When in Rome!

Thursday Morning: Pastor Mike and Senora Caldwell gave us an opportunity to explore Rome in the morning after breakfast. Many students took the time to find internet cafés, pizzerias, shops, and the beautiful Trevi Fountain.

Rome is love spelled backward (Roma~Amor): Yet another amazing day in Rome learning about the history and the beauty of this ancient city. Nino guided our tour (woo-hoo!) in the Vatican. As usual he was very thorough and provided us with a lot of information about everything from the marbled floor to the painted ceiling (chiaroscuro). The Vatican originated in 1503 by Pope Julius II. Nino took us through the gallery of tapestries, a room full of 16th century maps of the regions of Italy, classical sculptures, Rafael's rooms full of his work, and last but not least the Sistine Chapel.

The official site to the Vatican is the following website if you wish to view more. http://www.vatican.va/

The Deliverance of St. Peter fresco: This painting was one of the more memorable pieces to the class. Many of us felt connected with the story because of our previous experience in St. Paul's prison yesterday. The painting was recently cleaned and one could see the effects of chiaroscuro (contrast of light and dark).

Sistine Chapel: While we were still visiting the map room Nino took us by a souvenir stand and pointed out a two-toed foot angel in a scene from the creation of Adam in the Sistine Chapel. He asked us to solve this mystery. Here is a site to learn more about this theory.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A681680

The following are the eight scenes painted by Michelangelo:
1. Separation of Light from Dark
2. Separation of Land and Sea
3. Creation of Adam
4. Creation of Eve (Nino pointed out that this was the center of the ceiling).
5. Original Sin and Banishment from the Garden of Eden
6. Sacrifice of Noah
7. The Flood
8. The Drunkenness of Noah.

His final painting before he died was entitled, "The Final Judgment." The center of the piece was God with Mary on his right side and people were either ascending into heaven or descending into hell. As a side note, Nino told us how one of the cardinals was telling Michelangelo that there were too many naked people in his painting and that they should be clothed, and Michelangelo got mad and painted this cardinal's face as one of the people in hell.

Basilica of St. Peter: People were amazed by the fact that this church is twice as big as St. Patrick's in New York and holds as many people as the Coliseum (50,000 people). While Mass was in progress our class quietly explored the church. Some of the marble from the Coliseum was used in the floor design. We saw the Pope!...John Paul II who is dead :) Within the church St. Peter was buried under the bronze altar, a statue of Mary holding Jesus created out of one piece of marble, and many statues of Saints.