Rome via Brooklyn

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In talking about my pre-Rome-via-Brooklyn adventures, I should start by saying that I moved out of NYC the last weekend in May. I’m moving to Michigan in the fall to start grad school, my lease was up, and now I’m in Rome! So it was then or never. I really didn’t let myself feel any emotions about it over the course of the moving process since moving is already so physically draining, and I still feel like I’m in a weird limbo stage of my life, slowly drifting place to place until I can eventually have a permanent address and a bed to confidently call my own in August. I kept thinking I would cry – at graduation, my going away party, my last night in my apartment, but I don’t think any of it has really sunk in quite yet.

In the meantime, I’m living with my boyfriend Daniel’s parents outside of Providence, so we flew out of Boston on June 4, venturing forth to Venice. The flight was long and I slept little, but arriving in Venice was surreal. Especially coming from New York, the concept of a city with no cars is so foreign.

Some Venice favorites included:

We mostly did a lot of wandering, but made time for the Doge’s Castle as well as the Murano Glass Museum.

On our way to Bologna, we made a pit stop in Padua so I could see the Arena Chapel. To be honest, I could write a whole post about the chapel in and of itself. I wrote a paper about the frescoes last winter for Professor Yarrow’s class, and it’s still the piece of writing I’m most proud of. So to see it in person was amazing and I cried. I was especially struck by the repeating archways, something that I had neglected in my writing since I was so hyper-focused on a single fresco.

I noticed how there was always a figure entering or exiting each scene, creating a story that was endlessly progressing, forcing the viewer to turn in circles to follow the narrative, ending at the doorway through which they came. It drove home a point I am always reminding myself of in art history, which is that it is always different to see something in person. No matter how much reading you do, scale changes things.

But onwards to Bologna. Bologna was my pick, and a choice entirely motivated by the fact that I wanted to go to the Bologna Doll Museum, which of course ended up being closed when we were there. Whomp whomp. Poor planning on my part, but we still were able to do lots of wandering, and I appreciated how different Bologna was from Venice, and how unique it felt in its warm colors and archway covered sidewalks. It was also vibrant with local art and students wandering the streets, and I’d imagine it would be a great place to live for someone my age in Italy.

Luckily, the Museo Civico Medieviale was not closed. My favorite pieces there were of course the manuscripts, which were all sheet music.

After Bologna, we went onto Florence, where my favorite place we went (and probably my favorite museum we went to) was the San Marco Monastery Museum. It was set in a 12th century monastery, and houses frescoes by Fra Angelico, most famous of which is his Annunciation scene. The staging of the piece was so lovely, so shout out to the monks for choosing this placement; turning the last corner of the stairwell and coming face to face with it was so overwhelming and awe inspiring.

The rest of the frescoes were inside the monastic cells themselves, and I thought about how each monk would have lived and sat with their respective pieces, having them take on a special meaning as things tend to do when you see them again and again. About half of these pieces are currently staged with Rothko paintings that match their colors, which I felt so lucky to see in person.

I especially loved the annunciation scene pairing, the small glow of yellow in the Rothko imitating that of the light emanating from Gabriel. It felt like a perfect abstracted representation of the scene – the flash of yellow lighting up the rest of it, surprising and wonderful. Especially set in the cell, it created a sense of intimacy and smallness that fit the piece well.

This museum really felt as though it was catered to exactly my taste, because there was also a special exhibit up of medieval manuscripts focusing on animals, as well as a few hair shirts, which were very cool to see in real life.

After the museum, we went on a long walk to the Piazzale Michaelangelo, as well as in search of a tower I had seen in the distance and become enamored with, the Porta San Niccolò. As we rested on top of the hill, we met a group of 3 travelers, one of whom is in the process of writing a fiction book set in ancient Rome. Hearing him gush about how much he loved the city quelled the anxiety I felt about being away from home for so long, and he gave Dan and I some recommendations to check out when we arrived, particularly the Basilica of San Clemente.

And then we were off to Assisi, which was my favorite place we visited by far, and if I had known how much I would love it I would have insisted we book more time there. Another time. It was just so beautiful, and such a welcome break from the chaos of the previous cities.

We spent a lot of time just wandering the winding, medieval streets, but stopped in many a souvenir shop and of course made time to visit the basilicas. The Basilica of St. Clare was my favorite church we went in, but alas, no photos allowed…except for one I snuck of St. Francis receiving the stigmata, because I just had to.

After Assisi, we went to Siena, which was yet another medieval destination for me because I had to see St. Catherine’s head. The airbnb we booked ended up being right next to the sanctuary she lived in, which I was very excited about. The city was hilly and winding which I both loved and was quickly exhausted by, but it felt like a city straight out of a storybook, especially once the sun set and the sky became purple and lit up with the lights from the homes.

We also went to the Civic museum to see the Government Allegory frescoes, which were so amazing and intricate and I could have stared at them all day, just picking out small details.

After a sandwich lunch, we headed to Rome, and were immediately struck by how much hotter it is here than anywhere else we visited. We ended up going back to the hotel multiple times each day just to shower and have a respite in the AC.

It feels weird to recap something that now feels so long ago, especially now being so familiar with the city. But we managed to pack a lot into the 3 days we had before Dan flew off to London and I started the program. We went to the Pantheon, the Castel Sant’Angelo, and the Basilica of San Clemente. Predictably, we did a lot of wandering and a lot of eating, and even coincidentally reunited with our Florence friends along the way.

As soon as it started, it was over, but it was a perfect trip and I’m so glad we managed to fit so many amazing things into a relatively short time.