CATH 2100 - Italy Travel Study, May 2006 Photos


Tiber Island

The oldest human settlement in the Rome area was on the Tiber Island about 1000 BCE. Later, the island was the site of an ancient healing sanctuary of the god Asclepius. In the first century BCE, it’s ship-like shape was accentuated with concrete sides and an obelisk mast in its centre. Artifacts related to the Asclepion were found beneath St. Bartholomew’s church and a carved well inside the church may be from the healing shrine. There is still a hospital on the Tiber Island today.  The lone arch of Pons Aemilius (179 BCE), the oldest stone bridge across the Tiber, still stands in the river.



Church of St. Cecelia in Trastevere, Rome

Paolo Cardinal Sfodrati, titular priest of the church 1591-1618, re-opened St. Cecelia’s tomb in 1599 when the church was being rebuilt. Finding her body intact and incorrupt, he asked Stefano Maderno to make a sculpture of her.

Maderno examined her remains. His inscription (on the floor before the image) says: "Behold the body of the most holy virgin, Cecilia, whom I myself saw lying uncorrupt in her tomb. I have in this marble expressed for thee the same saint in the very same posture and body."   Maderno’s 1601 marble sculpture, stunningly original at the time, shows Cecilia lying on her right side with her head facing downwards and with a scarf over her hair. Both her arms are extended towards her knees and the fingers of the right hand are also extended. She looks as though she is peacefully asleep.


Changing of the Swiss Guards.

Ostia Antica: Port City of Ancient Rome

Built during the reign of emperor Octavian Augustus ((63 BCE-14CE), this was the one of the first buildings in Ostia to be excavated (100+ years ago), because its ruins were poking up above ground. It has been accurately restored. As you enter beneath an arch, look up to see the elegant stucco decorations on the ceiling. In ancient times, the theatre (much higher) held 2,500 people. Classical Greek plays are still performed here in July and August!

Ostia

Over the past two thousand years the mouth of the Tiber has silted up, pushing the coastline away from Ostia. It sure doesn’t look like a port city! Today, landlocked Ostia is quiet and peaceful. Thousands of umbrella pines making Ostia one of the greenest suburbs of Rome.

THE TREASURY OF SAN MARCO, VENICE

The highlight of the Museum, of course, is a close-up view of the original gilt bronze horses that were once on the outer gallery. The Venetians pillaged them after sacking Constantinople and when Napoleon (1769-1821) sacked Venice in 1797, he took them to Paris. They were returned after the fall of the French Empire, but came home "blind"—their big ruby eyes had been sold!