Lost In Rome

Well, we were never lost, exactly; we always
knew sort of where we were, and we had been
to all these places before, and had maps, and
knew how to get from one palace to another...it's
just that our navigatrix got confused about
which Palazzo Pamphilj we wanted (the Palazzo
Pamphilj Doria); but eventually we got there
and saw the great museum; and also had a nice
visit at the Brazilian Embassy and many other
places between the Piazza Navona and San
Luigi dei Francesci; after three administrative
days off--weather, work, desire to avoid the
3-day weekend city crowds--we were sort of
out of practice; oh, Vicki did lose her Quechua
hat somewhere on these journeys; lost in
Rome

After hopping off bus #64 and walking a few
blocks, we found ourselves not at the Piazza
Navona, but standing in the piazza between
the Pantheon and Santa Maria sopra Minerva,
both, however, on our current list of sights to
see; again

SM sopra Minerva has its share of treasures...
a later Michaelangelo

Tomb of Fra Angelica

A chapel frescoed by Felippo Lippi; St. Thomas Aquinas in
there somewhere, probably with a book

Ditto

SM sopra Minerva is Rome's only Gothic church; note
pointy arches and four-part vaulting; don't bother looking for
flying buttresses, height, light, etc; though many are quite
wonderful, I am coming to the conclusion that Italian Gothics
should get an asterisk; probably English Gothics too

It's nonetheless one of Rome's most tourist-friendly churches,
with this big helpful map showing the locations of all the
masterpieces

I can never walk past this my favorite building...

Through the oculus

Early Monday morning crowd

Moving right along, we are now in the church of Luigi dei
Francesci, which features 3 mature Caravaggios in its
St. Matthew chapel, all concerning, you guessed it, St.
Matthew; here, his martyrdom of Matthew

And here, his greatest hit, IMHO, The Calling of Matthew;
I recently discovered IfArtCouldTalk.org, which provides
clever captions for various masterpieces...this one is...
"Where's the owner of the double-parked red Pinto?!"

More seriously, here is the tomb of the great
landscape artist, Claude Lorrain, Turner's hero

Less seriously, here we are in the Piazza of
St. Eustace, gazing up at the Basilico of Santo
Eustachio--patron saint of deer hunters--whose
legend and depictions never fail to crack me up

And here we are now, blocks away in the
wrong direction, at the Piazza Navona and
Bernini's Fountain of Rivers

Piazza Navona, Domitian's circus; the Brazilian Embassy is
over on the left there, in the Palazzo Pamphilj