I will be posting daily updates here of our Italian adventures — we are thrilled to be setting off today for Europe!
These lines from the Vergil’s Aeneid read;
The face of the Euboean cliff was carved into a huge cave / to where a hundred wide entrances, a hundred mouths lead / from where fall as many voices, responses of the Sibyll.
Greek colonists of Euboean descent carved caverns into the rock here and founded the city of Cumae (Κύμη) below the promontory. In Vergil’s poem, Aeneas comes to Cumae to enlist the Sibyll’s help on his journey to the Underworld.
View from the inner chambers looking back towards the entrance.
Very little remains of the “immense temple” described by Vergil. But the view south and west towards Ischia and the Bay of Naples is magnificent!
We walked the full length of the ancient city of Pompeii, from the Amphitheater (seen here on the right) to the Villa of the Mysteries — we saw frescos, mosaics, and other amazing decorative features in private houses, and we wandered through the grand basilica, fora, temples and theaters that were once the pride of this wealthy and flourishing city.
Pumice stones built into the walls of the House of the Faun offer mute but poignant testimony that volcanic activity shaped life in the shadow of Vesuvius well before the fateful eruption of AD 79.
The walls of Pompeii are a rich source of colloquial, informal and quotidian Latin, including this large and tastefully written advertisement on the road to the Forum.
This column was erected in honor of the emperor Phocas in AD 608; two years later, Phocas was overthrown and executed by Heraclius and his legions in Constantinople. This was final monument constructed in the Forum Romanum.
The triumphal Arch of Septimius Severus (dedicated in AD 203) stands just beyond to the right.
Incredibly, we had the Arch of Titus all to ourselves this morning— what an amazing experience!
No one is perfect! The engraver of the inscription on this bust of Plato in the Capitoline Museum appears to have mixed up the declension of the two Greek names seen on the base and inscribed the wrong endings. A puzzle for our Greek students!
A beautiful evening at Trajan’s Column — we also learned about the statue of St. Peter on top!
The ornate finishes on this capital — note especially the pegasi and acanthus leaves, — exemplify the tendency of Augustan art to fill empty spaces with decorative elements.
The market in the famous Campo De’ Fiori was a highlight of Thursday’s tour!
We learned about Bernini’s celebrated fountain before seeing his most famous statues — Apollo & Daphne and The Rape of Proserpina — at the Galleria Borghese.
Met some Roma fans north of the Tiber by Stadio Olimpico!
Afternoon light on the statues of saints in St. Peter’s Square.
We learned about Michelangelo’s Pietà and about statues sculpted and designed by Bernini around the enormous baldacchino or bronze canopy, also of his design (seen here under the dome).
One can squint towards the obelisk and imagine the ancient Circus of Nero (or Caligula) that once filled much of this space. The obelisk would have been placed on the center line or spina, around which the chariots raced.
The Emperor Hadrian’s villa north of Rome in Tiburtine country (a very fashionable site for country houses since Republican times) once sprawled over 250 acres. The building seen here, the smaller of two bath complexes, is actually not small at all!
The Roman poet Horace praised ancient Tibur (modern Tivoli) for “the headlong Anio and the grove of Tiburnus and the damp orchards watered by moving streams.” The incredible water features at the Villa D’Este date to the 16th century and still channel the power of Anio through fountains, pools and even a hydraulic organ.
Final dinner in Rome — handmade fettuccine served family-style!
Era delizioso!
We had a blast in Italy and made many new friends! See the link below for an album of the other pictures I took.
OH HEY, FOR BEST VIEWING, YOU'LL NEED TO TURN YOUR PHONE