Quando a Roma...Parte 2 (due)

So, as I said, I had booked a 9:30 "Baroque Tour of Rome" for myself that would meet outside the church. This was a fantastic tour. It was small (that's the way to do tours, let me tell you...but more on that later). There was me, the tour guide Simona (a native Roman, as it turned out), a mother and daughter from Colombia - Ana and Mariana (Mariana recently turned 15 so instead of having a party for her quinceañera, she chose to tour Italy with her mother for a few weeks - these gals were so sweet. They both spoke excellent English - apparently Mariana goes to a British school - but does not have a British accent! And Ana speaks English, Spanish - well, obviously - Italian, and French. So awesome. I asked them about Colombia and they said that they live in the second highest city, that people still have maids and drivers and such, that the driving is even more crazy than it is in Italy, and that you live with your family until you get married. It was pretty cool to learn a bit about a completely different culture.), and a family of 3 from France. I never properly met them; they arrived about 20 minutes late because they got mixed up on the metro, and while I think they understand English well, it didn't seem like they spoke it so well (but that's how it is with me in Spanish and Italian).

The tour was in English (well, naturally I would sign up for an English tour), and Simona was such an awesome tour guide. I mean, you would be hard-pressed to find someone better, I think. She first took us to a tiny little chapel - Santa Maria della Vittoria (St. Mary of Victory - named for a little icon of the Virgin that was brought to the church after a victorious battle of the Catholics over the Protestants - got to love the mixture of religion with politics) - which houses, of all things, L'estasi di Santa Teresa, by Bernini (in other words, perhaps the most famous sculpture of the Baroque period - still in its original little chapel, which you can enter for free of course, since it is a church - that's the great thing about Rome - you can walk into all of the churches - barring any construction work/masses etc. - and look at all the great art and architecture for free). Bernini was, to say the least, a sculptural genius. Apparently there is a piece he did when he was 12 that's in the Villa Borghese (big Roman museum) that is just ridiculous in terms of his mastery of sculpting. Will have to try to see that. Anyways, Bernini was actually known as "Mr. Beautiful" while he was alive - he knew how to win over people, had lots of charisma, was almost always in favor with the Pope, got all the jobs, loved being famous and in the spotlight - you get the picture. Well, he actually scultped L'estasi di Santa Teresa when he was out of favor - after the dome he had placed on St. Peter's collapsed - in order to get back in favor with the Pope (Bernini was a sculptural genius, not an architectural genius!).

I should probably take a moment to write an aside on the Baroque. The name wasn't acutally applied to the movement until about 100 years after it had occurred and people were looking back on the works of Bernini (scultptural genius), Borromini (architectural genius), and Caravaggio (painterly genius), and noticed similarities in what they had done (mainly in the irregularity and the focus on affecting your senses - as opposed to the Renaissance in which everything was rationally designed). Also, the Baroque is very much wrapped up in the religious politics of the times. We all know about Martin Luther and the 95 Theses, and well, the Catholic Church was hurting a bit in terms of membership! So we get the Council of Trent and the Contrarreforma - the Counter-Reformation - and a push to show people that the Catholic Church is not corrupt etc. Simona reminded us how there were no tvs, computers - well, everything we have now to entertain/distract us! - so new art and architecture was commissioned to go along with the new Church - and it was designed to appeal to people's senses, so that when you would walk into church, you would be affected by God's majesty, be in awe of Him, or perhaps be able to connect emotionally with the various depictions of the saints' lives, and thus be open to receiving the Holy Spirit. So that's what the Baroque is about - affecting your senses! Also, two people were made saints at this time - which is remarkable in that it was a relatively quick turnaround in terms of the time it usually takes for someone to be deemed a saint - Santa Teresa d'Avila and Sant' Ignazio di Loyola - and used to show that the Catholic Church did have something to offer in terms of examples of living a holy life.

All right, back to L'estasi di Santa Teresa (I told you it was an awesome tour - I learned so much!). It is a truly remarkable sculpture to view; it is of course sculpted from marble, but the way Bernini carved and lit it, it looks lighter than air and just seems to be floating in place - you don't really get a feeling for that from pictures, but when you're standing under it, you sure do! But the sculpture isn't the only part; Bernini designed everything around it as well (actually everything in this little chapel), so it is really about the whole experience. He uses a combination of all sorts of stone that makes the area feel like a painting. Finally, on the sides, faces of the commissioning family members jut out from the wall and are looking at/discussing the scultpure. This helps to make you feel like you are part of the piece - that you're not just an observer, but are there experiencing it (which, of course, is the whole point).

So enough of my ramblings! Here are the photos:

This is the chapel that houses L'estasi di Santa Teresa - just a little place on Via XX Settembre! Well, the façade makes it look grand, but the inside is actually quite small.

Close-up of L'estasi di Santa Teresa; when you're standing here you're completely in the piece, but in photos you don't get a feel for that unless you step back...

L'estasi di Santa Teresa! You can of course find much better, professional pictures of all the great sites of Rome, but that's not really the point, is it?