Week six began with a bang. On Monday we piled into a bus for our second day trip. We made our way north into Umbria to Orvieto. After riding the funicular, grabbing cappuccini and chocolate, we wove through the narrow streets to the Duomo. Our trip to the Duomo focused on Luca Signorelli’s Cappella Nuova. It was the first time we had the opportunity to consider Christian commissions outside of Rome, and the Last Judgment scenes set us up nicely for our trip to the Vatican on Wednesday. The highlight of Orvieto was visiting the Museo del Duomo and seeing Mochi’s Annunciation Group. With a Mochi expert in our professorial ranks, we had a chance to consider the innovative skills and unique narrative choices Mochi brought to this sculpture group. The sculptures have been removed from their original placement inside the Duomo of Orvieto. While it is unfortunate that we do not get to see them in their original setting, we were lucky to be able to view the sculptures all the way around, for as long as we wanted, and completely undisturbed.
Orvieto is so lovely that a day never seems long enough. This day was no exception, but we had another important site on the agenda: Civita di Bagnoregio. Civita is located on the top of a mesa in a valley near to Orvieto. One can only access the tiny town via a very steep footbridge. There are no cars and no public transportation, but there is a bruschetteria, which was our destination. The owners of the bruschetteria treated us to a snack of fresh bread, pomodori, and delicious olive oil that is made on site. The bruschetta was cooked on an open air fire that gave the tiny trattoria a cozy warmth and comforting smell. No one was ready to leave when it was time to go.
Monday was a long long day so we took it a little easier on Tuesday. We met in the classroom to discuss Raphael, Michelangelo and Bramante’s contributions to New St. Peter’s. This day was largely in preparation for our Vatican visit. We were able to spend a good deal of time looking at some slides of images that we would not be able to access as easily at the Vatican.
Wednesday. Vatican Day. We met at the entrance to the museum at 9:30 and were promptly ushered into the madness. Luckily we were connected with headsets so we were able to hear our professors over the buzz of the crowds as they guided us through the vast and overwhelming papal collections. We first made our way through the antiquities, to the Belvedere courtyard, and then the Belevedere sculpture collection. Many of the students were overwhelmed and excited to see some “old friends” for the first time. The Apollo Belvedere and the Laocoön were particular favorites. We fought our way through the crowds into Raphael’s Stanze and finally to the Sistine Chapel. Working with Michelangelo for so much of our two courses, this moment had special significance for all of us, despite the roves of tourists and ornery museum guards. Lunch was an absolute necessity after this milestone. Following lunch and caffè in the cafeteria, we continued on to the Pinacoteca. We focused mainly on Raphael’s Transfiguration and the collection of seventeenth century paintings in the subsequent rooms. All in all Vatican Day totaled eight hours in the museum. Exhausting, but worth every single minute.
On Thursday our mega-week continued with a visit to the Caravaggio show taking place in Rome right now. We met in the classroom early in the day to discuss our readings on Caravaggio and to set up some of the issues regarding the artist. We then took a break and reconvened up on the Quirinale in the afternoon for our entrance to the exhibit. During the show we were set loose amongst the 10 rooms of works to look and observe on our own. We naturally ended up forming small discussion groups and moved through the exhibit more or less together. These groups pointed details out to one another and discussed the issues of representation we had established in class earlier in the day.
This was probably our fullest week yet, but it was extremely rewarding and established a momentum for the next half of the quarter.
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