July 28, 2019 Sunday Rome

We have tickets for the Scavi Tour Monday morning at 9:30AM, so we went Sunday morning to be sure we knew where we are supposed to enter.  This tour goes through the excavations below Saint Peter's Basilica and visit the Necropolis and the Tomb of Saint Peter. Only 250 people are allowed through each day – compare that to the 30,000 that visit the Vatican Museums!  I ordered our tickets for the English tour on May 7^th for a visit at the end of July.  We were not there at the crack of dawn, but early enough to avoid the larger crowds.  We asked the police who were watching the crowds, and they told us we were in the right place.  Scavi refers to excavation, and each tour group is made up of only 15 people.

After taking a few photos in St. Peter’s Square we walked to the Corsini Gallery that wasn’t far from the Vatican.  There was a Caravaggio there that we haven’t seen.  The museum’s web page had it on display when I checked multiple times before we left on the trip.  I could never get a response to my question if it would be on display when we visited.  Thankfully the painting was on display.  We have visited this museum before and there is never anyone there.  I guess 16^th and 17^th century, mostly religious art is not that big an attraction.  You may not be big fans old religious art, but we enjoy it, plus it is nice to be almost alone in a museum.  You never have to wait for people to move to take a photo, and I take a lot of photos.

We were then off to visit the Capitoline Museum.  We walked a bit to catch a bus to get us close to the Museum.  There were two Caravaggio’s at the Museum, one was on loan during our last visit.  I could not get an answer to my email or Facebook question asking if that painting would be on display when we visited.  Well it wasn’t.  You can see that tracking down all these paintings isn’t a walk in the park.  Saw a wedding party in the plaza of the museum.  This must be a popular place for weddings, because the last time we were here there was another wedding.  The Capitoline Museum has three buildings and is located on a hilltop plaza designed by Michelangelo in the heart of Rome.  One building has most of the paintings, the second has most of the sculptures and the third overlooks the Roman Forum.

I put so much (often useless) information on the photos because it is fun to go back read the blog about our old trips.  Or I may read something about an artist or an exhibition and I may think we’ve seen a specific painting, and this helps me check it out.  That is why museums that don’t allow photos hurts a bit.  I understand why they do it, because people like me taking photos can be a real pain for other visitors.  

July 28, 2019 Sunday Corsini & Capitoline Museums