Ekphrasis 2

Juno and Jupiter were just about to lay together. He looked at her longingly as she leaned on the bed over him. They were both in a state of half undress, their robes pulled down by gravity. She had a breast band tied just under her bust that she looked to be just about to take off. The blue of Juno’s dress emphasized the paleness of her complexion and the rosiness of her cheeks. In contrast, Jupiter was as tanned as his golden robe that had fallen down to his waist. He looked older than Juno by far; he had a bushy salt and pepper beard paired with rather long wavy hair. Juno looked like she couldn’t be past the age of 25. Jupiter was pulling on her leg, revealing it from under her dress and showing off the slender ankles that Homer used to wax about. In the shadows of both the gods stood their animal counterparts. Nestled under the leg of Jupiter was his eagle and behind Juno hid her peacock. Behind Jupiter, seemingly unknown to either gods, waited a putto figure. Maybe it was Cupid. He was stringing his bow, probably in preparation to shoot the couple, and his quiver full of arrows rested on the bed next to him. One other putto could be seen through the window emerging from the clouds a ways away. He too had a bow in hand, though it seemed he was lacking his arrows. Perhaps this was the infamous scene of Juno seducing Jupiter during the battle at Troy, where she was attempting to give the Achaeans the upper hand in battle, if even for just a moment.

(Giove e Giunone by Antonie Carracci 6/6/19)

Giornale 3

I arrived to the church 15 minutes before it opened, so I decided to sit out in courtyard under the portico. It was a hot day and I had headed straight from the Via Appia to Santa Cecilia in the hopes of getting done with my last giornale early. The bells started to ring at 3:50 and I thought maybe it signified the church opening soon. While sitting there I took off my coat and tried to reorganize my backpack. My site report booklet was in pieces and I was trying to put it back in some semblance of order, but I don’t think I was very successful. A number of people had already gathered under the portico like I had in preparation for the opening of the church. While there I decided to read the Wikipedia page for the church, since after going into Santa Maria in Trastevere I wish I had known more before I went in. 

As I was reading a black Mercedes decorated for a wedding pulled up along the curb next to me; here was a white chiffon strip of fabric tied around the side mirrors and hooked under the hood. A woman in a belted metallic navy blazer and a long pleated skirt got out of car. I realized sitting there that there was a photographer in the entrance of the church taking photos of those getting out of the car and I was definitely within the shot. I debated getting up and out of the photos but if they didn’t care I was there why should I. However people started gathering around the car, therefore also gathering around me, and I really felt that I should move. Shortly after though a nicely dressed man and little girl talked to the driver, and the driver pulled the car around to the other side of the courtyard and parked. Sitting there I began to worry that this was part of a wedding party and that the church wouldn’t be open. 

I was so distracted by the possible wedding party that I didn’t even notice the doors to the church opened five minutes early and people were already filing in. Once I stepped inside though there was no doubt o we whether or not there was a wedding happening here; the inside of the church was fully set up for a wedding. There were a number of chairs set up with bouquets of roses lining the central aisle. The rest of the tourists looked very confused as to what was happening, but almost everyone immediately went to the chapel in the back of the church and I followed for some reason. Next to the chapel there was a nun at the alter fiddling with the placement of the altar cloth. The church had similar mosaic to the one at San Clemente with twelve lambs flanking a central lamb with a halo. Suddenly I got pushed aside with everyone else as people made way for the nun walking off of the apse. 

I made my way across the church and light a candle for grandma as I always do in front of a statue of the Madonna and Child. Looking back at the alter I wondered why the statue of Cecilia was lying with her face down. It was quite unlike any other memorial carving of a saint I had seen. At the front of the church grooms phone started going off and he ran outside. I hoped everything was going okay for him today. After seeing that I decided to leave since I didn’t want to crowd the church and make the wedding preparations even more difficult. While leaving I could see in the corner of the church the nun looking on disapprovingly at the women in their non church appropriate wedding outfits. 

(Santa Cecilia, 6/1/19)

Giornale 2

We all got off the 280 bus at the Ponte Sisto and made our way to the Piazza Trilussa. Shelby and I stopped in front of the Trilussa statue and both agreed it would be funny to get a group photo all copying the pose. While we’re walking down a side street to get to the basilica Emma stopped in an English bookstore and Shelby and I waited outside, since the store was rather crowded and the rest of the group went inside. After their bookstore needs were met, we continued down the road and and after turning a corner Santa Maria in Trastevere was in front of us. I don’t think Emma was paying too much attention last time we were in the square because she seemed so stunned by the façade of the church. Earlier in the day I looked up the hours of the church, and we were arriving in the middle of the daily Mass. Worried that we would be interrupting and not allowed in or kicked out, we headed across the piazza to the entrance of the basilica. While we were walking I saw tourists milling about the portico of the church so I took it as a sign people were allowed in. In front of the fountain of the piazza a man was making those spray paint pictures of the Colosseum and the whole area smelled of spray paint.

Before the entrance to the church there was a large sign showing no cell phones allowed and everyone who didn’t bring a journal to write in panicked; I just switched out my phone for my journal. As soon as we opened the doors into the church the smell of incense hit me. The sound of the priest preaching was interrupted when one of the other tourists taking photos of the church dropping their phone. I thought to myself that this basilica was definitely different from last one, Santa Sabina, I was in. It was so much more ornate, with a number more mosaics, statues, marble facing, and gold. There was a lot gold. While still standing in the side aisle I tried to listen in on the Mass to recognize the prayers, though it seemed my Italian wasn’t up to par. I moved on to the nave of the basilica just in time to see a part of the service I recognized, the extending of the sign of peace. In a moment of silence the priest blessed the Eucharist and I watched the people line up to receive the body and blood of Christ. Emma kept walking up to me and asking what was happening during the service, which I thought was funny because I was by no means the expert. It did make me think thought back to the last time I went to Mass. I went with my grandmother and it was a rather similar experience since I didn't understand anything then either; it was a Hispanic church and the whole service was in Spanish. Someone sitting in the pew’s phone then went off just as the service was ending. The bells began to ring and I could hear them coming from this church and nearby churches. Tourists shuffling out tired of watching the mass creaked open the old wooden doors to the church.

I walked to the other aisle now that the Mass was over and light a candle for grandma like I always do when I’m in a church. I noticed a statue covered in in notes next to the candle stand and wondered what it was. The paper slips were for prayers, as the blank slips leftover said “preghiera” on them. The statue was a monk holding a baby Jesus, but there was no additional signage indicating why people left prayers here specifically. As I walked around the church I noticed a number of popes like Pope Innocent II buried there. In the rear chapel there was a worn icon of the Madonna and Child and it made me think of the Achiropita, where the bottom of the painting was worn away and all that was left was the canvas. The rest of the group started to head out so I turned away from the painting and followed them back out into the piazza.

(Santa Maria in Trastevere 5/29/19)

Voyeur 2

She was sitting on the edge of the fountain looking at her phone. It was her one brief moment of respite in a busy morning. It was not only Sunday, but also Republic Day. They went to church earlier in the morning and in two hours they were to head over to her parent’s house for lunch. She had brought her daughter’s stroller, filled with toys, next to her and her husband so they could keep an eye on it while her daughter played. Looking up she saw her daughter standing next to her little pink bike in the middle of the piazza crying with her helmet on the ground. She quickly got up and hurried over to her to see what was the matter. It seemed her helmet had come off and she couldn’t figure out how to get it back on. After her daughter stopped crying and gets back up on her bike she looked around to find where her husband had been this whole time and he was still sitting by the stroller on his phone, not even realizing she had been gone this whole time. Deciding her daughter was done with the bike for a while she picked her up and brought her back over to her husband and the stroller, grabbing out a toy picnic basket and doll, both in the same shade of pink as the bike, and walking back over to a shaded green space across from the fountain. She sat her daughter down with her toys and then took her own seat next to her on the curb, once again pulling out her phone.

(Piazza Cavour 6/2/19)