June 2nd is Republic Day in Italy. It is like our Fourth of July, but Italianized –so it is one thousand times better. The streets were pack with the usual tourists, Italian shoppers and people going to work but on Republic day students, families and military men! This made Alissa very happy. The streets of Rome were busier than 30 Rock on December 25th. Ok, maybe not that busy, but they were super crowded.
Jordan and I got lost a couple of times before we finally turned the right corner and saw the Palazzo Barberini. It was beautiful. The building made of –you guessed it– white marble. It had three levels, each with the same number of beautiful arches. It was very quite outside and when we approached the door. Once we got inside it was silent. We reached the ticket desk and the lady working there already looked like she hated us for no reason at all.
We walked through the bottom of the villa and couldn’t really concentrate. A lot of the paintings were of Madonna and the Child. I had seen a million of those on this trip already and I really didn’t think I could handle and more. At the very end of the first floor there was an enclosed courtyard. It had a fountain with a statue of Bacchus that was still flowing with water. There were also a bunch of unidentified statues lining the walls of the room. The rush of the water and moist air gave the room a special presence.
By the end of the first floor we were grumpy and hungry but we knew we should really look upstairs. We shuffled our feet toward the Bernini staircase. Everything changed when I took my first step upstairs. The busts and statues lining the staircase were amazing. I feel in love with a perfectly detailed lion carved out of the side of the wall. I quickly pet his nose (DEFINITELY not allowed) and headed through the doors.
The upstairs was one thousand times more beautiful than the downstairs. There were a few things I was really glad I saw. Enrico VIII, Hans Holbein’s famous portrait of Henry the VIII. While looking at this I was instantly transported back three years when I was standing in front of that glass pillow at the Tower of London where Ann Boleyn was supposedly executed.
I couldn't decide between two for my favorite paintings in the museum. It is between Caravaggio’s Narciso and Tiziano’s Venere e Adone. The first, Narciso, is a painting of the myth of Narcissus. There is a young boy (Narcissus) looking longingly into a pond at his own reflection. Caravaggio captured the moment he fell in love with himself. This is one of my all time favorite myths and I have never seen it depicted so perfectly. The other painting is also portraying a myth. Tiziano (Titian in English) is telling the story of Venus and Adonis. Interestingly enough, this painting tells a different story than Ovid’s myth. In the myth, Venus falls in love with Adonis then warns him of the dangers of hunting. She then leaves him to attend to her duties and he is killed by a wild boar. In the painting Venus clings to Adonis not wanting him to leave her. I really liked this representation because it gave Venus a vulnerable side we never get to see. Something she hides from the world while being tortured by the fear of being alone.
This was by far my favorite museum we have seen so far. I can't believe the trip is almost over!!
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