Morano Calibro

With our new Michelin Agilis tires installed, we bid Rome a fond arrivaderci and headed south on the autostrada. We'll be back in early June, then again in mid-June, then again toward the end of July. The road past Naples was relatively familiar. Last time we were south of Salerno was 2011 or so and much of the freeway was under construction. The bridge/tunnel/bridge/tunnel... routine starts thereabouts or a bit further south. Vicki had found a promising sosta in the mountain-side town of Morano Calibro, and there we stayed, joined somewhat later by a young German family. A sosta is a free or low-cost parking area, generally with water and a dump, that towns and cities often provide for self-contained motorhomes. This one was great, at the foot of the interesting little town. We couldn't resist hiking up to the castle ruins. Well, I could have resisted, but Vicki was intent.

A kilometer's walk, entirely uphill a couple
hundred meters

The surrounding mountainous terrain; snow in them thar hills,
still

In the lower precincts

We just kept walking up and in the direction of
the castle, at every juncture...no signs, little in
way of a road, just steps and more steps

Many of the buildings we passed were
abandoned or in poor shape; had this place
been in northern Italy it would have been
all duded up and crawling with tourists,
tipica cuisina and souvenir shoppes at every
turn; as it was, it was not easy to find a liter
of milk (although the same little alimentari
had a bottle of single malt scotch for 12.50E
which I couldn't resist

Ever upward

Finally, the castle ruins

Hill-top church; a mass was underway

Remains of a fresco in a former abbey; scenes from the Passion

 

Nice, quiet, safe place

Caravaggio Day In Rome

The jet lag was subsiding, the camper repairs were done, Alessandro had a lead for us on new tires--but not until Tuesday--so we decided to go into The City once more, on Monday the 7th, to see some of the work of Michaelangelo de Merisi, aka Caravaggio, aka Painter of Light, aka Mr. Fruity Butt Pants. Rome is the sort of place you can just wade into without much purpose or agenda and still have a glorious time. But it helps to have some destination, even if you never get there.

In a sausage shoppe along the way

In the St. Louis church, near the Piazza Navona; over-the-top
Baroque (note linguistic change)

Among Caravaggio fans, this is the Matthew Cycle
church, in which we can see the calling of Matthew, perhaps
Caravaggio's greatest hit; note light

Matthew taking dictation from an angel
(Guido Reni's Matthew, in the Vatican, is far,
far superior)

And the Martyrdom of Matthew

Which is a good starting point for discussion of Caravaggio's
framing many, if not most, of his paintings around someone's
butt; thus, Mr. Fruity Butt Pants

Back in the nave, a fitting tribute to one of
France's greatest painters, Claude Gelee, aka
Claude Lorraine, who spent virtually his whole
career in Italy; Turner's hero; St. Louis' is the
French church in Rome

In the St. Cecilia chapel, Reni's copy of Rafael's
Ecstasy of St. Cecelia; apparently, as Vicki
noted, Rafael couldn't quite get his model into
the ecstatic state that Bernini achieved

Huge Domenichino St. Cecilia Distributing Her Clothing
to the Poor

And death of St. Cecilia...note angel carrying palm frond...
always a very, very bad sign...

Tour groups massing for attack outside the
church of St. Louis

Under the watchful eyes of boys with silly hats and machine
guns

Moving right along now toward the Piazza del Populo and more
Caravaggios

Finally, after 2,000 years, they're renovating Augustus'
Mausoleum

And now we're in the Piazza del Populo; speaking of linguistic
change, the "Piazza of the People," as it is now called, was
originally the "Piazza of the Poplars"; oh well

And now we're in the Mary basilica there,
mocking, I mean admiring, Caravaggio's
Crucifixion of St. Peter; note huge butt (hot
Peter's)

Same church, admiring Caravaggio's
Conversion of Saul; note horse butt; I rest
my case; again

Dome swirler

Walking back via the Via del Corso

A Trio Of Churches in Trastavere

Our main goal in Trastavere was to see three churches, a couple of which we had visited hurriedly way back in 2011. All three are of considerable antiquity--Trastavere was, among other things, the Jewish quarter, where Christianity would have first arisen--the St. Mary in Trastavere is on a site dating back among Christians to 112 AD. Anyhow, it was mostly the medieval mosaics, and a Bernini sculpture, apart from the antiquity, that attracted us.

St. Mary in Trastavere

On the porch

Love the way they sometimes post the old signs and messages

Interior

Here it's the mosaics, medieval, Byzantine

Jesus and mom, enthroned

Under the famous gospel writer Marcus, the prophet Isaiah

Apostles depicted as sheep

The interesting columns and capitals, said nowadays to have been taken from the
Baths of Caraculla; faces of Isis and Serapis were hammered off in the 19th century,
obscuring their real origin, the Temple of Isis and Serapis; conquerors nearly always
try to eradicate all traces of the competition, unless there were martyrs on the site

Interesting painting of Council of Trent 

Moving right along now--in 2011 we didn't have phones or Google Maps--the
Church of San Francesco di Ripa--notable for its many tombs and monuments,
but chiefly for...

Bernini's Ecstasy of the Blessed Lodovica Albertoni

Compare with the far superior Ecstasy of St. Theresa; it's a fair question, I think,
how Bernini got his models into this state

And finally, the Basilica of St. Cecilia

One of the most poignant of all religious sculptures, I think

Maderno's early 17th century sculpture of St. Cecilia, as her body was found in
1600

And more medieval/Byzantine mosaics

Jesus working on a new sekrit digital sign

Let's go bowling, Dude