Eight Days in Rome, Day 5

[Author’s Note: This post is the fifth of eight on this site that will recount a visit of Eight Days in Rome that transpired in September 2025. On that trip, my wife Carol, an art historian (PhD, Yale), contributed insights on art and other matters. Our son Matt, a prize-winning videographer contributed photos and insights. The overall narrative and construction are mine.]

Santa Maria della Vittoria

Before developing our itinerary for this trip to Rome, we were never so aware of the “many faces” that “Santa Maria” bears, as in: Santa Maria della Pace, dei Miracoli, Maggiore, delle Gracie, in Via, and so on.

​Today, our destination is Santa Maria della Vittoria. Architect Carlo Maderno finished this baroque church in 1626 to celebrate the earlier Catholic military victory in 1620 by Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II over the Bohemians at the Battle of White Mountain (Bila Hora) near Prague during the early years of the Thirty Years War.

Its standout feature is the Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598-1680) altarpiece sculpture in the Cornaro Chapel of “The Ecstacy of Saint Teresa.” Bernini completed it in 1652 for Venetian Cardinal Federico Cornaro. The sculpture depicts Bernini’s interpretation of Saint Teresa’s autobiographical account of her vision of a “seraph” (angel) piercing her heart with a golden arrow. Teresa swoons in pain and/or ecstasy while the smiling seraph directs an arrow towards her heart.

​The sculpture is part of an integrated artistic grouping of sculpture, architecture, fresco, stucco and lighting in the chapel. It includes two side sets of sculpted donor portraits in relief of Cardinal Cornaro and family members who are observing and commenting animatedly on the central action as though sitting in theater boxes at a performance. Clouds hover overhead.

​It requires a closeup to appreciate fully the extravagance of Bernini’s interpretation. The tumbling garments, the face of swooning, the radiant abandon, the bare feet--all these qualities set many tongues wagging over the centuries. The enigmatic and arousing nature of the images generated controversy and influenced subsequent artistic works.

Strike Two!

​We tried to visit two additional nearby churches, the San Carlo Quatro Fontaine and the Santa Maria Maggiore, but the former was closed for an unknown reason and we were turned away while the latter had a prodigious line that we simply avoided. Recurrent challenges to visiting churches in Rome include: uncertain and changing hours of opening, unpredictable closures for private functions, and pilgrimages or tours at uncertain times. Meticulous preparation is required and, even then, there are changes….

Healthy at Verdefresco, Via Aureliana, 38

Not only churches but also restaurants have unpredictable hours. We needed an early lunch before our 1 pm reservation at the Galleria Borghese, but two pizzerias that we visited were not yet open by 11:30. So, we revolted and “did healthy” with salad bowls at Verdefresco on Via Aureliana. They provided an international salad lineup--one Hellas, one Cesare, and one Tokyo Mishima! Staff was pleasant and service was quick. We sat outdoors. The salads were not memorable and I would have preferred actual tuna chunks to tuna-inspired dough-balls in my Mishima, but they were…a healthy alternative to pizza or pasta! It carried us through the day at 42 euros including drinks for the trio.

Come Il Latte, Via Silvio Spaventa, 26

​Dessert after Verdefresco was a short reach around the corner at the single-location gelateria Come Il Latte on Via Silvio Spaventa. This place was the “cat’s meow” with standout flavors including Zabaione, pistachio, etc. It is tops on freshness since they only make enough product for one day, and they use a special banco pozzetti system that keeps their gelato under lids for temperature control. This was the apex so far of our gelato explorations and there was no line but a steady stream of appreciative customers. Very friendly and informative staff, calming black and white environment, and seating available. Wish there was another near our apartment.

Galleria Borghese

Talk about “cat’s meow.” This building has a stunning decorative interior on the walls, ceiling and floors, not to mention the sculptures and paintings on display. Reservations are time-limited. It is a not-to-miss playground for fans of sculptor Gian Lorenzo Bernini, painter Caravaggio and many others. Here are a few we savored.

Let us focus briefly on just a handful of these artworks.

​Gian Lorenzo Bernini’s David (1624) can be viewed on its own terms but, when viewed in comparison with Michelangelo’s rendition of the same subject 120 years earlier in 1504, they exemplify key differences between Renaissance (1400-1600) and Baroque (1600-1750) art.
 
Michaelangelo delivered his David in 1504, with an artistic message characteristic of his time: timeless, pensive, calm, rational, motionless, stable, balanced, ethereal, restrained, harmonious. It invites contemplation.
 
Bernini’s David in 1624 represents a brief but dramatic snapshot of David in time, transparently purpose-driven, intensely emotional, energetic, grimly determined, poised for action, and physically engaged. It evokes empathy in the viewer.
 
Such is the evolution of Renaissance to Baroque.

Titian painted his quizzical but untitled piece in 1514 when 25 years old as a commission to celebrate a marriage. It depicts two women, one clothed and one nude, at opposite ends of a sculpted water trough with a spigot. There is a small puto between them stirring the water. Nearly 200 years later in 1693, the Borghese Gallery assigned the painting an inventory name as Amor Divino e Amor Profano (Divine love and Profane love). Since then, instead of probing Titian’s actual intent, art historians have poured over the piece’s exquisite details seeking answers to the question (which a tour guide addressed to his group during our visit to the gallery): which figure represents divine or profane love? This blog is not the place to examine the issue, but one finds many intriguing online explorations.

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​Antonio Canova’s Venus Victrix (Venus Victorious) (1805-08) represents a complex potion of diverse motivations. By 1800, Canova was the most celebrated artist in Europe. His neoclassical artistic style appropriated ancient mythology in the service of contemporary persons and events, nicely sidestepping complications of current politics. The Venus pose invokes the classical repertoire of reclining Etruscan and Roman figures as well as more recent recumbent figures in artistic circles (e.g. Titian, David). It depicts the half-nude deity Venus/Aphrodite who glances to the side and delicately holds the golden apple awarded to the most beautiful goddess in the “Judgment of Paris.” The subject and model for this piece happens to be Napolean Bonaparte’s sister Pauline.

​Italian prince Camillo Borghese and Pauline had married in 1803, shortly after the death of her first husband General Charles Leclerc in Santo Domingo.  Camillo commissioned the sculpture in 1904. The statue was originally conceived as a robed huntress Diana/Artemis for private showing. Pauline disagreed and instructed Canova to make it a nude Venus. Pauline was a young but promiscuous creature who evidently relished pushing the boundaries of convention. She provocatively intimated on several occasions that she had posed nude for Canova. On her behalf, it should be noted that her marriages were not necessarily of her own volition.

Napoleon I, one of Canova’s patrons, ruled France from 1804-1814 and was King of Italy from 1805-14. For Napoleon, the alliance with Borghese strengthened his pan-European imperial claims to power and his designs on the Kingdom of Italy. For Borghese, the statue embedded his family in the legitimacy of ancient mythology and allied it with the rising power of France.
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The piece is striking for the visual and tactile appeal of its “real flesh” effect in the subject and the delicate rendering of the mattress. Canova’s process was critical to his success. He operated a studio with mass production principles. He first made terracotta sketches that assistants turned into plaster casts and finally marble statues. Canova himself performed the final polishing with progressively finer abrasives and used a special acqua di rota that conveyed the softness and luster of living skin. This extreme “lifelikeness” itself generated some controversy because its "comeliness" violated the customary distance between an artistic object and its audience, much like the "fourth wall" in a theatrical context.

Hosteria Grappolo d’Oro, Piazza Cancelleria, 80

​The Hosteria Grappolo d’Oro was one of only a few restaurants we found in Rome that offered a reasonable fixed price menu of the kind we had relished during our time in France earlier in the year. Prix fix is a fixture at French restaurants. That was a main reason we reserved well in advance. By the time we arrived at Grappolo, though, it was apparent that fixed menus were not the prevailing Italian style of eating.
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We proceeded accordingly with two of us ordering tonnarelli cacio et pepe and the other a guancia di manzo brassata (braised beef cheek) to be shared with one of the others in return for a share of cacio e pepe.

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The tonnarelli are a squarish long pasta and thicker than spaghetti. They are a conventional and appropriate accompaniment to many of the Roman pasta dishes. The caccio e pepe was very well made. Cacio e pepe has none of the pork or egg ingredients of gricia or carbonara, so it is a challenge to make the sauce with only pecorino cheese and pasta water and this challenge was well met. The dosing of ground pepper was just right. An insalata mista provided a colorful and palate-cleansing close. The guancia di manzo had an intense flavor, normally consumed in fall or winter, and was accompanied by braised chicory. One mustn’t confuse beef cheeks/jowls with pork cheeks/jowls that are known as guanciale. These are different animals. Cows spend their lives in lovely fields chomping on grass. Their cheeks turn into tough, lean muscles with lots of collagen and intense flavor that requires long, slow cooking in a braise. Pork cheeks are a salumi (cured) product that turns sweet and nutty with fat that renders and blends beautifully when combined with cheese and starchy water to coat pasta.
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The restaurant was busy and the service a bit spotty in minor ways but generally courteous and efficient. We ate inside, which was comfortably air-conditioned on a hot night, and the overall vibe was positive. We shared a bottle of sparkling water and a Lazio red wine blend. The clientele skewed heavily to English-speaking and the prevailing vibe was positive. Billing came to 72 euros.