Categories: Rome

Here's how to attend all three notable midnight Masses in Rome

 

Christmas Eve Masses
06 698 83 731; www.vatican.va
Go to the website to obtain tickets in advance for midnight Mass at St. Peter's.

With a bit of planning, and a little luck, it is possible to attend portions of three notable midnight Masses on a single Christmas Eve-one at St. Peter's, another at the Church of San Giovanni in Laterano, and yet another at San Clemente. You'll need a car or a motorino, a map of Rome, and familiarity with the route (this can be achieved by rehearsing the drive between Vatican City and the Lateran, and the Lateran and San Clemente).

It's necessary to buy tickets in advance for the midnight Mass at St. Peter's. Park on the east side of Vatican City to avoid driving all the way around it on your way to the Lateran. After you arrive at St. Peter's, try to stand in the back on the right behind the barrier that creates the aisle across the rear of the basilica. There you will be within a few feet of the procession and the Pope as they begin their march toward the altar. (There is speculation that sometimes the Vatican uses a stand-in for the real Pope. You might be able to confirm this for yourself by seeing the Pope perform the Stations of the Cross at the Colosseum at Easter.) This spot also provides for an easy exit, which you should make after you have seen enough (in any case, no later than shortly after the end of the procession has reached the altar and the Pope seems to be only about one inch tall). With a little luck you will arrive at the Lateran in time to see the procession of the living crêche from the baptistery to the church. If you are too late, don't miss the crêche tableau, which follows the Mass, with its live baby Jesus, little-girl angels, and a light show that might remind you of a late-1960s high school dance. On to San Clemente to catch the music at the end of that Mass-and perhaps a new appreciation for the elegance and modesty of medieval church architecture.

If you manage to successfully negotiate the entire agenda, you will have spent an evening contemplating incredible architectural and spiritual contrasts. You will also have the sense of accomplishment of having orches­trated a complicated itinerary that requires luck and a gut sense of timing. You might be left wondering on Christmas morning if fate, chance, or some other force had intervened to make your venture a success.

Don't forget, six days later on New Year's Eve, to eat a hearty portion of lentils to ensure your financial future and complete your Roman holiday.

Matthew Geller
Matthew Geller has produced numerous temporary public artworks in downtown New York City, as well as projects at Wave Hill, in the Bronx, and the Long Island Children’s Museum. He has received fellowships from the American Academy in Rome, the National Endowment for
the Arts, and the New York Foundation from the Arts, among others.

Via Giulia During the Christmas Season

 

If you travel to Rome during the Christmas season, I recommend a leisurely walk down the via Giulia. The via Giulia is a long, straight street built by Julius II at the beginning of the sixteenth century. During the Christmas season, decorative lights and piped-in holiday music provide the perfect backdrop for individual Nativity scenes displayed in every storefront window. There must be fifty or more of these crêche displays, so take your time. You can even begin or conclude your passeggiata with a nice dinner at the Taverna Giulia (Vicolo dell'Oro 23). By the end of the evening, you'll agree that this was a little bit of magic during a special time of year.

David LaPalombara is the director of the School of Art
and Professor of Art at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio. He previously spent an extended period in Italy as a Rome Prize Fellow and Fulbright Fellow.

High-water marks in Roman history - literally.

 

Latin Inscription

Anno Domini MCCCCXXII In Die Sancti Andree Crevit Aqua Tiberis Usque Ad Sumitatem Istius Lapidis Tempore Domini Martini Pape V Anno VI ("In the year of the Lord 1422 on the day of Saint Andrew [Nov. 30] the water of the Tiber rose as far as to the top of this stone, in the time of the Pope Martin V, his sixth year.")

The oldest of numerous such flood markers on the exterior wall of Santa Maria sopra Minerva.

Paul Pascal
Paul Pascal is Professor Emeritus of Classics at the University of Washington. In 1953 he began teaching at the University of Washington, where he specialized in Medieval Latin studies. He is a Fellow of the American Academy in Rome.

Sant'Ivo - the Most Sublime Church in Rome

 

Sant’Ivo alla Sapienza
1642–1660, Borromini
Corso del Rinascimento 40
06 68 64 987

The seeming simplicity of this beautiful white interior space illuminated from the lantern above is a joy to experience. The geometry of its star-shaped plan is revealed by its structure and evokes a passion for the art of architecture, as only great works like this can.

Richard Meier
The acclaimed architect Richard Meier designed The Getty Center and the Museum of Television & Radio in Los Angeles; the High Museum of Art in Atlanta; the Museum of Applied Art in Frankfurt; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Barcelona; the Ara Pacis Museum in Rome; and the Arp Museum in Rolandseck. He received the Pritzker Prize in 1984.

So many reasons to see this: the ins and outs of its undulating surfaces, the pure whiteness of its interior, the tactile sense of its sculpted surfaces, its moldings,
its strange curves. The way it forces your glance upward in a rush. The way in which the exterior of the cupola disappears in a flash of flame. The doorway to the exterior that announces “Jurisprudentia” is a sculpted rebus: one panel has a law book and a balance (jus) the other a snake looking at itself in a mirror (prudentia). Look at the snake reflection toothily smiling back—all sculpted in travertine.

Ingrid D. Rowland
Ingrid D. Rowland lives in Rome, where she is a professor at the University of Notre Dame School of Architecture and writes for both scholarly and general readers. Her books include The Culture of the High Renaissance, The Scarith of Scornello, and Giordano Bruno.

Note the fantastic, whimsical spiral lantern and the neighboring tiled roofs on the equally whimsical and exciting square of Sant’Eustachio.

Philip Pearlstein
Philip Pearlstein’s works are in major museum collections around the world, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, and the Whitney Museum of American Art. He is considered to be among the leading American realist painters of the second half of the twentieth century. He continues to paint and exhibit and is represented by Robert Miller Gallery in New York City.

It’s an intensely Baroque structure with very sculptural interior volumes. The spare white spaces clearly show
Borromini’s energetic formal inventiveness, held in tension by his rigorous geometry.

Martin Puryear
Martin Puryear’s sculpture is in the collections of many major American museums. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and the recipient of many awards, including a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship Award and a Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Grant.

Ristorante Tullio

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ristorante Tullio
via San Nicola da Tolentino 26
06 47 45 560; www.tullioristorante.it

As an architect, my secrets of Rome are often about buildings, but I want to share a restaurant-Tullio. Maybe because Tulli is in a funny part of the city, behind the Piazza Bernini, no one talks about it, but my husband and I go there whenever we're in Rome. The meal is always the same. Primo? Pasta with truffles. They shave them to cover the entire plate. Then, as baby lamb is not really available in the United States, you might want to try the abbacchio scottadito. If you dare, the Monte Bianco is the dessert of choice. It's one of those dishes that you can't believe anyone still makes, but you'll be glad Tullio does.

Wendy Evans Joseph
Wendy Evans Joseph is a founding partner of Cooper Joseph Studio in New York City. She is a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects and the American Academy in Rome.

Modern Rome - Part 2

 

MAXXI-Museo Nazionale delle Arti del XXI Secolo
2009, Zaha Hadid
via Guido Reni 4a
06 399 67 350; www.fondazionemaxxi.it

In recent years, two rich zones of cultural activity have developed on opposite sides of Rome's historical center, along via Flaminia to the north and via Ostiense to the south. The northern district, noted for the Fascist-era Foro Italico and the facilities built for the 1960 Olympics, has been enriched by the Auditorium Parco della Musica and Fondazione MAXXI. Zaha Hadid's breathtaking new building was inaugurated twice; first, in November 2009, empty of art, the building was "interpreted" by a contemporary dance company, allowing the public to admire the very dramatic, sinuous, commanding structure. In May 2010, a second opening presented the building installed with contemporary art, together with exhibitions dedicated to artists and architects of the twentieth century, and the public could more fully judge how this spectacular container works as a place to display something besides itself. For the most part, reactions have been favorable and Rome has been heralded internationally for the more prominent role it is likely to occupy in the contemporary art scene. The rival municipal institution MACRO will further enrich Rome's contemporary art presence.

Jeffrey Blanchard
Jeffrey Blanchard won the Rome Prize from the American Academy in Rome in 1977. He has lived in Rome ever since, teaching in the world of American studies abroad, principally (since 1988) for Cornell in Rome, where he is Academic Coordinator.

La Pigna

 

La Pigna
Piazza della Pigna 54
06 67 85 555

Set in a quiet, secluded piazza just off the Pantheon, La Pigna has been a neighborhood institution for decades, with wonderful service and an extensive menu featuring some exclusives, like polpette di verdura (vegetable "meatballs") and pasta with sea bream and wild fennel. Seasonal delicacies include ovoli mushrooms and wild asparagus, and don't miss the sarde a beccafico (stuffed sardines).

Ingrid D. Rowland
Ingrid D. Rowland lives in Rome, where she is a professor at the University of Notre Dame School of Architecture and writes for both scholarly and general readers. Her books include The Culture of the High Renaissance, The Scarith of Scornello, and Giordano Bruno.

Tiber Island (Isola Tiberina)

 

 

 

Tiber Island (Isola Tiberina)

Tiber Island's formation and development is shrouded in Roman myth and legend. In 293 B.C.E. it became the site of a sanctuary to Asklepios, the Greek god of healing, whose importation by boat from Epidaurus to Rome is related by Ovid. The island is now dominated by the Hospital of the Fatebenefratelli and by the church of San Bartolomeo (within which is a twelfth-century wellhead). Its bridges are ancient-the Pons Fabricius, dating from 62 B.C.E., is the oldest surviving bridge in Rome. You can descend a flight of steps near the hospital and walk the circumference of the island at river's edge. Still visible are traces of the ancient travertine façade, curved to resem­ble a boat, and featuring a bust and the snake-entwined staff of thegod. The decoration played on the natural boat-like shape of the island to recall the sea voyage of Asklepios to Rome.

Margaret A. Brucia
A 1992 Fellow at the American Academy in Rome in the field
of post-classical/ humanistic studies, Margaret A. Brucia currently teaches in the Classics Department at Temple University's Rome campus.

 

The coffee at Sant'Eustachio is unbelievable but go to Tazza d'Oro for the granita di caffè

 

 

Tazza d'Oro Caffè
via degli Orfani 84
06 67 89 792; www.tazzadorocoffeeshop.com

Near the Pantheon, just to the left of the McDonald's, is the Tazza d'Oro. It's a very popular coffee bar, but I wait
in line for the granita: sweetened, crystalized espresso layered with whipped cream and served in a plastic cup with a spoon. In the middle of a day of church hopping, this is a great way to get a second wind. The delicious combination of sugar and caffeine immediately puts me in a good mood and reminds me that I am exploring a marvelous city. When I asked my eighty-six-year-old mother what she most enjoyed at the end of a very full week of sightseeing, she said, "I loved it all-but especially the granita."

George Stoll
George Stoll is a sculptor who has been showing internationally since 1994. His work is in the permanent collections of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles and the Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, among others. He is a Fellow of the American Academy in Rome.

Most people's least favorite work by Michelangelo but worth another look.

Risen Christ
Santa Maria sopra Minerva
Piazza della Minerva
1514-1521, Michelangelo

Most people's least favorite work by Michelangelo. But
in the gloom of the Dominican Church of Rome, this marble paean to the human body, to classical antiquity, and to Christian faith speaks eloquently and majestically to those who will look with patience and love. It is unnerving to see Christ nude, but it is also fitting and decorous. He has risen from the dead; his flesh proclaims the triumph of the Resurrection.

William E. Wallace
William E. Wallace is the Barbara Murphy Bryant Distinguished Professor of Art History at Washington University in St. Louis. He has published extensively on Renaissance art and is an internationally recognized authority on Michelangelo.