Continuing our walk toward the Spanish Steps,

 we passed Babuino,

which is one of six talking statues [others being Pasquino, Marforio, Madama Lucrezia, Facchino, and Agate Luigi] in Rome, which during 18^th century’s Pope Benedict XIII’s time were used during the night to post messages/critiques of the aristocracy and The Church.   Under Benedict, those found guilty of posting such messages could have incurred the death penalty.  Once we approached the Spanish Steps, the size of the crowds group substantially.  You would never know this was the shoulder season. 

Considering the time of day, we caught the tram and returned to the convent for Happy Hour and dinner at Al Padovano.