The false dome of the Church of Saint Ignatius of Loyola in Rome is one of the world’s most celebrated masterpieces of trompe-l’œil (fool the eye) and quadratura (illusionistic perspective painting). Painted by Jesuit lay brother, mathematician, and artist Andrea Pozzo between 1685 and 1694, it mimics a soaring, ribbed architectural cupola on a completely flat surface.
The original architectural blueprints by Orazio Grassi called for a grand, physical stone dome over the church transept crossing. However, two major complications halted its construction:
1. By 1642, the Jesuit Order had completely run out of funds allocated for the structure.
2. The massive height of the planned dome sparked protests from the neighboring Dominican monastery, as it threatened to completely block light from reaching their extensive library.
Rather than leaving the interior roof flat and bare, Pozzo was commissioned to paint a 13-meter-wide canvas that would simulate the missing architecture.
The horrendous and long lasting heat wave has finally broken and the city looks beautiful to my eyes again! Just walking through the center, enjoying the day, I see the city with new eyes and it is lovely!
And also kitchsy!
And, as always, and as it is perhaps best known for throughout the ages, Florence is home to a very sophisticated upscale marketplace of luxury goods. Oh, some of them are so beautiful!
Florence, we made it through another hot summer together! Good to see you again!
Let’s start with a gorgeous scene in the Oltrarno. The Tower of San Nicolò looks spectacular at night! I often wonder what it’s original designer/builders would say if they could see it 730 years later, and with lights at night! They would be in awe!
But I am in awe today looking at their handiwork from so long ago!
One sees the fresco in the lowest arch more clearly when it’s lit up at night. Wow.
And then there is the historic center of Florence, illuminated at night! Wow!
To really see the city you have to be outside if it, as in you can’t see the forest for the trees type of thing.
And below, sometimes the banks of the river are best enjoyed at night!
Oh! The absolute delight of rounding a corner by the Pantheon and seeing this confection!
Elephant and Obelisk was designed by the fabulously talented Italian sculptor Gian Lorenzo Bernini. It was unveiled in 1667 in the Piazza della Minerva in Rome, adjacent to the church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva, where it stands today.
The red granite obelisk which is displayed as a part of this ensemble was originally erected by Pharaoh Apries of the 26th Dynasty of Egypt, about 580 BC, in his capital Sais. The obelisk was rediscovered in 1665 during excavations near the church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva, and only 2 years later it was on display the way we see it today. The obelisk had probably been brought to Rome in the first century AD for the temple to the Egyptian goddess Isis. The obelisk is 5.47 meters tall and is the smallest of the 13 ancient obelisks present in Rome. Together with pedestal and elephant, the statue stands 12.69 meters tall.
The obelisk is considered to be one of a pair; the other is in Urbino.
When my son was 10, I brought him on his first trip to Italy and we were lucky enough to stay at the hotel Minerva, also seen in these pictures. It was an incredible trip that I will always remember!
Various preparatory drawings done by Bernini exist, and he was already thinking about how best to support an obelisk before this particular one was discovered. One Bernini drawing is in Windsor Castle, UK and was probably done in the 1630s when Cardinal Francesco Barberini wished to place an Egyptian obelisk in front of his family palace, the Palazzo Barberini. Nothing came of this specific project, but Bernini revived the idea in the 1660s, when Pope Alexander VII, Fabio Chigi, wished to build a similar monument after this particular Egyptian obelisk was discovered in Rome.
Various other concepts were explored for this later commission as attested by preparatory drawings. It is likely that the drawings were used so that the patron could make a decision about which design he wanted. This included a drawing (in Leipzig) of the figure of Time holding a scythe and simultaneously the obelisk. In the Vatican Library there are two pen and ink drawings with other figures holding up the obelisk, including one of Hercules, and another with various allegorical figures supporting the spire. A third version in the Vatican Library shows Bernini adapting on the concept he created in the 1630s, although he added in a larger base, changed the direction of the elephant’s orientation, and made its face appear more friendly than ferocious.
The marble elephant was probably carved by Bernini’s assistant Ercole Ferrata.
The Latin inscription at one side of the pedestal reads: “Let any beholder of the carved images of the wisdom of Egypt on the obelisk carried by the elephant, the strongest of beasts, realize that it takes a robust mind to carry solid wisdom.”
The statue turned out to be the last commission Pope Alexander VII would ask of Bernini, as the pope died in May 1667. He was succeeded by Pope Clement IX.
It almost looks as if the elephant is polychromed, but I think these must be rust stains.
I went to Rome on a mission recently. I planned to return to the incredible church of St. Ignazio of Loyola, which is one of my favorite places in the city.
I was happily traveling solo. I could do whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted, for however long I wanted. No one to bother me. No compromises on what I wanted to see, think about, or study. It was as heavenly as the frescoed ceiling in the church!
Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!
Not all of the most beautiful artworks in Rome are hidden away in art galleries and museums.
One of the most startling and beautiful things you can do in the Eternal City costs absolutely nothing and takes about twenty minutes, is something a large proportion of the city’s visitors never encounter. Simply walk into the church of Sant’Ignazio in central Rome, stand at a small circular marble disc set into the floor of the nave, and look up.
What you will see is one of the greatest illusions ever painted: a ceiling that opens, apparently, directly into the heavens.
The dazzling frescoes celebrating the holiness and missionary vision of the Jesuit order’s founder Ignatius Loyola were the brainchild of Andrea Pozzo, a Jesuit lay-brother and painter who dedicated 15 years of his career to the church in the late 17th century.
But this time, I did! I completed my enjoyable mission and these pictures are the results that are long visit.
May I just give a quick shout-out to the iPhone camera, which has revolutionized the way I travel and record. Thanks Steve Jobs.
I took a few overall videos and you know I love the personification of America especially. I’ve talked about that before!
The video above pays close attention to the altar end of the church which, while amazingly decorated, pales in comparison for me to the main fresco.
Now, sit back, and enjoy with me an orgy of photographic details of this amazing fresco!
First up we have the personification of Europe, shown as an older queen type.
Below, we have Africa.
Then, Asia!
Is it just my imagination of is a blue/white type of porcelain shown in these attributes of Asia? I try to talk myself out of it. It also looks like Italian polychromed ceramics, not porcelain. What do you think this bowl is?
Maybe you are lucky enough to have been to Rome. Maybe you have seen the Pantheon, either from its impressive facade or you have been in its marvelous interior. In the olden days, when I first started coming to Italy in 1979, entry was free. Any time the doors were open, you could enter. It was fantastic to have that ability
Now, post-Covid, in the days of mass tourism that continues to set records every year, entry will cost you and usually you must get in a very long line and wait your turn. To say that serendipity with visiting the Pantheon has been lost would be the understatement of the 21st century, so far anyway.
At any rate, on a day in Rome when I had all the time and energy I needed to do whatever I wanted, I did something I’ve NEVER done before. I encircled the Pantheon, taking it in in all its breadth and width and stopping to look at the foundations, so deep in the soil it is amazing to think how these ancient cities keep rising up physically.
I captured the views in videos and hope you enjoy having a look around this incredible monument with me.
This is a new one to me. I’ve walked along the Tiber many times but I have never seen a tour boat before. I saw this in late August, 2026
I’m usually up for any kind of adventure, but I’m not sure about this one. I suppose it would offer some interesting views of the city that you can only see from the river. Maybe I’ll do it; I’m not in a rush, though. The water is brackish and doesn’t seem to flow.
Today a wonderful ancient art collection is housed in this fine palazzo and I visited it for the first time recently. Wow! I wish I hadn’t waited so long. And it is so close to Stazione Termini there is absolutely no excuse for missing it!
Inspired by the magnificent palaces of the 16th century, Palazzo Massimo was built between 1883 and 1887 by the Jesuit priest Massimiliano Massimo, based on a design by Camillo Pistrucci, to house the new Jesuit school.
In 1981, the palazzo was acquired by the Italian government to become one of the new sites for the National Roman Museum. A radical renovation of the building was entrusted to Costantino Dardi and the palazzo opened to the public in 1998.
Since then the curators have sought o interweave the various threads of the collections using a design based on chronology and theme. By referring to the contexts in which the artefacts were found, this creates the suggestion that different works are jumbled together following the model of the bustling displays of collectors of the 16th century.
Today, moving through the rooms of the Palazzo Massimo is like leafing through the pages of a wonderful book in stunning 3-D. Its four floors contain some of the greatest masterpieces of the entire artistic output of the Roman world: sculptures, reliefs, frescos, mosaics, stuccoes and sarcophagi, originating, like all of the treasures of the National Roman Museum, from excavations undertaken in Rome and the surrounding region from 1870 onwards.
The route of the visit begins with the theme of the portrait and its evolution, from exclusive use by the most illustrious citizens in the Archaic Period to the widespread use of portraits among freedmen, from portraits of Greek origin, such as those of Alexander the Great, to those of simple Roman citizens eager for self-celebration at the end of the Republic, like the Tivoli General, and new forms of portraiture linked to the birth of the Empire, such as Augustus dressed as the Pontifex Maximus.
Greek originals in marble, such as the Niobid from the Horti Sallustiani (Gardens of Sallust), and in bronze, including the Boxer at Rest and the Hellenistic Prince from the Baths of Constantine, are typical examples of the models of Greek art that came to Rome with the wars of conquest.
Continuing the history of portraits in the Imperial Age, the first floor displays the Roman taste marble copies of Greek ideal sculptures, like the Discobolus of Myron, presented in two well-known reproductions – the Lancellotti Discobolus and the Discobolus of Castel Porziano -, the Sleeping Hermaphroditus, the Aphrodite of Menophantos, and innumerable works depicting gods and mythological figures.
However, sculpture also became a means of expression for celebrating victories at the borders of the Empire, such as the monumental Portonaccio sarcophagus, and a method for paying tribute to the greatness of well-known figures in the society of the late Roman Empire, as can be seen from the Acilia and Annona Sarcophagi.
The second floor of the Palazzo is dedicated entirely to frescos, stuccoes and mosaics. One element that is fundamental in fully grasping the taste and aesthetic sense of the Roman aristocracy is the superb wall decorations of major archaeological complexes, such as the Villa di Livia in Prima Porta, the Villa Farnesina in Trastevere and the Villa di Termini.
The basement level offers a selection from the collections from the National Roman Museum’s Coin and Medal Collection and is dedicated to the economy and the use of money, interpreted through an exhibition of coins, jewellery, precious ornaments and documents relating to the daily cost of life.
get back, lauretta! 
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