Assisi!

01/23/09
Day Trip to Assissi
Today we all went to Assisi! The men of the group and I woke up early to make our way towards the bus at the Trestevere. Remarkably the guys got there first. Spirits were high and with smiles on our faces we left the city towards Assisi. After about two hours on the bus we finally arrived at the bottom of the hills in Assisi minor.
The first church we saw was the church of Santa Maria degli Angeli. The church was built between 1569 and 1679 and encloses a smaller church inside, the Porziuncola. It was all very fascinating as the Porziuncola is the most sacred place for Franciscans.


Upon leaving the church we rode the bus up the hill to the actual town of Assisi. We saw another Franciscan church and then we broke for lunch. I had a very pleasant lunch with Julia, Nicolette, Shannon, and Lia. It was rather pricey, but I was only in Assisi for so long and so I wanted something authentic. We were served a full course of bruschetta with oranges followed by spinach and cheese ravioli and then a delicious pork dish with an olive dressing.

After lunch we saw another church. The Basilica de San Francesco d’Assisi was actually two churches within the same structure. The bottom church has frescoes from the late medieval artists Cimabue and Ghiotto. The upper church has frescoes depicting the life of St. Francis.

After seeing the churches we made our way back down to the bus. Two hours later we were back in Rome. It was a great trip. My favorite part must have been the Porziuncola. It is not a very large structure but I felt that it was the most important part by far in the church of Santa Maria degli Angeli.

Thursday 22, January 2009

Thursday 22, January 2009

By: Julia Cramer


Italian Class/Saint Francis/Reconstituted Fish

(Group Pic of our Italian Class)

The day started out fairly nice with breaks of sunshine. We’re all ready for some blue skies and a break from the rain. Before heading off to Italian class I decided to stop by Café Biscione to dabble a bit in the language with some locals, not to mention suck down un cappuccino e cornetto con nutella. Va Bene!

Our class is getting into the rhythm of things over at ItaliaIdea. After correcting our homework, the always enthusiastic Paola decided to switch things up a bit. Pairing the class up into partners of two, Paola instructed us on how to play a racing game in which one partner ran in and out of the classroom, while the other partner awaited the relayed message. It was a bit stressful but fun none the less. Cami and I came in last (Sorry Cami). Stacie and Shannon totally rocked in first place! After our shenanigans Paola decided it was time to get to work. We spent the rest of the class learning about direct and indirect articles, and enjoying the entertaining show that is Paola.

(Shannon & Stacie won 1st place and share their major award)

(Paola: Punto! Punto! Me: ummm I don't understand what you're saying.)

After Italian class was over the group split up. I can’t speak for everyone but I’m sure much of the after noon was spent reading about the life of Saint Francis. Since the sun was still shining I decided to sit outside Café Biscione to do our readings and drink some more coffee, but unfortunately this didn’t last due to the wacky weather of Rome. After moving indoors the rest of the day was spent doing homework because there was no history class scheduled for the afternoon.

I find that while in Italy I look forward to dinner almost as much as the sights, and tonight I was as excited as ever. Nicolette, Shannon, and I decided to walk the side streets off of Campo di Fiori in search of food. Hmm, should we have pasta and a little wine? Maybe some pizza and gelato? No! Tonight was the night to try a traditional Roman staple. Reconstituted Fish, other wise known as Bacala. Although this may sound a bit unappetizing it was nothing more than fish and chips, minus the chips. The meal was basic, but good none the less and a funny experience.

(Hmm Hmm, reconstituted fish, eat up shannon!)

Allora! Although there were no walking tours scheduled for today, our Thursday was still filled with memorable experiences. Everyday spent in Rome is a day not to be forgotten!

Ciao!

New Beginnings

After a rousing and inspiring speech from the forty-fourth President of the United States, Barack Obama, many in the program went out last night to celebrate the change in our government and the hope of better days ahead in our country. This morning at nine o’clock sharp, we met at the portone possessing two bus tickets for our journey to the Catacombs of Priscilla. The bus ride took us outside the city walls to the entrance of the catacombs, about forty minutes away from the Rome Center.

Once we arrived at the cloister which leads down into the catacombs, we listened to a presentation from Jess about the history of the catacombs and amongst other things burial practices of early Christians. Jess’ presentation was well prepared and provided a good overview of what we would be seeing during our journey into the depths of the catacombs. As soon as Jess concluded her presentation, we were met by a gentleman who helped us navigate and provided additional information about the catacombs. During the tour, we were privileged to be accompanied by two nuns who were given the tour in Italian simultaneously as we heard it in English.

Italian and Obama- Cami Jared

Today we had our third Italian class. While our first couple were pretty stressful, we're all starting to get used to trying to figure out what Paola expects us to do. After correcting our homework, we spent our two hour class practicing ordering off of menus and memorizing food words. Yum. I am starting to get a lot more comfortable with interacting in Italian which is a major improvement from when I first arrived.

(A picture of our Italian classroom)

After a short lunch break we headed back to class, this time with Mary to learn about the Franciscans and Dominicans. We had some pretty intense readings about the life of St Francis, but it seems like we all have a pretty good handle on what his life was about and what he stood for. There was a short discussion about the Catharism in Orvieto and then we jumped right into St. Francis and his founding of a monastic movement. Mary also showed us some slides with paintings by Giotto and we learned about Peter Martyr for the first time. He is always depicted with an axe in his head...gross.

(Peter Martyr and his typical depiction)

The UW Rome Center put together an inaguration party tonight. They streamed it live over the internet on a huge screen and invited people to bring food pot-luck style. The event officially started at 5:30 but students started arriving as early as 1 hour early to get good seats. I would say that almost everyone from the University was there, including the faculty members. Everyone was in high spirits, many were dressed in red, white and blue, and everyone came ready to watch as our 44th president got sworn into office. When President Obama finally took the stage to take his oath, the crowded room errupted in cheers and clapping. Another major highlight was the ending convocation which made many laugh with phrases like, "the red man will get ahead man" and "the yellow man will be mellow". Interesting. Many of my classmates were inspired by Obama's speech and American patriotism was running thick. It was quite the celebration.

(President Barack Obama)

Overall, it was another great day in ROME!

The Long Walk Through Antiquity- Jenna Madeja

The idea of our outing today was to walk though various sites that were important during ancient times. We began at the Palazzo Pio- which is also the site of the ancient Theatre of Pompeii. From there our first stop was at the current College of American Studies which is housed in the Palazzo Mattei in the Jewish Ghetto. What was particularly interesting about this stop were the statues placed along the courtyard that juxtaposed idealized athletic bodies with the clearly out-of-place heads of first and second century emperors such as Nero and Trajan.

courtyard of Palazzo Mattei

From here we cut through the ruins surrounding the Theatre of Marcellus, which is also accompanied by the ruins of two temples that stood in the area. The most complete temple is called the Porta de Octavia, and served for a long time as one of the few gates to the Jewish Ghetto, hence the name of Porta. The other temple was the Temple of Apollo. From here we turned our attention to the Theatre of Marcellus which was begun by Caesar but completed by Augustus in 13 CE.

Theatre of Marcellus (left) with reconstructed Temple of Apollo (right)

There are many interesting facts associated with this site - it was dedicated to Marcellus who was once the heir to Augustus, but Augustus outlived him. Moreover, the styling is interesting in that it differs from Greek stadiums- which were typically built into a hillside, while the Theatre of Marcellus is completely freestanding - making it a model for the Coliseum which was built less than a century after. In modern times, the Theatre of Marcelius has been converted to upscale apartments for a select few lucky Romans. From here we carried on to a site that was formerly the site of three ancient temples but currently houses the church of San Niccolo en Carciere. From the side of the building one can see the ruins of the temples, showing how when early Chrisitan churches were built they often incorporated the old foundations of ancient builings into their new constructions. From this site we attempted to immerse ourselves in the ancient geography as Lisa explained that the side of the church that faced the Tiber served as the main port on the river while the other side was home to the Forum Holitarium, aka the vegetable market. We also learned that most of the excavations in the area can be credited to Mussolini and his program of repristination that attempted to tie the destiny of Facist Rome to the greatness of Ancient Rome. We then carried on to the temples of Portunus(god of the port) and Hercules (god of cattle) - adajcent to the former site of the Forum Borarium, or cattle market. From here we crossed the street to the church of Santa Maria en Cosmedin - the site of the Boca Della Verita, the famous carving that is rumored to cut of the fingers of anyone who puts his hand inside the mouth and tells a lie.

Cami and Shannon braving the Boca Della Verita

It is also rumored that in the Middle Ages someone was placed behind the carving and would occasionally cut off an unlucky believer's fingers simply to keep the myth alive. Truly a tourist trap if there ever was one! Besides the Boca, Santa Maria also boasts an intact 13th century tower - a site rare to see in Rome today. We continued our walk as we scaled the Aventine hill - Remus's chosen founding site of the city- where we vistied the Church of Santa Sabina which was built in the fifth century and houses a set of wooden doors that supposedly depict one of the first representations of the crucifixion. We then visted the orange grove nextdoor that has an amazing view of the city, including St. Peter's, the Synagogue, and the Victor Emmanuel Monument.

views from Santa Sabina on the Aventine Hill-Top: Tiber and Synagogue Bottom: St. Peter's

We completed our walk by dropping down from the Aventine to the neighborhood of Testacchio which is home to a large market with a great selection of produce, as well as various local treats.