Palazzo Doria-Pamhili

It's really easy to miss the Palazzo Doria-Pamphili. It sits on an entire block on the Corso, but it's gray and somber and very nondescript from the exterior. That said, you enter from a beautiful courtyard, one of many, and walk through what they now use for parking, a lovely marble hall with niches and statues up a flight of stairs to the main level.

It's arguably the largest of Rome's privately owned palazzi and one of only five allowed a throne room and it has the added attraction of having it's own chapel with the mummified remains of the family saint.

A little red sign reminding you that this is private property.

Park in here!

The main landing on the piano nobile

Looking into the enfilade. Lose cameras all ye who enter here.

[From Palaces of Rome]

There are many rooms in this palazzo, all are grand and those pictured above surround the inner courtyard. There's the feeling of a place preserved in amber here. There's a very 1930's 'tea with Mussolini' living room and bed room, all dust and decay and the main rooms covered in plastic, yes PLASTIC, slipcovers on the ancient velvet doesn't help the tired feeling.

The palace was renovated in 1767 for the marriage of Andrae IV Doria-Pamphili and the Princess Leopolda Maria of Savoy. The collection is lovely but it's just screaming for a redo.....somehow this feels really old, but not in a good way. Worth a visit if you have the extra time. 

                                           http://www.dopart.it/roma/

The Vasari Corridor and a bit of the Uffizi

        There's going to be a very fancy wedding. All of your friends, heads of state are coming and you want to move about unencumbered....what to do? If you're Cosimo I de Medici you call your architect of choice Vasari and have him build you a corridor to get you from your home at the Pitti Palace to your office at the Uffzi.........has to be done, as Francesco is marrying Joanna of Austria.....and you never really know when you might need to make a quick exit from the city....did I mention we need to go through a few private houses....ok, lets do it...so construction of the Corridor began in 1564....oh, and did we mention that there's a time issue......has to be entirely completed within 6 months........the funny thing is that there was one character who didn't very much like Cosimo and wouldn't allow him to build thru his tower....the result...he built around it. You can see the triangular corbels as you walk across the Ponte to the Oltrano District, but far above from view you walk through the church of Santa Felicita in case you need a quick mass....


 The Ponte Vecchio with the Vasari Corridor running through and across it to the Pitti Palace

Primavera by Botticelli. Just one of the nice pictures Mr Medici collected. The Pitti Palace is not very well decorated tho....way to heavy.

The corridor which gives access to the rooms atop the Uffizi. This portion is open to the public and makes up part of the museum.

Spectacular dome encrusted in shells

The door to the hidden Corridor. You are escorted down by guards....this was a really private tour. We were 10 with the guide and the guard.

You descend down a flight of stairs. This was the section of the corridor which was damaged in the 70's during the mafia bombing.

The corridor itself is over a mile in length and works it's way through homes and businesses in the city.

It was used by Partisans during the 2nd world war to transport supplies. Eventhough Mussolini put in a set of windows to give Hitler the best view of the Arno.

Most people don't realize there's this hall running thru town.

The Uffizzi has the largest collection of artist's self portraits in the world. There are over 4000 of them some 700 of which hang throughout this long hall.

You could exit inside the Pitti Palace, if you were a Medici, but since we are not we had to exit thru the Boboli Gardens

The nondescript gray door on the left is the entrance from the garden.

This is really worth a visit as it's a pretty special tour, but it is very limited, only 6 times a day and only certain times of the year....and it may close at any time....so be sure to book when you visit the city.

What I'm Looking At Today: Ric Best's Italian Pictures

Ric has been doing some wonderfully layered pictures which I really love.

Sebastian No. 2

Plates

Untitled 

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The Papal Archbasilica of St John Lateran

Big, Big, Big Church with the Holiest Holies of Holies....Holier even than St Peter's! quick someone tell the tour guides!

This is the official Cathedral of the Bishop of Rome ie: the Pope's very own church. It's the oldest and most important of Rome's four Papal Basilicas. Traditionally the head of the French state, at this time Franciose Holland, is ex officio the first and only cannon of the basilica.

There is an inscription over the door indicating the church's dedication to 'Christ the Savior', all other catherdrals of all the patriarchs are dedicated to Christ himself, this along with it being the cathedral of the Bishop of Rome ranks this church above all others in the Catholic Church, including St Peters, hence the title of Archbasilica.........It's #1.

Although it and the various other buildings associated with it are outside Vatican City the Lateran Treaty, which answered 'the Roman question', gave it extraterritorial status as one of the properties of the Holy See.

There's an obelisk commissioned by Thutmoses III which stood in the Circus Maximus until it was moved to this site. The ochre colored building to the left is the Lateran Palace.

The front porch or the Loggia della Benedizione is actually situated to the side of the church

There are many classical references throughout the building. The church stands on the ancient Roman site of the imperial cavalry bodyguard of Septimus Severus. Constantine abolished the guard and destroyed the fort, there are substantial remains under the nave.

The gothic baldichino from 1369

The  apse echoes the ancient Roman palace and the triclinium of Pope Leo III who used it as the state banqueting hall. Although the it's not ancient some of the original mosaics in the cosmatesque style were reused.

Another view of the main altar's baldichino

Mid way thru the sets of piers and side chapels

This side chapel had a nice neoclassical father time

Thought the cutouts, tho theatrical were a little tacky

Every side chapel could be a major church in the US

The decorated ceiling dates from the middle ages

Another side chapel with a classical dome

This is looking at one of the chapels to the right of the altar from the first set of piers. The chapel beyond holds the treasury of this church, which was once called the 'church of gold'. The church was despoiled by the vandals but rebuilt in 460. We felt that if the items were that holy, they'd want everyone to see them for free.....so we didn't go to see them. Perhaps next time if we hit this church first and aren't over gilded.

The altar also has several popes buried beneath it

There are supposed relics of the cross and passion. 

Looking down the nave

The side door through which you exit. A gentle reminder of the power of the church.

Across the street is the Sancta Sanctorum which is a repository of relics since ancient times. Among the great treasure here are : the actual steps, brought to Rome by St Helena in the 4thc, that Jesus walked up to Pilate's house. You must ascend the 28 steps on your knees [side steps for those with bad knees]. Once you get to the top there are various reliquaries and beautiful mosaics....sadly, it was closed for lunch when we were there...... We actually found that most churches close for lunch....3 hours give or take.....we never got to see the head of John the Baptist or the finger of St Thomas [of doubting fame] or the pillar of the flagellation [ not at Sancta Sanctorum ].....some left  to see next time...

Loggia della Mercanzia

Greetings All,

Something different

Every day we are bombarded with news about banks being too big to fail or too involved in speculation and bubbles, but when we were in Siena a few weeks ago we came across a bank that seems to be a very stable institution......at least physically, The Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena established by the Magistrate of the city-state of Siena in 1472 predates the discovery of America and as such is the oldest surviving bank in the world.

MPS has various palazzi in Siena and holds a large number of priceless historical documents dating to it's foundation, sadly the collection is not open to the public. Their most recent publicly known acquisition of art is a gold plated panel by Segna di Bonaventura. While the headquarters is in Palazzo Salimeni this branch down the street is a bit more splashy. You can easily understand why banks have for the last 600+ years built themselves solid looking palazzi that give the air of permanence and stability.

Walking down the chic shopping street

The view from the loggia

Wonderful sculpture on the piers

The loggia with it's painted decoration and very long marble benches

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Looking up

One of two Renaissance benches

Detail of the piers

Benches

Armrests

Bronze doors

All that lovely space housing money money money, what better use for it than to make beauty.

And that's all I have.