I have to Learn?

Pops has told me that I should write about my classes here in Rome because I'm not just here to hang out for 4 months. So I've decided that you will learn what I'm learning as far as the interesting stuff goes.I had my first on site class yesterday, which means I had to find my own way to a place in Rome and meet my class there. Sounds simple right? Right. To be honest the hardest part was having to wake up at 7:45AM to be able to get there on time. That part was painful. Below is a view of Rome from a balcony.




"Architecture of Modern Italy" is the name of my on site class and they place we had to meet is called Piazza Campidoglio. It was designed by Michelangelo in 1538, but was not finished being constructed until 1650, and wasn't fully complete as far as Michelangelo's original design until the 1940's. It has sloping stairs that lead up to it, so that horses would easily be able to ascend it for parades and civic ceremonies (although that means in the rain it gets tricky to walk up and some American students wearing her beloved converse tend to slip- how embarrassing). The piazza was built on top of the ancient Roman temples of Jupiter and Minerva, and 3 statues from them were incorporated into the stairwell of the main Palazzo. The bronze statue of Marcus Aurelius stands in the center of the piazza, he would have been melted down for weaponry, but because back then the Romans thought it was Constantine, he was spared.

We walked around the city stopping a various ruins and then we go to a palazzo that houses the walkway that you see in the picture to the right. It was designed by Francesco Borromini, master of illusion. The patron wanted the place to look larger than it actually does and Borromini placed a series of columns that reduce in size. If you were to walk back to that statue you would see the columns at the end are no larger than 5 feet and the hall is less than 30 meters long. You would appear to be growing in size to the people watching you walk back, kind of like that scene in Willy Wonka where the door starts shrinking, but they think they're growing. Of course, no one is allowed back there,(see the chain?) so even Willy Wonka would probably get tackled before getting to the statue.

Now I know what you're thinking, "Modern Architecture?? But, Clara those things you just showed were built during the Renaissance! How is that Modern?" The answer is that architecture experts classify the Renaissance as Early Modern, so that the modern era began 400 odd years ago. You're Welcome.