Aimless wandering. No program. Just impressions and utter enjoyment!

The man above is carrying what?…a baby?! What?!

This signage seems woefully inadequate for the magnitude of the site!

Someday I must make time to visit this museum!

Random things. Pretty things. Classic things. You’ll see.

I had time. No one was bothering me. I followed every whim and loved every minute of this day!

It was the the first day that the heat wave shifted to more humane temperatures and I rushed to take advantage!

I’ll be posting about all these things I saw in more depth in a couple weeks! Come back!

Ci vediamo!

Just a little fresh mozzarella available here in a supermarket in southern Italy 🇮🇹!

Yes please!

Simple, easy, delightful monument to adore. And I do adore it!

The Mouth of Truth is an ancient Roman marble mask, which stands against the left wall of the portico of the Santa Maria in Cosmedin church, at the Piazza della Bocca della Verità, the site of the ancient Forum Boarium (the ancient cattle market). According to an enduring medieval legend, it will bite off the hand of any liar who places their hand in its mouth, or, alternatively, any who utters a lie while their hand is in the mouth. It still attracts many visitors who insert their hands.

I first learned of this delightful remnant of the ancient world from the movies! Roman Holiday with Audrey Hepburn. Without question, my favorite film of all time! If you can’t get to Rome to see the mysterious artifact, I am sure you can stream the film!

Goditi! Enjoy yourself!

Andrea Pozzo’s painted ceiling with trompe-l’œil architecture.

Pozzo, a Jesuit lay brother, painted the grandiose fresco that stretches across the ceiling of the nave around 1685. It celebrates the work of Saint Ignatius and the Society of Jesus in the world presenting the saint welcomed into paradise by Christ and the Virgin Mary and surrounded by allegorical representations of all four continents.

By the skilful use of linear perspective, light, and shade, he made the great barrel-vault of the nave of the church into an idealized aula from which is seen the reception of St. Ignatius into the opened heavens. Pozzo worked to open up, even dissolve the actual surface of the nave’s barrel vault to make the observer see a huge and lofty cupola (of a sort), open to the bright sky, and filled with upward floating figures. A marble disk set into the middle of the nave floor marks the ideal spot from which observers might fully experience the illusion.

A second marker in the nave floor further east provides the ideal vantage point for the trompe-l’œil painting on canvas that covers the crossing and depicts a tall, ribbed and coffered dome. The cupola one expects to see here was never built and in its place, in 1685, Andrea Pozzo supplied a painting on canvas with a projection of a cupola. The original painting, completed in 1685, was destroyed by fire; in 1823 it was faithfully reproduced by Francesco Manno on the basis of drawings and studies left by the Pozzo.

Pozzo also frescoed the pendentives in the crossing with Old Testament figures: Judith, David, Samson, and Jaele.

Pozzo also painted the frescoes in the eastern apse depicting the life and apotheosis of St Ignatius. The Siege of Pamplona in the tall panel on the left commemorates the wounding of Ignatius, which led to the convalescence that transformed his life. The panel over the high altar, Vision of St Ignatius at the Chapel of La Storta, commemorates the vision that gave the saint his divine calling. St Ignatius sends St Francis Xavier to India recalls the aggressive Jesuit missionary work in foreign countries, and finally, St Ignatius Receiving Francesco Borgia recalls the recruitment of the Spanish noble who would become General of the Company of Jesuits. Pozzo is also responsible for the fresco in the conch depicting St. Ignatius Healing the Pestilent.

Here are my photos of the remarkable ceiling from my recent visit to Rome. I never cease to be overwhelmed is a most enjoyable way whenever I view this gargantuan ceiling!

It is ALWAYS the personifications of the 4 continents that attracts my eye: Europe, America, Africa, Asia. Of course I particularly love the image of America!

But, outside the church is just as wonderful as inside!

Surrounding Buildings & Area: Piazza Sant’Ignazio: Located directly outside the church, this triangular plaza was designed by architect Filippo Raguzzini (1727–1728). It is a unique example of Rococo urban planning, featuring uniform, concave residential apartment buildings that contrast against the grand façade of the church.

Palazzo del Collegio Romano: Situated right next to the church, this massive building was the original home of the Roman College founded by the Jesuits. Today, it houses the Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Roma and the Convitto Nazionale Vittorio Emanuele II.Piazza del Gesù:

Just a short walk southwest lies this iconic square, which features the Church of the Gesù—the actual mother church of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits).

The square in front of the Church of St. Ignatius in Rome is known as Piazza Sant’Ignazio. Designed between 1727 and 1728 by architect Filippo Raguzzini, it is a brilliant masterclass in Rococo urban planning.

Key HighlightsThe Concave Buildings: The most defining feature of the square is its harmonious, symmetrical arrangement of ochre-colored apartment buildings. Their unique, rippling, concave facades were built to gracefully guide the eye and accommodate the transition from the bustling city into the monumental church.

The “Chest of Drawers”: Because of their unusual rounded and undulating shapes, the buildings in the piazza were historically nicknamed canterano (Italian for “chest of drawers”).

I adore this Baroque church in Rome. It is over the top, decorated to within an inch of its life, the lily is gilded and then some! But still, I love it for it’s ceiling fresco, with an image of America included.

I’ll be be posting soon about that fresco, but first, from my recent visit to the basilica, please be a bit informed and then overwhelmed with images of richness as I was!

The Church of St. Ignatius of Loyola at Campus Martius is a Latin Catholic titular church, of deaconry rank, dedicated to Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Society of Jesus, located in Rome.

Built in Baroque style between 1626 and 1650, the church functioned originally as the chapel of the adjacent Roman College, which moved in 1584 to a new larger building and was renamed the Pontifical Gregorian University.

It is one of the great 17th century preaching churches built by Counter-Reformation orders in the Centro Storico (the others being The Gesù, also of the Jesuits, San Carlo ai Catinari of the Barnabites, Sant’Andrea della Valle of the Theatines, and the Chiesa Nuova of the Oratorians).

Ok, you’ve got some guidance, now let’s go! The day I visited this church most recently I was involved with someone in a relationship worthy of Italian opera, and I temporarily lost my head when it comes to discernment. I found myself embedded in drama. And my photos of this chapel, the Monument to Pope Gregory XV and Cardinal Ludovisi (c. 1709-14) by Le Gros, prove my point. It is unlike me to include my personal drama in this blog, but since I write the blog to remember my life, I wanted to have a record of my temporary insanity.

Haha! Enjoy the pictures of this over the top monument and some others as well, all housed within this church.

The ceiling frescoes are magnificent and deserve their own post soon!

Alla prossima!

Are you enjoying our boat ride? We are just getting to the good part!

The skipper has stopped the boat to tease us that he has run out of gas and needs a collection to move onward.

We can start to zero in on some interesting caves in the rocky coast.

And then we start to motor in to the coastline. It is really getting interesting now!

Come back soon for the chance to jump into these crystalline waters!

Alla prossima!

Our cruise continues! Hope you are enjoying it and brought a hat to protect your head and face from the sunshine and some sunblock for your skin. It’s cloudy, but it will soon be sunny and anyway you can sunburn while it’s cloudy.

More beauty next post! Alla prossima !

Join me at the marina in Buggerru, Sardegna (Sardinia) and let’s take a boat ride along the famous southwestern coast of the island. The village is charming in a real way, almost exclusively for locals who tend to be outgoing and friendly. The marina is magnificently sited, sitting at the foot of a rocky promontory.

You could moor your boat here, go to a world-class diving site nearby, or take a 3 hour cruise along the incredible coastline.

We’ll do the latter, you and I, together over the next few days!

So! Andiamo! Jump onto the boat with me!

After clearing the marina, the skipper turns on some tunes and picks up some speed! Hang on!

Alla prossima!

Up to, over, across the Capitoline Hill on a gorgeous day! Here are the images I took from that day!