Momentary Blindness: Part Two ~En Rome~

The battle between the overpowering scent of pine in rain and the subtle strength of blossoming oranges was the first thing to greet me as I settled down on the Aventine. These smells, both amplified by the moisture in the air, remained a constant through my time there making it easy to imagine being in a forest and not a city. The humidity and weight of the air brought me home to the swamp that is Washington in the summer making me feel at ease in this foreign space. However, the other things around me kept me grounded within the walls of Rome. Namely the sound. The distant sound of heavy traffic and blaring taxi horns. While around me the gravel enlarged each sound making the simple footsteps of the families let me know exactly where they were. The raking of the gravel provided an undertone to the wandering groups and families as children ran on the paths and adults strolled with their suitcases creating a hypnotic melody. However, incrementally I was torn from this peace as the strong gusts of cold air on the top of the hill rustled the trees and sent a startling cascade of water down upon me. The drops obscuring my ink, falling on my hand and head, and, most obtrusively, finding their way down my neck to glide down my back leaving a trail of cold that caused me to shiver. Still, each time I left this sensation I was greeted by Rome again in the form of the chattering Italian parents calling to each other and their children as a man I had previously noticed with a brown paper bag droned on and on shouting in an unidentified language.

Aventine Hill
5/27/19

Giornale: Part one ~en Roma~

               The journey to lake Bracciano was simpler than predicted, especially as I slept from the second, I sat on the train headed to the Italian countryside. Upon arrival we were greeted with a picture of rural Europe that perfectly matches all the stories I have in my head: a high hill, descending to a lake through a web of tightly packed streets all overlooked by a castle. The path down to this lake proved to be much trickier than expected as we found ourselves cut off by dead ends and distracted by gelato at almost every turn. However, after finally finding the via de lago, we began our decent. The road had nothing that resembled a sidewalk requiring a single file line half in the brush and half in the street for the twenty-minute walk. To avoid getting lost, once again we simply stuck to the main road, avoiding all the steep pathways shooting off the sides and were, finally, rewarded with the soft volcanic beach stretching before us. As we scampered to the beach, we all were forced to break briefly to find hiding places to change into our swimsuits and march into the water. The water that greeted us could be described as more numbing then refreshing. As soon as I dove in, I felt my body begin to go into shock and it was only after about five minutes of wading, or about as along as it took for me to stop feeling my legs, that the water was truly enjoyable. Standing out in the water the entire town sprawled on the hill in front of us with the castle dominating the scene, once again reminiscent of any post card I have ever seen.

               When we finally left the water, my legs were approaching blue and had never experienced a better feeling then pulling my snug pants back on. However, we were still faced with the extensive walk back up the hill to attempt and find a dinner. Starting our adventure moral was quite low until we found a short cut that reduced our journey by half. It was, alas, the steepest hill I had ever encountered. As we began Francis started her speaker and began to play my favorite song, I’m Just Snacking (by Gus Dapperton) this song made the walk all the more enjoyable as it turned into a dance party until we collapsed upon the final end of the hill. As we reentered the town the Piazza filled with restaurants was quickly found and we settled into a carafe of red wine and at least a few pounds of pasta to regain all we had lost in the cold. Following this delicious Italian meal, we wandered the streets of Bracciano and I felt swept into medieval times. The houses were packed in on top of one another with maybe a street out of ten being accessible by car. All the houses were centered around the two staples of a country town in Europe: The Castle and the Church. We raced around these tight and steep streets attempting to get the best vantage of the sunset, eventually all losing each other and experiencing the sun disappearing behind the mountains independently and silently.  

Ekphrasis: Part one ~en Roma~

The base of the bust perfectly captures the smooth rise of the man’s chest only interrupted by the indent of his throat and the ends of his breast trailing off to either side. Filling in the space behind him and rising up to cowl the back of his head is a hood of sorts, almost reminiscent of that of the pontifex maximus. His neck is narrow and straight seeming jut out of his body in perfect posture adding to the austere nature of this statue. His chin is speckled with wrinkles and pot marks showing him to have lived a long life, but also softening his features as his chin curves rather than coming to a point. His mouth is held in an eternal frown that is only accented by the marks on his face indicating this as a usual gesture. His lips pressed tight, indicate that only the most thought of and meaningful words could ever escape their grasp. Sitting upon these lips are his uneven frown marks and a mole on his left side further adding to the seriousness of this man and his concern with who he is, not what he looks like. His age can be further cemented through the hollowed cheeks demonstrating that even in old age he is not one to overeat or drink and is a frugal man.  His proud nose juts like a mountain ridge dominating his face and ending in a crevice of wrinkles between his hard-set eyebrows. Any room for interpretation given by his unmarked eyes is quickly taken away by the hard lines both above and to the side of them defining his expression as a Stern and severe one. The most curious thing that I noticed in the severity and detail of lines in this image is that, even with his stern expression and many wrinkles of seriousness, just below his eyes and above his mouth you see wrinkles caused by many a smile and laugh.

Peter Maeder

As I entered the Basilica of St. Peter, I was followed closely by a man with closely cropped and sunglasses, I could tell his experience would be one of greater significance than mine as he was wearing vestments of a priest. As we entered the Basilica, he quickly took off his glasses and gazed about in awe proceeding directly to the cherubic fountains containing holy water. After blessing himself his journey around the Basilica continued, with the air filled with choral hymns as he gazed up each column basking in the hundreds of years of Christian iconography they represented. As he walked further and further in towards the mass that was underway, he was joined by a small group of people and as they all began to speak it was clear he had led a part of his parish here on a pilgrimage. The way this group interacted with the basilica was truly beautiful, stopping at each relic, gazing lovingly at each work of art, they seemed to be in complete and total awe of this space of Christianity. The further they went in the more apparent to me it became that they, unlike me, were not here to enjoy the history of the place, or the skill of the art, but to see and experience the heart of Catholicism. To see and feel the place where so much of their faith is derived from, to progress beyond their normal level of worship into something more. I was almost jealous of the meaning they derived from St. Peters, the pure faith that drove them, and especially their priest, to gain a life-changing experience from seeing this holy place.

Basilica of St. Peters
5/23/19

Momentary Blindness Part one: ~en Roma~

The loss of sight in the Piazza Navona was almost a welcome gift. In prime tourist hour the open space felt like being lost upon a tumultuous ocean of stimulation that I could finally pull apart sitting on the curb in front of the Basilica of St. Agnes closing my eyes.

               As I descended into a self-imposed darkness the noise the sounds and smells gained a new significance in how I pieced together the Piazza. The first thing I noticed was the echoing of the many languages coming from all around me, because I did not understand much of what was said they seemed to join the sound of the water cascading from the Fountain of four rivers just behind me. However, as they became apart of the background some phrases and conversations in English would jump out at me as they were the few things that I could understand. Joining the chorus of the background noise in the Piazza, the sounds of screeching birds as they hunted for the scraps left by tourists seemed to accompany, and be nearly indistinguishable from, the sounds of crying babes being faced with long days around the city. To finalize this mass of noise that all seemed to belong together the long blasts of car horns echoed throughout the Piazza only being matched in volume and sporadicness by the echoing cries of vendors pushing their wares on the hordes of tourists.

               The smell of Navona seemed to be one unique, perhaps not to the Piazza, but to Rome. The ever-pervasive smell of the many people smoking seemed to create a base scent that was complimented, in a surprisingly enjoyable manner, by the sweet smells of Gelato and finely prepared foods. This smell seemed to be held in place from the moist air that was created from the three fountains creating a musk of the Piazza. The only difficulty I faced at all in enjoying the different senses of the Piazza was from myself. As I attempted to let them engulf me my sense of feeling also purveyed through my body: my sore legs against the hard concrete, the blisters on my feet that seemed to not be able to settle, and the sun complementing my lethargy in a way that made the pavement to be the most comfortable day bed I had ever experienced.

Piazza Navona: May 21^st at 3:00 PM.