ROME: PANTHEON

Rome was the final stop on our Italian tour, and the one and a half days we were there was way too short a time for any sort of visit.  But that's all we had.

On our first afternoon we visited the Pantheon.  Built in 126 CE, it is perhaps the best preserved of all ancient Roman buildings.  It was fortunate that it has been in continuous use since its construction and has been a church since the 7th century CE.  So it was never cannibalized for later architectural projects.  It is architecturally amazing given its age and is in terrific condition.  Here is a frontal shot showing the pediment that tops a columned portico at the building's entrance.  Each of the columns is constructed from a single piece of granite.

Behind the portico is a beautifully preserved rotunda topped by a dome.  Not only is the rotunda in great condition, it is beautiful--and huge.  The interior of the dome is a hemisphere 142 feet across.  It is also 142 feet above the floor, so that if a sphere 142 feet in diameter could be placed in the Pantheon, its base would just rest on the building's floor.  

I wasn't sure how to photograph the interior.  Here is a wide-angled shot providing some perspective and scale.

I also photographed the dome straight up from the center of the floor.  Not too helpful, actually.  The center, known as an oculus, is open to the elements.

I tried a number of off-center shots of the dome, including one that I converted to a black & white to show off the dome's clean lines.

My favorite of these shots was the following, looking up from close to the dome's edge.

As indicated, the Pantheon has served as a church for the past 13 centuries and there were some of the usual religious trappings.

For me the Pantheon was an unexpected gem.  But it is obviously an important landmark as indicated by the following pennant that was fluttering above a nearby restaurant where we had lunch.

John

ZEPPELIN COOKING SCHOOL

Following our visit to Orvieto, our group traveled to the Zeppelin Cooking School on the Casa Segreta farm outside of the town.  It was great fun and included a terrific dinner.

Here first is our host, Chef Lorenzo Polegri, showing us around his vineyards.

And a closeup of some the fall harvest.

Back at the school, our host demonstrated how to make homemade pasta and invited a number of our group to try their hand at the process (which meant basically that they got to chop up some of the pasta that he had rolled out).  I considered myself fortunate to have been spared public participation in that lesson.

But the meal, which included the pasta that some of us chopped up plus much more, was terrific, and to top things off, we were treated to an evening rainbow.

John

ORVIETO: STREET SCENES

Orvieto was a delightful Umbrian town.  On the day of our visit it was filled with tourists but never seemed terribly crowded.   Here is a bust of the town father, Orvieto.

Because of the tourist activity, it seemed to have more than its share of retail shops, particularly ceramics.  Here are a few examples of those wares.

These ceramics were quite well done.  Here is a closeup of the above piece.  We wound up buying a ceramic spoonrest as a souvenir.

Scattered around town also were a number of mounted boars' heads (the town mascot?) and in one case a complete stuffed boar.  Here's a shot of Geri checking out the authenticity of one of the boars' heads.  Real, she said.

We also wandered down a street that included a number of examples of contemporary public art fabricated out of wood.  I thought the art was delightful--and perhaps a welcome change of pace from the high dose of Renaissance art that we had absorbed over the prior 10 days.  And I got a number of images, including the following.

Of course, this last was not one of those.  I think it was part of a sign for a dance studio.  Clever, I thought.

And then there were the standard images that I kept finding myself shooting wherever we went.

I found myself attracted to this last shot because of the sheen worn into the cobblestones of this pass-through.

John

ORVIETO: DUOMO

Orvieto's cathedral is stunning.  It is beautifully rendered architecturally on the interior and extremely ornate on the exterior.   There was one problem with the exterior: The front facade was under restoration.  Here is a shot of one corner of the facade looking up that shows some of the scaffolding for the restoration work.

So no shots of the full facade.  Instead, I focused on details, which were abundant, such as this mosaic in the gable over the left side portal.

Here are a couple of closeups from that mosaic.

There were a series of complex bas-relief sculptures across the front facade that depicted biblical stories.  Collectively, they are considered among the most important of 14th century sculptures.  Here, for example, is the Garden of Eden scene.

I have to say that these are perhaps the homeliest Adam and Eve that I have ever seen.   Check out Eve.  Not exactly feminine.

The only individual who seems happy in this tableau is the serpent.

And here is a scene from Revelation.

A lot more unhappiness.

Although the bronze main portal doors are modern in design, they are truly spectacular.

Here is a detail of the angel in the image above.

The remainder of the exterior is also outstanding, with its alternating black and white marble construction.

I liked that I included the parishioner in this image.  By the way, the complex pattern in the background is actually an exterior wall built around a flying buttress.

Then it was on to the interior.

Here, first, is a classic symmetrical shot from the back of the nave.

This photo makes two points.  First, the cathedral's cavernous nave is essentially empty--not even any seating.  Second, the architectural construction carries through the same black and white striping of the exterior.  Below is a shot of the ceiling over the sanctuary, just visible in the image above.

Here are a couple more wide angle shots of the interior.

Although the nave was only lightly decorated with artwork, one piece in particular caught my attention, a large, beautiful pieta sculpted by Ippolito Scalza in 1579.

  

Most of the artwork action occurs in the side chapels.  First, a ceiling shot in one of the chapels . . .

and a couple of detail shots of the walls . . . 

illustrating the phenomenal quality of this work.  Great use of perspective in this last shot.

One more image, of one of the windows, a combination of stained glass and translucent alabaster.

John

TODI

A visit to Todi, another town in the Umbrian hills, was not originally on our tour itinerary.  But Bettona, the tiny Umbrian hamlet we were staying in, seemed to have little to offer, so a visit to Todi was added to the tour.

Like many of its neighbors, Todi is situated on a hill.  It is surrounded by three sets of walls, the outermost built in Medieval times, the middle constructed by the Romans, and the innermost of Etruscan origins.  During our visit we toured a historical/archaeological museum not unlike the one we toured in Cortona, except the Todi museum was not as interesting (and neither was the somewhat inexperienced guide).

We also visited the local duomo, which was more interesting.  This cathedral, with its unadorned, humble qualities, was more in the tradition of the one we visited in Pienza than were the ones in, say, Siena or Orvieto that were over-the-top massive and ornate.  The Todi duomo didn't have a separate bell tower and its facade was devoid of sculptures or ornamental stonework.  I liked it for its simple elegance.

Following a fire, the current building was completed in 1190, though the central rose window was added in 1513.  Here is a shot of one of the side entrances.

The gothic interior was architecturally interesting, but again it was largely unadorned.  Here is a symmetrical shot from the rear of the nave.

And here is a photo of the distinctive crucifix extending above the sanctuary.

In addition to the central portion of the nave, there is a single aisle on the left side, which is typical.  However, what makes the architecture somewhat unusual is that there are two aisles on the right side. That feature is visible (sort of) in the following shot from the left rear corner of the nave.

And here is a photo of the inner of the two aisles on the right side, which leads up to the duomo's pipe organ.  Note that the supporting columns on left side are more massive than those on the right.

The rear of the duomo is graced with a giant fresco by Ferraù Faenzone under the great rose window,  depicting the Universal Judgment.

Here is a closer shot of that fresco.

Not a great shot but it was quite dark in the duomo's interior.

Here, finally, are a few more keeper shots that I took during our visit to Todi.

I liked this side "street" for its rusticity and archways, and I didn't mind the motor scooter parked along one wall.  However, that's my bride standing next to the scooter--too far away to be recognizable.  The following shots of our fellow travelers were a bit better composed.

I liked the table and chairs below for their simplicity.

And probably nothing needs to be said about the following sign.

John