EXPLORING ROME WITH A SKETCHBOOK IN HAND Christian Montanez (crm295)
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Seven Pilgrimage Churches, Itineraries & Pathways
The pilgrimage was started by Philip Neri around 1553 and was to be a way of celebrating and sharing religious experiences through discovering of the heritage of the early Saints. The itinerary includes San Pietro, San Paolo fuori le Mura, Santuario della Madonna del Divino Amore, San Giovanni in Laterano, Santa Croce in Gerusalemme, San Lorenzo fuori le Mura, and Santa Maria Maggiore. Santuario della Madonna del Divino Amore was later added as a replacement for San Sebastiano by Pope John Paul II in 2000 for the Great Jubilee.
San Pietro
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San Paolo fuori le Mura
San Giovanni in Laterano
Santa Maria Maggiore
San Lorenzo fuori le Mura
Santa Croce in Gerusalemme
Santuario della Madonna del Divino Amore 3
Palazzo Spada, Buildings & Building Complexes Visiting Palazzo Spada and seeing Borromini’s forced perspective was one of my favorite experiences I had in Rome. I had seen photos of the perspective before but when I saw it in person, I was amazed and full of excitement. It really is crazy looking at the corridor from the side, seeing the changing scale of each element. A man who worked there walked through the corridor, allowing us to see the changing height and the actual size of the sculpture located at the vanishing point of the perspective.
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Piazza San Pietro, Urban Ensembles & Piazze
Designed by Bernini, the colonnades resemble arms welcoming people into the piazza. Two circles determine the geometry of the piazza and when we visited San Pietro, it was amazing that when standing at the foci, there appears to only be one row of colonnades. The large piazza also allows for a better view of the dome, which disappears when walking closer towards the basilica.
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Sant’Andrea della Valle, Buildings and Building Complexes
Sant’Andrea della Valle is one of the three great 17th century preaching churches (Il Gesù and Chiesa Nuova) built by Counter-Reformation religious orders in the Centro Storico. The dome is ~16 meters in diameter and 80 meters high, and is the third highest in Rome after St Peter’s and Santi Pietro e Paolo. The church is named after Cardinal Andrea della Valle, who died in 1534. He had an acclaimed palazzo full of antiquities near the new convent. On the facade, only one side has an angel. The story is that Pope Alexander commissioned Ercole Ferrara to carve two angels, but after the Pope said he did not like the first one, the sculptor took offence and refused to carve the second one. The alternative theory is that there was not enough money. Before Sant’Andrea, this was the site of San Sebastiano. On the left hand side of the entrance, the facade is solid but on one side there is an alcove. This is the site of the original high altar of the church of San Sebastiano. This is the only asymmetric element in the design of the entire church. Il Passignano painted a depiction of Lucina finding the Body of San Sebastiano in the Sewer in here in 1616. The first act of Tosca (Puccini’s opera) which premiered in 1900 is set in this church. People and tourguides refer to Cappella Barberini (first on the left) as the Cappella della Tosca.
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Sant’Andrea al Quirinale, Buildings and Building Complexes
Designed by Bernini, Sant’Andrea al Quirinale was completed in 1670. The church is regarded as one of the finest examples of Baroque architecture due to its balance, choice of materials and the flow of light in the interior. Supposedly, Bernini did not charge a fee for designing the church, receiving only bread from the novitiate’s oven. According to the biography written by his son, Bernini considered it his only perfect work and often celebrated Mass in his old age at the church. The church was innovative in that it has an elliptical plan, with its major axis on the minor axis of the ellipse. The transverse elliptical layout was well-known to Bernini, who had used it for Piazza San Pietro. Bernini’s church is described as a theatre. It is referred to this as the high altar immediately confronts the visitor upon entrance, and its design encourages a person to gaze upwards into the dome. The dome dominates the space, and is Bernini’s version of the dome as an empyrean.
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Il Gesù, Buildings and Building Complexes
The facade of Il Gesù (1580) is “the first truly baroque facade”. The church served as a model for many Jesuit churches all over the world, especially in the Americas. The church was built on the same location as the previous church (Santa Maria della Strada), where Saint Ignatius of Loyola once prayed before an image of the Virgin Mary. Interestingly, Michelangelo was initially supposed to design the church (which he was going to do for free). The design of this church has set a precedent for Jesuit churches that lasted into the twentieth century. The plan encapsulates the central planning of the High Renaissance. The example of Il Gesù did not totally eliminate the traditional basilica church with aisles, but after its example was set, variations were minimal.
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Tempietto, Buildings & Building Complexes When I first saw Bramante’s Tempietto, it was a surprise. For one of our photography classes, we were walking to the American Academy and passed by it. At the time I did not know the exact location of it, so I was even more dumbfounded when I saw it. Speaking of the Bramante’s work, Vasari wrote that “The Tempietto [(1502)] masterfully merges several key themes of that age in a single building: the central plan, the use of ancient Roman architecture, and the search for proportion in the relationship between parts. Juxtaposing these elements architecturally shapes the absolute idea of perfection, creating an ‘ideal reality’”.
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Museo e Galleria Borghese, Museums & Galleries
Thankfully, I was able to visit Villa Borghese before departing from Rome. I wish I could have gone back many more times to see all of its beauty. Containing works by Raphael, Bernini, and Caravaggio, Galleria Borghese is truly magnificent. I was perhaps most amazed when I saw the Rape of Proserpine by Bernini. The marble appears to be flesh that is being pressed upon. The skill and precision is marveling.
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Church and Piazza Typologies, Northern Italy
I am very interested in the relationship between churches and piazzas, particularly in plan. I believe churches are public spaces and can be seen as an extension of the piazza. The change in hatch direction expresses the presence of water.
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