The Capitoline Museums in Rome, the world's oldest, are going to display a lifesize copy of the original 40 ft high 4th century Colossus of Constantine which once adorned the Basilica of Maxentius. This is probably the most exciting news of the year.
Two facts about the Pantheon: the bronze doors are original and they still use the original lock; the red marble roundels on the floor are from an Egyptian quarry that no longer exists and are more valuable than either gold or diamonds.
The Palazzo Doria-Pamphilj in Rome is home to the most stunning private art collection in the world; it's a true privilege to immerse oneself in the beauty and wonder of its Raphaels, Titians, Caravaggios, Velazquez or Berninis. The family is still thriving and lives in the
Amazing virtual reconstruction by Cambridge University of Old St. Peter's as it was in the year 1450 in all of its Constantinian glory and with its stunning Renaissance additions. I would give anything to visit.
Please, pray for my friend Claudio who died this morning while I was preparing for Mass in a car accident, age 28, like me. Pray also for his girlfriend Elda and for his family. May he rest in peace and rise in glory.
Today, Queen Elizabeth II has been sitting on the throne for 25,694 days. Around 11am, this morning she will surpass the reign of King Bhumibol of Thailand in longevity. In slightly over a year, she will surpass Louis XIV, making her the longest reigning monarch of all time.
Among my favorite Roman traditions is going out after the Maundy Thursday mass and admire the sepolcri, the altars of repose, in the Eternal City's beautiful churches, and then again on the morning of Good Friday. Here are some from my walk tonight.
Rome is home to the oldest Jewish community in the world outside Israel, Roman Jews are neither Ashkenazi nor Sephardi, they go back to those traders who moved here at the time of the Republic. Their stunning Art Nouveau synagogue is a symbol of the triumph of their resilience.
One of the great losses from the great demolitions in Rome is the beauty of the Tiber banks with its palazzos and churches built right over the water. I would have loved to see the Palazzo Altoviti with its charming loggia, and the Ripetta Port, in the style of the Spanish Steps.
There's three original bronze doors in the Eternal City which survived all the way to this day from Roman Antiquity; one is at St. John's Lateran and it belonged to the Curia Julia, another one is at the Temple of Romulus, and the most famous one is at the Pantheon.
The Renaissance Palazzo Massimo is home to Europe's oldest family. On this day, the Principi Massimo open its doors to the Roman citizens to commemorate a miracle of Saint Philip Neri in the former room, now chapel, of a young prince who was brought back to life by the saint.
@DrFrancisYoung
@waitmanb
Love it how she thought the Florentines would have call her bella like in some 1950s movie set in a southern Italian village. Also, her pride in being dressed like a Walmart shopper in the heart of the Renaissance motherland and being judged.
Some of the most incredible art in Rome is in private collections which have been run by the same families for the past 500 years. My favorites are the popular Colonna and Doria-Pamphilj but also the Villa Aurora Boncompagni-Ludovisi and the secretive Pallavicini-Rospigliosi.
The Palazzo Colonna is home to one of Rome's oldest princely families whose Pope Martin V ended the Avignon Captivity. The Galleria is filled with outstanding artworks while the Sala Grande celebrates the family victory at Lepanto; the gardens atop the Quirinal Hill are ethereal.
There are many photographs of Rome as it used to be, very few have any meaningful human presence. I love Count Primoli's shots because you see those long gone Romans. Here are the Aracœli steps before those palazzi were taken down, and people of all classes going to church.
Rome's galleries have their fair share of Caravaggio masterpieces, but a few you can also see for free in the Eternal City's amazing churches; notably at San Luigi dei Francesi, Santa Maria del Popolo and Sant'Agostino.
The Chigi Chapel in Santa Maria del Popolo is perhaps Raphael's greatest architectural work, modeled after Bramante's project for St. Peter's Basilica. He also designed the mosaics in the dome. It was commissioned by his great patron, Senese papal banker, Agostino Chigi.
For those who are interested to learn more about the families that made Rome as it is, this book by
@antmoose
is an excellent start. It is possibly one of my favorites and I pray he might be persuaded to do a second one on the families that didn't make it into the first one!
The church of San Silvestro al Quirinale is a little gem of late Renaissance and early Baroque Rome with works by Polidoro da Caravaggio, Il Cavalier d'Arpino, Domenichino and others.
Santa Maria in Aracœli: Rome's beautiful civic church with its ceiling donated on the occasion of the victory at Lepanto. The high altar is flanked by the SPQR arms.
The most relevant Christian liturgy in the world was an ad orientem Prayer Book language Holy Communion service celebrated in a cope at the King's
#Coronation
today. How amazing is that? Nothing like some High&Dry Anglicanism with its unmatchable music, pomp and beauty.
Spoleto, Umbria is truly a heavenly place. Its history goes back to Roman times and it remained a powerful city throughout the centuries, with great popes, such as the Barberini, funding great works and art here. Its large fortress was even home to Lucrezia Borgia for a while.
One of the most tragic losses of the great demolitions in Rome (1870-1940) was probably that of the Tower of Paul III atop the Capitoline Hill, built by the Farnese pope and connecting Aracœli and Palazzo Venezia via a sky-bridge. It gave the piazza an amazing Medieval look.
The high altar at Westminster on the occasion of Abbot Islip's Funeral in 1532. Love the rood-loft, hanging pyx, and the two candles as was the custom at Westminster which had its own rite. This is the only surviving image of the Abbey before the Reformation.
A stunning life size statue of Hercules was unearthed today along the Appian Way in Rome during sewer repairs; it's probably this decade's great discovery. Looking forward to seeing it in person once restored.
Happy Feast of Saints Peter and Paul, patron saints of our beloved Eternal City of Rome. Here is a fantastic view of the still ongoing tradition of the girandola, a Baroque firework show designed by Gian Lorenzo Bernini himself. Buona Festa!
The Duomo in Spoleto, dedicated to the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, is a true gem and it shows the primacy and wealth of Spoleto through the centuries. The façade is Medieval while the interior was restored in the Baroque style in the 17th c. under Urban VIII Barberini.
I walked to Trastevere for no reason at all, as Santa Maria dell'Orto didn't display their original 17th century Baroque altar of repose this year, the only one to survive to this day. A arge crowd outside the church was left rather upset...
@Dior
The tailoring is terrible, he looks like a sausage. Plus, that collar looks like one of a 15£ polyester shirt from Primark. British tailoring is so much more superior to this, Dior should stick to weird fashion designs not timeless elegance.
Just off the Piazza Navona is Pasquino, a 3rd c. BC statue of Menelaus. At the time of the Papal States, Romans used to write off their concerns or criticisms and use these "talking" statues as bulletin boards. He is not the only one though, meet his friends in this thread.
The beautiful frescoes showing the life of Mary in the apse of the Duomo in Spoleto, the last great masterpiece by Filippo Lippi, one of the great artists of the Renaissance. The theme follows that of the cathedral's dedication to the Assumption of Mary.
S. Omobono is a Renaissance gem at the bottom of the Campidoglio. It was closed for years, and since 2014 I tried to get access to admire the fine altarpiece. Finally, the church is now being restored after years of advocating for its reopening. Glad to see that fresco at last.
The Palazzo Borghese gardens, home to one of Rome's great princely families. The courtyard was designed by Martino Longhi, beyond the loggia is the charming "Giardino Secreto" with its watergames. This is the first home to the Borghese Collection, now at the Casino in the villa.
Very few people know that hidden in the courtyard of the very unassuming Palazzo Antamoro, along the Via del Tritone, is Gian Lorenzo Bernini's last fountain. It is decorated by tritons, dolphins and a great shell; all inspired by the great water features of antiquity.
Galleria Spada is probably Rome's best kept secret and the formerly private gallery which better keeps its decadent charm with its nearly intact collection. I love Borromini's perspective gallery, and countless masterpieces by great Baroque masters such as Guido Reni and others.
The Barberini Chapel at Sant'Andrea della Valle, one of Rome's great family chapels. It was commissioned by cardinal Maffeo Barberini, later pope Urban VIII, in 1604 and decorated by Pietro and Gian Lorenzo Bernini, among others. The first act of Puccini's Tosca takes place here.
Rome has many gigantic churches but what's its smallest? The Madonna dell'Archetto in the Palazzo Muti. A lovely 19th century shrine built around a miraculous "street Madonna". The frescoes are by Costantino Brumidi who also decorated the Capitol dome in Washington DC.
The Via Giulia was home to Rome's wealthy Florentine community since the Renaissance, where they had their national church of San Giovanni dei Fiorentini. The Palazzo Sacchetti, designed by Antonio da Sangallo the Younger, was home until recently to the last such Florentines.
Ghirlandaio's Sassetti Chapel at Santa Trinita remains one of the great masterpieces of the whole of the Renaissance and it opens a window into 15th century Florence, including the portraits of those that mattered.
I mean, why would I want to admire one of the most interesting architectural gems of the Renaissance when it can be disrupted by something created by one who just wants to provoke those seeking beauty. Can Italy please stop obsessing with contemporary art in unsuitable spaces?
Raphael's signature on the stunning portrait he made of his lover, la Fornarina, the daughter of a baker from Trastevere. Caravaggio painted the Roman working class as it was, Raphael glorified it before him.
20 mi south of Rome is San Nilo's abbey in Grottaferrata, founded by S.Nilus of Rossano in 1004, fifty years before the Great Schism. He came from the Greek south and was the founder of Italo-Byzantine monasticism. My favorite feature is the unique Baroque iconostasis by Bernini.
Sant'Andrea della Valle is not Rome's finest, but it's massive. Its dome, designed by Carlo Maderno in the early 17th c., is Rome's third largest behind St. Peter's and the Pantheon. It was decorated by Baroque master, Giovanni Lanfranco; the pendentives by his rival Domenichino.
One of my favorite corners of Rome off the Via de' Coronari, where my family lived for part of the 20th century, though not right here. The church atop the steps is an old church dedicated to Simon and Jude under the patronage of the Orsini, it has beautiful Medieval frescoes.
The Capitoline church of Santa Maria in Aracœli during a mid-19th century procession; before it was taken out of its urban context in order to build the typewriter.
Today, the Church of England remembers Archbishop of Canterbury, William Laud (1573-1645), a staunch defender of beauty in theology and worship within the English Church and a martyr to Puritanical fanaticism.
I love the Villa Ludovisi, a true temple of beauty with Guercino's Aurora, Caravaggio's only wallpainting, and Michelangelo's Pan, among many others. The future of this loved home becomes uncertain, we hope its art will continue to be loved as it once was.
One of the secrets marvels of our Eternal City is probably the Sala de' Palafrenieri of the Palazzo Lancellotti ai Coronari, decorated between 1619-1621 by Agostino Tassi.
What a privilege to attend Vespers in St. Paul's Basilica on this feast of the Conversion of Paul, over his resting place, with
@Pontifex
as a celebrant and Archbishop
@JustinWelby
present, as well as ecumenical representatives and IARCCUM members. That we all may be one...
S. Prisca was the daughter of S. Priscilla who hosted S. Peter here in Rome. He baptized her in a font that was inside her domus. I was also baptized in that font, which is now in the 4th century church on the Aventine Hill, erected over her home. That's being a Roman for you.
Today, many Anglican Churches around the world remember the great English writer C.S. Lewis. Not many people might know that his grandfather, the Rev. Thomas Hamilton, was the first chaplain of the first Protestant church ever built in Rome, Holy Trinity Church of England.
Instagram/TikTok have created all these monsters. Antico Vinaio is a Florentine scam. You can get wonderful lampredotto sandwiches or schiacciata there in Florence and that's the real thing, not this overpriced nonsense with a half a slice of prosciutto and a ton of weird sauce
The Palazzo Massimo istoriato, the oldest in the "Insula Massimo", was built over the Odeon of Domitian and it is home to Europe's oldest house, the Massimo, which allegedly goes back to the Gens Fabia. The beautiful Mannerist frescoes on the façade are by Daniele da Volterra.
There used to be a restaurant in the Palazzo Rondanini by the Pantheon; this used to be Cardinal Wolsey's Roman palazzo, he had it decorated with the Tudor arms in the Renaissance style which he loved (and brought to England). Sadly he never got to visit.