Monday
A very early start was the order of the day as nearly half of the group met at the school at 3.45AM to take a coach to Manchester to board the 7AM flight to Rome the rest of the cohort flying from Liverpool at a slightly later time.
On arrival the afternoon was left free for all to visit the more recognised sites such as the Colosseum, the Pantheon, the Spanish Steps and the Trevi Fountain.
Tuesday
After meeting in the piazza of Santa Maria Maggiore (Carlo Maderno 1614), the students went inside the basilica itself, Following, this we met in the second piazza at the rear of the building. This enabled a clear view of one of the city’s vistas that is characteristic of the urban plan that links church piazza’s, to one another in this case the above vista that was clearly visible, culminating in the façade of Santa Susanna (Carlo Maderno 1602).
We proceeded in the sunshine with the aim of visiting a dozen Baroque and Mannerist churches throughout the city these included the highlights of Santa Maria della Vittoria (Carlo Maderno 1626) and it’s Cornaro Chapel that is the setting for the sculptural masterpiece of The Ecstasy of St. Teresa by Bernini,
Other highlights were the church of San Carlo alla Quattro Fontana (Francisco Borromini 1641), Piazza Quirinale, Trajan’s Market, Il Campidoglio, Il Gesu (Giacomo Vignola 1580), Piazza Navona culminating in the exquisite backstreet church of Santa Maria della Pace (Pietro Da Cortona 1667).
Wednesday
Constituted more of a walking day that began with the University church of San’Ivo della Sapienza (Francisco Borromini 1660) followed by a walk via the Tiber into Trastevere for a leisurely lunch with those working in the area, at a typical Trastevere Trattoria.
After lunch we all hauled ourselves up the hill to Il Tempietto (Donato Bramante 1510) the location of the crucifixion of St Peter. A little further to the peak of Gianicolo, this location afforded a fantastic view over the entire city and an idylic backdrop for numerous selfies. Following this we all decanted to a typical Trastevere bar, for beer and cocktails to mark the end of another busy day.
Thursday
The final day of formal activities began at the set piece of the Piazza del Popolo followed by a short walk to Stadio Flaminio (Pier Luigi Nervi 1957) and the Palazetto dello Sport (Pier Luigi Nervi 1959) the latter a sports hall for the 1960 Rome Olympics. The more contemporary buildings of the Parco della Musica (Renzo Piano 2000) this time not visited during the recently established Rome Film Festival hence no George Clooney this time around. Finally, a group photograph outside MAXXI (Zaha Hadid 2009) a museum and exhibition building with an added bonus of a fantastic Alvar Aalto exhibition of the original drawings of buildings including Villa Mairea and the Saynatsalo Town Hall. Having investigated the interior of MAXXI the trip concluded with students, that all year had been tutored on minimising circulation space, looking at me quizzically whilst all shaking their heads (see attached photograph).
Gallery
Click to enlarge
