we started the morning off visiting santi cosma e damiano, a church dedicated in 527 to two martyred brothers. the church boasts some of the most beautiful medieval mosaics in rome and was a true splendor to see in person.
apse mosaic and baldecchino from santi cosma e damiano
after that we visited san clemente, my favorite church so far. it is actually a church built on top of an older church built on top of ancient roman apartments built on top of an ancient roman mithraic temple...an art history lovers dream come true? i think yes. so many layers (literally and figuratively speaking - sorry, i had to go there).
apse and baldecchino from san clemente
my favorite part, aside from the exquisite mosaics and porphyry columns and layers of history, was a fresco cycle of st. catherine's life that is hypothesized to have been done (at least in part) by masaccio, an incredibly important figure in the story of art (look at this, my favorite of his, the expulsion from paradise, the expression, color - amazing:
after visiting the churches, brianna and i stopped into the most amazing purse store with incredible italian leather bags (mom, you would have had a heart attack). i didn't actually buy one there but brianna got a great backpack-style bag that she has worn everyday since. after spending about 45 minutes there being indecisive (as always), we actually SAT DOWN in a great little italian bar for a lunch of delicious panini and cannoli :) we studied there for a little bit then went to an amazing collection of exhibits at the Palazzo dell'Esposizione (unfortunately we didn't have enough time to see the whole palazzo and i will have to go back soon). they had an unprecedented collection of giorgio de chirico's work and i urge you to take some time to look at his work; you can start here:
we then ran to class at an irish pub (yeah you can do that in summer school) and after that i went shopping in some stores near our school with a group of girls from the program. overall it was a nice, cool day but i still came home exhausted...
we then ran to class at an irish pub (yeah you can do that in summer school) and after that i went shopping in some stores near our school with a group of girls from the program. overall it was a nice, cool day but i still came home exhausted...
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