FRIDAY, JUNE 9, 2000/ROME -- Our Roma sojourn has been action-packed thus far. Rather than write a long post, I've decided to create a photo album depicting the kind of stuff that Marti and I have been doing during our first week here.



Saturday was a national holiday commemorating the birth of the Republic.
The parade led off right near the flat, behind the Colosseum.



President Ciampi gave us a wave from the limo.


Marti and I went to see the Trevi fountain after midnight.



I joined the Gladiator Corps and it was curtains for Marti.




On Monday Marti and I went to see a fabulous exhibition
of 100 paintings from The Hermitage in Saint Petersburg.
Above is a Vallotton portrait; below is Camille Pissarro's
rendition of the Boulevard Montparnasse.






On Wednesday we went to the Palazzo Barberini
to see a lovely small exhibition of paintings and drawings
by Goya, another of Marti's and my favorite artists.
This is his self-portrait.



Also at the Barberini: Caravaggio's Narcissus.



Marti, outside the Barberini.



After a great lunch of stewed dandelion greens, grilled eggplant
and buffalo mozzarella, we strolled over to the Spanish Steps.
That's me checking out the pink house where Keats and Shelley once lived.
Can you tell I've just had lunch?



The throng of tourists at the Spanish Steps.



The Spanish Steps-Via Condotti shopping area leads into
the Campo Marzio, Caravaggio's stomping grounds 400 years ago.
Here Marti takes advantage of the neighborhood's
opportunities for window-shopping.



Our last destination on Wednesday afternoon was the Santa Maria del Popolo church,
where Caravaggio painted two magnificent altarpieces,
The Crucifixion of Saint Peter and The Conversion of Saint Paul.



The Crucifixion of Saint Peter.



The Conversion of Saint Paul.



Caravaggio was beaten out, however, for the position above the altar
by his rival Annibale Carraci, who painted this spectacular Assumption of The Virgin.



An added attraction at Santa Maria del Popolo
was this memorial to the composer Respighi,
a longtime favorite of mine.
I have a CD of his Fountains of Rome along on this trip.



On Wednesday night Marti and I went to the movies to see
Il Gladiatore starring Russell Crowe -- in Italian!
It was fun to go home afterwards to Ian's apartment by the Colosseum,
where much of the action in the film takes place.



Thursday was beach day. We took a bus 100 kilometers south of Rome
to the delightful seaside town of Sabaudia.
Through a wonderful stroke of luck Marti and I wound up lunching and swimming
at the swanky Le Dune hotel complex.
After a long walk from town (we had gotten lost for a while),
we tried to get lunch at the restaurant at Le Dune but it was 2:30
and the kitchen had stopped serving. As compensation we were invited to dine
at the seaside snack bar. These were very upscale snacks:
octopus/calamari salad and tomato/mozzarella/basil salad.
Afterwards we parked ourselves on chaise lounges under a beach umbrella,
then took a refreshing swim. Later the manager gave us ride back to town.
When I told him I wrote for a U. S. magazine he offered Marti and me
a discount anytime we wish to stay at his resort for a few days!






Today we're back on the Caravaggio Quest. Reportedly, there are five of them in a big exhibition of 17th-Century paintings that we're going to this afternoon.



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Email: phildemetrion@yahoo.com