July 27, 2019 Saturday Rome
Saturday morning we had online tickets for the Borghese
Gallery. It is very difficult to just
walk up and buy tickets. It can be done,
but you have to be lucky. We had a heck
of a time taking the #5 tram to the gallery.
We got a #5 that went in the wrong direction, so we changed to one going
the other way. But it also wasn’t going
in the right direction, so we got off and took a bus to the Termini Bus Station
and then got a second bus to take us to the Gallery. I think about half the buses in Rome go
through the Termini Station, but I could be wrong. Anyway we got there to be able to go in at
the correct time. The gallery is
relatively small so that only 350 people are allowed in for two hour
increments. The first thing I did was
find out where Caravaggio’s “Boy with a Basket of Fruit” was located. The web page gave a room where the painting
was supposed to be displayed, and fortunately it was on display. I took a photo and was immediately told that
photos were not allowed. The other good
news is that three paintings by Giorgione that the web page did not give
locations for, were on display. I have
added these three photos to the album for you viewing pleasure.
After visiting a few rooms I went back to get the audio
guides, something we don’t usually do.
The sculptures aren’t identified, and there are a lot of famous statues
at this gallery. There are at eight
works by Bernini at this gallery, so we had to make sure we knew what we were
looking at. Without photos we can’t go
back and look at them to be sure what we saw.
Well of course I left my credit card on the counter after I
picked up the guides. I didn’t discover
this until we had gone through several rooms.
I went back to the desk and the young lady had my card for me as soon as
I walked up. What a relief. I am beginning to think, and Sue knows that I
am in the early stages of dementia. Not
much I can do but try not to screw up too badly. The museum is crowded when each group goes
in, because the place isn’t that big.
After an hour or so the place really empties out, just the diehards like
me are left, and Sue sitting down checking her phone since we can get connected
here.
After the Borghese we walked to a small café with outdoor
seating in the shade and had a Coke Zero, by 1:30 PM it was already in the low
90’s. The Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna was
across the park, a 20 minute slog in the heat, but off we went. I took photos of the monuments and statues
along the way, some I can identify and some I can’t.
The Moderna Gallery has three 1001’s, but only two were
going to be on display when we visited in July per the Museum’s answer to my
email. Well…it turns out that because
the weather has been so hot one of the paintings was taken off display to
prevent damage to the painting. I tried to ask about seeing the painting in
storage, but I couldn’t make myself understood, too bad. So we did see one more on the list: Yellow
Cross Q.7 by Lazlo Moholy-Nagy, so we are up to 703 of 1001.
The Moderna Gallery has a nice map with all the rooms
numbered, the problem is that they don’t have numbers in the actual rooms. So after we have roamed around a bit looking
at paintings we like, we were never too sure what room we were in. But we managed to survive.
We took the right tram back to the apartment to rest a bit
before we went to Saturday Mass at San Croce.
I went out to visit the Church San Giovanni in
Laterano. It could be the second largest
church after St. Peter’s. I took a few photos, but not as many as our last
visit. There was going to be a 5:30 PM
Mass, and most of the nave was partitioned for those going to mass about an
hour after my visit. There was a church
across the street, so I went to investigate. The guide book tells me that the
church contains the Scala Sancta or Holy Staircase. The front of the church is
covered for construction, so I didn’t get the name. But I did notice the sign that said “The Holy
Staircase Can Only Be Climbed On Your Knees.”
I just peeked in and what I saw was a wide stairway with broad steps and
quite a few people were kneeling on individual stairs, but not climbing. My guess is that they stop at each step and
pray or meditate, then climb one or more steps, and repeat the process. The guide book (no internet!!!!) says that
the Scala Sancta leads to the Sancta Sanctorum.
After Mass we headed for a restaurant Sue had read reviews
of on Trip Advisor. We split two
entrees, pizza with spicy sausage and a veal dish, of course with a few
beers. The meal was delicious. On leaving the restaurant we weren’t sure we
ate at the place Sue had read about. We noticed that this restaurant’s name was
almost the same as the one Sue read about.
But all’s well that ends well. We
were able to take a tram home that drops us a few blocks from the apartment. It
was a tiring but good day.
If you want to know more about San Giovanni in Laterano
check out this web page https://www.romeartlover.it/Vasi46.html#Museum
or this Wikipedia page https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archbasilica_of_Saint_John_Lateran#Statues_of_the_Apostles
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