borromini.

Admittedly, I was kind of hating on architecture for awhile. What can I say? It's that time of the quarter! You know, that point when the level of frustration is at its highest, productivity is at its lowest and confidence is so low that it floats within the viscous tides of the earth's mantle. And then you see something that renews your faith in certain life choices. Or at least cheers you up. Borromini and his genius did that for me, with two tiny churches of his - S. Ivo and S. Carlo alle Quattro Fontane. His work is incredibly sculptural and remarkably restrained considering he lived within the height of the Baroque.

dome of S. Ivo

dome of S. Carlo alle Quattro Fontane

scala santa.

Tradition has it that Jesus ascended these very steps on his way to Pontius Pilate and now devout Catholics, and perhaps naughty heathens, climb these stairs on their knees as a pious act. St. Helena (Constantine's mother), brought the stairs from Jerusalem to Rome in 326, continuing a long habit of christians - stealing holy things from other people and other places.

mosaic.

And in the meantime:

villa lante.

More gardens and architecture in the landscape...

il tempietto.

The High Renaissance's perfect little building.

hadrian's villa.

I seem to be more into sculpture than architecture these days... Hadrian's Villa is just a short ride out of Rome and well-worth the trip. Assuming you enjoy ancient ruins poking out of a vast landscape...

porta octavius.

Rome, Italy, Europe - the datum of beauty. And yet, with every shot I take, the pictures are overwhelmingly cliché. So, while I struggle to photograph something "original," I'll turn those clichés into greyscale clichés.

Porta Octavius

italy.

Now that I've been in Italy for nearly 3 weeks, I should probably start posting about it. To whet the appetite, here's what I live a block from:

The Pantheon.

That's right bitches.