Completed in 1509, the villa is actually named for the Farnese family, who acquired it from the Chigis in 1577. It was since acquired by the Italian state, but still houses Chigi-collected sculptures and frescoes, created by several artists including Baldassare Peruzzi, Il Sodoma, and Raphael. Maggie gave us a tour of the villa's interior, explaining the decoration of each room, and the dynamic interaction visitors are intended to have with the artwork. All of the frescoed ceilings were particularly intriguing, including lively depictions of the twelve astrological signs, the myths of Galatea, Cupid, and Psyche, and some rather symbolically designed fruit.
After departing the Villa Farnesina, we headed to the Piazza Farnese, which is adjacent to the Campo de Fiori. There Molly gave a presentation on Madonelles in Rome. The Madonelles are outdoor wall-bound paintings or reliefs in honor of the Virgin Mary. Madonelles could be ordered by any common Roman person, and they were created on many buildings all throughout Rome. The Madonelles were said to be miraculous, and the church was quick to associate itself with them. Many of the Madonelles have been worn away by the weathering of time and the elements. Nonetheless, a significant number have been maintained to this day (we saw three around the Piazza Farnese), and they are still quite revered by the people in Rome.
With that, we concluded our last Art History class of the program. Everyone had the afternoon to do clean up, pack, or do some last-minute exploration. Many of the group prepared boxes of personal belongings and souvenirs to ship back to the US.
Mauna, David, Zinnia, and I (Bennett) went to Castel Sant'Angelo in the late afternoon. We'd previously been scheduled to visit the castel as part of a class session, but we'd just missed the operational hours. In any case, the castel houses a nice collection of paintings, sculptures, crosses, and various artifacts. They were nice to look at, but without Prof. Schultz to teach us, and being unable to read the Italian descriptions, we couldn't really learn about the context of each piece. No matter, we were anxious to see the view from the top of Castel Sant'Angelo.
And what a view it was. We had a spectacular, near-360° view of Rome. It was something to behold, and definitely worth the €8,50 price of admission.
In the evening, everyone reconvened for one last group dinner in Rome. We dined at Pierluigi - a very nice restaurant just about five minutes from the Campo. Our meal was impressively robust and quite filling. We began with bread and packaged breadsticks (it's amazing how many people like those breadsticks) and an appetizer of battered vegetables (much like tempura). The bread was average for Rome (which is in reality quite good), and the veggies were tasty (if not a bit unhealthy). Our first course was orecchiete pasta with cream sauce, which was rich and flavorful. We then had a second course of thinly-sliced steak with rosemary, arugula and grape tomatoes, with a side of rosemary-garlic roasted potato wedges. The steak was tender and juicy, and the potatoes were top-notch. Unfortunately, though, some people received meat a little more rare than they'd have preferred (we weren't asked our steak preference). The meal was finished with a generous portion of tiramisu. It was very sweet and rich, which pleased most everyone.
Besides the food, though, the highlight of the dinner was almost certainly the round-robin toast we had before eating. We went around the table (well, tables) sharing and reminiscing over our favorite moments from the trip. From all the learning (lots and lots of readings) to all the laughs (weird inside jokes and great personalities) to all the unforeseen events (missed train stops and brushes Vatican security) to all the football matches (yay World Cup!) to all the food (oh so much food...), it was really amazing for us to stop and consider just how much we've experienced and how far we've come in the past four weeks together. The immersion of studying, exploring, and living with each other has really created a familiarity in the group which extends beyond anything we would've had outside this program.
After dinner, we headed back to the Campo area for some group pictures. Thereafter, some of us went to the Trevi Fountain to see it at nighttime and take a few more pictures. One final gelato run in Italy, and we turned in for the night, ready for a new day, a new place, and a new adventure.
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