Wednesday July 4.

It's the Fourth of July! A holiday of course at home, and my classmates and I decide to start our day with an “American” breakfast at When in Rome! Complete with American flags, and MTV it's a surreal mixture of Roman culture catering to American tastes. We had a hearty breakfast and started our day.

Today we will visit four churches; St. Maria, St Cecilia, Passede, and St Maria Maggorie. Due to blog size, I will write about St Maria of Trastevere and St Cecilia. 

Our first stop is St Maria in Trastevere. St. Maria is surrounded by the Piazza Santa Maria, our meeting spot each morning. The fountain is a symbol for the belief that this church is located where a spontaneous fountain of oil began with the birth of Christ, The church has undergone several restorations and therefore has artifacts and artwork from many time periods. The basilica was completely rebuilt in the 12^th century, but dates back to the 3^rd century. The mosaic on the front depicts Madonna and child surrounded by female figures dressed in royal clothing. As you walk into the church the exterior walls are covered in pieces of early medieval tombs, showing both Greek and Latin, along with symbols and Christian messages. Again we see a basic Basilica design. The massive columns are relics from other buildings in Rome. The flat ceiling is carved in high relief and painted in deep blues and gold. The mosaics in the triumphal arch and dome include Byzantine images of Christ and Madonna sharing the throne, as emperor and empress and scenes from the life of Mary by Cavallini. The frescoes are from the late 16^th century showing scenes such as the annunciation and other bible stories begin to take on a more naturalistic style, rather than the flat emotionless art of the earlier mosaics. The images were made to help the poor people understand the stories, even if they could not read.

Our next stop is St Cecilia. Originally home to the 2^nd century Roman noblewoman Cecilia, a patron of music who converted to Christianity and had a church within her home. The history of Cecilia shows that when she refused to stop practicing her religion the Roman empire tried to kill her. The attempts at scalding her to death were unsuccessful, so she was beheaded. Even in that attempt however, she remained alive for several days. It is said that she sang while dying. When the church was built in the 5^th century her body was found, completely intact in her dying pose. She was removed from the site, but returned in the 9^th century. Her tomb was reopened in 1599 and her body was still intact. It was at that time that the sculptor Maderno saw the body and created the sculpture that is placed above her tomb. The sculpture, while beautiful in its design and masterfully carved, is quite disturbing when you realize that the head is rotated 180 degrees due to the execution. 

This church has mosaics by Cavallini showing Christ and Mary enthroned, surrounded by popes and saints. There are frescoes by Cavallini as well, one of which is at ground level and can be seen up close. In this fresco depicting the last judgment, we begin to see a modeling of the flesh tones, and a movement toward realism.