Taxi to Maxxi, Santa Maria del Popolo, Trevi Fountin, and Il Colosseo

We did a lot today, so excuse the rushed tone of this. Our first stop was out of the centro for the first time to see the MAXXI, Zaha Hadid's new contemporary art museum. It doesn't open until May, but we wanted to take photos of the exterior. Plus, we had a humorous encounter with it four years ago. I'd read about it in a magazine, where they talked about how wonderful a building it was. (Note the tense; it's important.) When we got to Rome in late 2006, no one knew about this museum. After asking around, we finally found someone who knew where it was. We took a taxi out there and found a construction site. And by construction, I mean one Italian dude with a pail. Clearly this was not a museum that was open. I feel for that poor magazine editor, faced with a 3-month deadline and an assurance from a smooth representative of the Pritzker-winning starchitect. It's four years later and despite their slogan, "It's Not Quite Open." It does look gorgeous though. Next trip to Rome. We're there!

We told the taxi driver to wait. He looked at us like we were insane, but that's OK, because we are! Then he took us to Piazza del Popolo, architecture that has been around for a while. We stopped at perhaps my favorite church in Rome, Santa Maria del Popolo. Most everyone goes there for the Caravaggio paintings in the Cerasi Chapel, and who can blame them? They're gorgeous. "The Cruxifixion of St. Peter" is one of my favorites by that artist. The look on the old saint's face is heartbreaking, both pained and resigned at the same time. And Caravaggio plays his usual psychological games by having the men erecting the cross be simple workers, so it looks like they're just hired hands doing a job. "The Conversion of St. Paul" is another strong canvas. The stance of the horse is my favorite part of this painting, how it raises its right foreleg and looks down with concern over its fallen rider. The reality of both the movement and the tenderness of the horse is one that horse owners will understand. (And the composition of the horse is further strengthened by having St. Paul's companion's sturdy legs behind the horse, serving as "supports" for the animal. Both paintings have extreme foreshortening as they are on the sides of the chapel and meant to be viewed that way.

That's way too much description and they're not even my favorite paintings in the church. That honor belongs to a lovely Pinturicchio painting of the holy family, "Adoration of the Shepherds." I've included a bad representation here, but it's just a simple and lovely painting with lots of fine detail that you can both enjoy and ignore. Every time I go to Rome I fall in love with this painting again.

We walked back to the hotel via the Trevi Fountain. Ira loves this spot, despite the crush of tourists. His first trip to Rome he stayed in a hotel opposite. At the time, kind of down-market. I believe this was in 1959, so it must have been pretty special. It's still a lovely fountain. We've passed by it three times on this trip and we always stop to admire it (and to rest! We've walked a lot.)

I'm going to have to cut this short. It's getting late and we have our last day in Rome. A domani.