Rome, Day Three

The following morning found us packing our things and taking them down to breakfast with us. At 8:15, we all met in the then-crowded lobby to walk in the direction of Ponte Garibaldi near where we were to meet an Alterini bus from Florence. After stowing our luggage and grabbing seats, we headed to the Borghese Gardens and Gallery. Visits there are strictly timed out for a mere two hours and our appointment was set to begin at 9. When we were allowed inside, we looked at and discussed a very large number of things in this small but impressive collection. The most impressive were the early works of Bernini, including his Pluto and Persephone, Apollo and Daphne, David, and Aeneas. I couldn’t remember having studied Pluto and Persephone but it was an incredible work. It looked like you could reach up to Persephone, touch her skin and it would be soft and warm. The Apollo and Daphne was also amazing. It illustrates the moment Daphne as begun to morph into a tree to escape Apollo. Her fingers and hair extend into little branches, her feet are growing roots, and her legs join and begin to grow bark. I was also excited to see the David, which had probably been my favorite rendering among the Davids (others by Verrocchio, Donatello, Michelangelo), although it does not have the psychological drama of Michelangelo’s.
Also in the Gallery were small works by Raphael including his Lady with a Unicorn, The Entombment (done for the funerary chapel of a young man who was killed in a vendetta after participating in the murder of two newlyweds on their wedding night), and a Fornarina.
When our two hours were up, the most annoying alarms began to sound while custodians ushered us out the exits. At this time, the most hilarious thing happened. We had been pointed through a room by one custodian and stopped and told to go back by another. Upon turning around, however, the first custodian asked us what we were doing and told us to go back. So, we were stuck between the two until we got the misunderstanding worked out and followed the original instructions.
We then had break time and an opportunity to peruse the gift shop. I ended up buying a necklace made as a reproduction of the one worn by the woman painted in Raphael’s Lady with a Unicorn. It will look nice with turtlenecks.
Soon after, we boarded the bus and headed out of Rome for Tivoli. Less than an hour later, we were disembarking and walking to the Villa d’Este. Here we looked through the frescoed rooms before heading into the real attraction: the gardens. They contain over 400 fountains! The setting is also incredible since the villa is built on top of a hill. On a clear day, you can make out Michelangelo’s dome as a bump on the horizon. It was a clear day, so Helen pointed it out to us.
We enjoyed the beautiful gardens and sounds and sights of water until it was time to break for lunch. A number of us went to the main piazza to order what we had been told would be some amazing pizza. It was. It was as if it had some sort of magical sauce in between the cheese and tomato sauce. I don’t know what it could have been but I would go back to Tivoli just to have that pizza again.
We met the bus and headed over to Hadrian’s Villa, just outside of Tivoli. It was the largest and most magnificent ancient Roman villa built for the Emperor Hadrian in 125-134 AD. Everything is, of course, in ruins and they are always uncovering new things. The place is also filled with olive orchards and umbrella pines. It was actually a very relaxing afternoon, wandering around and looking at structures the majority of which no one knows the intended function of. After over two hours there, we again boarded the bus and headed back to Florence (an over three hour drive), being dropped off at Piazza San Marco. As Lesley and I had no groceries waiting at home for dinner (and all of the stores were closed), we stopped and bought falafels before reaching our apartment.