Sunday, December 12
A panel from Federigo di Montefeltro's study; for more see this fascinating article on Wunderkammern.
Out of the depths of finals week, I offer a selection of my best posts from the last year-and-a-half, hoping to remember the joys of sunny Rome amid rumors of a coming snow storm here...
Adventures with Cardinal Pell - A two-parter: Sacra Purpura, in which Matt attends a Vatican consistory, with interruptions from a Polish brass band. And the sequel, An Evening with the Cardinal, in which he engages in an adventuresome round of ecclesiastical celebrity-watching with the Archbishop of Sydney and an Antipodean Catholic Nerd.
A Seacoast in Bohemia - Partying on St. Cyril's day at San Clemente with the Collegio Nepomuceno.
The Skull on Jumping Jack Flash’s Prie-Dieu - On winning an award: Vanitatis vanitatum, &c.
The Four Italian Poems - The Borromini Girl, A Psalm for the Sibyl, The Transfiguration of Apulia and The Chapel of Relics, Palermo Cathedral.
Waiting on the Via Crucis for a Green Light - The Scala Santa reconsidered.
Indiana Matt and the Catacomb of Doom - Subterranean adventures with a intoxicated nun (well, not really) in the moonscape of the Catacombs of Santa Priscilla.
A Bedtime Story for the Eve of St. George's Day - Damsels in distress, garnish, Action Man, and a rather practical princess.
Holy Week in Rome - in three parts: Long Shadows on Good Friday where Matt attends a Tenebrae service after an exhausting train trip from Taormina to Rome, Judas and Peter: A Morality Play and Lumen Christi, in which we visit St. Peter's for Easter Vigil and eat pancakes at eleven at night.
Raphael, Federigo and Vasari: Homes for Princes and Painters - A two-parter from our adventures in the old Papal Marches: With Batman and Borges in Urbino. From a megalomaniacal palace of courtly life and love to the humble beauty of Raphael's birthplace, and several tangential diversions on pop culture and Jorge Luis Borges's infinite library. At Home with Raphael and Vasari - How an artist should grow up, and how he should live, and how he should die. With a few frescoes in between.
A King at Home - The Piccola Farnesina, a most unusual palace; and the delights and shortcomings of urban living.
High Mass at San Gregorio - A sliver of heaven eaven beneath vaults of mannerist plasterwork.
The Descent of Mount Tabor - Matt's experiences going to confession at St. Peter's; and leaving the Eternal City.
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