A report on my last Roman Tour--

[daeva_neesan]

I'm sorry if I failed to keep you guys updated, but I went for another Roman trip the past 21st!
I was a bit caught up with webcomics updates and xmas pics, so I couldn't focus on it at the time, but now, after all the celebrations and stuff, I think I can find a minute for a tiny yet proper report ;3;
Unfortunately there aren't many pictures here... Both me and Teap were kinda lazy about it, and during the most of time it was just impossible to take pictures, as I'll tell you later-- But let's start from the beginning.

So, the task was checking out a living nativity scene set in the popular Trastevere's rione.
Since the event was for 7 pm, I decided to profit to fill the afternoon with a visit to Galleria Borghese, that I never managed to visit before (together with many other things, but I'll take care of that too, I swear!)... Me and Teap were also expected to go to 00100 for lunch, an original pizzeria in Testaccio's rione, but guess what, the place was going under some technical difficulties and it was closed 'til 3 pm. Apparently me and Teap can't go to these places together :/ It's fate!

So, after we had some quick lunch in a very sad place near to Pantheon, we rushed to Villa Borghese, making sure to get a bus that would lead us close to the museum without getting lost in its huge gardens... Obviously we got off at the wrong stop, walking extra kms to reach the museum, but that was quite an obvious expectation...

Well, I don't think I can express my awe properly.
If you checked the link to Wikipedia of the place that I provided at the beginning of this post you could get an idea, though.
I wasn't just impressed by the obviously breathtaking collection of artworks and statues, but the whole place left me-- IMPRESSED.

Of course I couldn't take pictures inside, so I can't show you how refined and lovely each room itself was but I think that my words of surprise and charm should give you an idea.
Of course, that was the private collection of the time's nephew of the Pope himself (an the Pope back then was a proper King, far from today's role of a mere religious diplomatic), you would expect both luxury and grandeur but still-- t was quite refined and tasteless at the same time. It made me think of a Huysman's novel, if you know what I mean.

Speaking of the works of art, I was extremely glad to meet my favourite Caravaggio once again (I bought quite a pricey book about him in the museum's shop) and it was great to meet with Bernini's masterpieces, stuff that I only saw on books before, and that I could now admire with my very own eyes.
Me and Teap hesitated a bit over the copy of the Hermaphroditus. --As the moron I am, I was expecting an "actual" hermaphrodite, not the mythical figure, so I got a bit pissed by the presence of boobs. I'm hopeless XD

If you wanna take a peek to the various rooms that fill the two floors of the museum, you could try to check this website out.
The navigation to the various "Sala" is on the left menu, to check them all click on the "Pianoterra" and "Primo piano" floors' links. The website is in Italian only and the pictures are tiny, but at least you'd get an idea of the place ^_^

We stayed in the museum MUCH MORE than the required 2 hours, and once we got out we started to find our way to Trastevere for the nativity scene.

Now, I tried to take pictures but they sucked (you see an example above) because my shitty camera wasn't done for tasks like "nocturnal pictures".
For your visual joy, though, I managed to find pictures of the event on this website. There's a bothering watermark over them, but at least you can see something.
I'll use some of them on this post, but you can watch the rest over there :3

The event was located in Piazza Trilussa by Ponte Sisto's fountain, and the show started next to the poet's statue, with an actor playing as him, reciting some of his most popular religious, yet caustic, poems:
Me and Teap noted immediately that the guy looked much more like a young Caravaggio than our beloved mister Salustri but we didn't complain much (a Caravaggio was fine too, also if listening to a Caravaggio speaking in Roman dialect was some kind of cultural shock, LOL).

All the rione took part in the event: shepherds and Co. were played by the shop/restaurant owners of the rione, the kids were dressed like angels, and of course there was the partecipation of the various churches and youth associations there-- A popular violinist played as quite a plebeian angel entertaining the sacred family... It was so picturesque!
And here's a nice shot of the Sacred Family lovingly placed under the fountain-- It was a really lovely setting.
--It was also fun looking at the Roman traffic stopped by the police to let the parade through the square from the bridge x'DDD I wonder what the drivers thought when they saw the camels of the Magi parading on the street x'D

It was a fun event! Too bad that there were too many people, it was cold and our feet were on the verge of exploding ;_;
Also, it was intriguing that they decided to do this on December 21st, as to celebrate Winter's solstice-- Kinda pagan-spirited, wasn't it..? THAT'S HOW AWESOME ROMAN CATHOLICISM IS.

--The day ended at the McDonald of Termini station were I had another limited edition sandwich of the McItaly brand, the Lombardo-- I like to think that it was a tribute to Caravaggio, who happened to be the protagonist of that day's tour XD

Comments

[amelia_seyroon]

Sounds like one awesome trip! :D

Yay, pics!

[daeva_neesan]

It's always an awesome trip∼ but I was so tired after it ;_;