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090305—Ecstasy and a Crowd |
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written
by peeter / 09.14.2005 |
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Itinerary |
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Before 3:30 PM.....Read, write, study, eat
3:30 PM............Walk to Trastevere to view Bernini's "The Ecstasy of Beata Ludovica Albertoni" at the church of San Francesco a Ripa.
5:00 PM............Disperse: back "home," to Venice for the weekend, or to the Elton John concert at the Colosseum for free.
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Highlights |
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| Nina Miller |
| Walking |
| The favorite activity of this trip. Here we follow Shawn through Trastevere to San Francesco a Ripa. |
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| Nina Miller |
| Church/Museum |
| We approach San Francesco a Ripa; a church to some, but mostly a museum to us. |
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| Nina Miller |
| Ecstasy |
| The much-anticipated sculpture by Bernini. |
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| Nina Miller |
| Pews |
| A confused church member utilizes a fan and finds sanctuary from the oppressive heat. |
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| Nina Miller |
| Crowd Control |
| Hours before the concert, the masses arrive. |
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| Nina Miller |
| *Elton John* |
| Is it Elton, or is it *Elton*? The vehicle just doesn't add up. |
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| Nina Miller |
| *Elton John* |
| Elton John's stunt double, with the Colosseum as a backdrop. |
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The excruciating rays of the four o’clock sun beat down on us as we follow Shawn across the military-green Tevere river. After a few minutes of walking into the well-shaded Trastevere—the Greenwich Village of Rome—the air is noticeably cooler. We carelessly pass by a simple building subtly labeled “Casa di Dante” (House of Dante), and some of us wonder whether the original literary figure of the Italian language actually lived there.
We arrive at the church of San Francesco a Ripa and settle on its long but few shaded steps. Soon to experience the Bernini sculpture “The Ecstasy of Beata Ludovica Albertoni,” Shawn asks us to notice what our eyes are drawn to first. The lighting? The surrounding architecture? Why? We are asked to “read the site as a text.”
Once inside the sanctuary, we slowly and silently aggregate inside the niche that holds the statue. Many people record their reactions to the piece before finding a seat among the pews of the church’s central nave, but a few remain behind to soak up Bernini’s masterpiece.
We exit the church and briefly discuss our observations to be organized in a writing assignment. Then we disperse; some to the authentic Italian department store in search of a stroller, a few to Venice for the weekend, and the rest back to the Rome center.
For some, the entirety of the day is spent in anticipation of the free Elton John concert to be held in front of the Colosseum from nine until midnight. The event begins with huge, vast multitudes of people, some already seated forty abreast, plus a slow heterogeneous river of hot, tobacco-smoking Italians covering the street. This sea of lava flows arduously down the Via dei Fori Imperiali towards the bright, multicolored Colosseum. Crowd dynamics is an amazing science. Several checkpoints await us. “You havee bomba?” “No, non ho bomba!” The carabiniero (“serious” Italian police officer) laughs and waves us by.
The show begins with a dramatic entrance by Elton John and a synchronized ascension of a few thousand camera-phones out of the lava. Too many notable things are encountered to list. Here are a few:
“Older” women singing along with Elton; a hippie-type couple dancing with their big white dog between them, its paws propped up on their forearms to give it a standing position while being kissed by them; women sitting on other peoples’ shoulders like little girls at a fair, swaying precariously and taking pictures; hard-core British Elton John fans anxiety-ridden as they try to plough closer to the stage; young couples getting separated at checkpoints, the man somehow getting past the barrier only to look back and see his girlfriend, almost crying, trapped in the arms of an officer; a surprisingly-low presence of alcohol or drunkenness; little girls’ heads in their moms’ laps; American girls not knowing “what [they’re] going to do because [they] have to pee; “ sweat; transient, welcome breezes; and thousands upon thousands of appreciative, patient faces.
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