Wednesday, July 1st

Welcome to day 3 of week 2 – the busiest day yet! We had a lot of stuff to cover from learning about Gifts and Sacrifice to toughing it out through the thunderstorm at Castel San Angelo.

The day started bright and early at 9:30 am where my group would present in Mona’s class, Gift and Sacrifice. We presented on a comparison of contemporary with the Roman view of gratitude looking at Seneca’s text and learning about stoicism. Stoicism is based on controlling emotions to have clear logic and reasoning to achieve ultimate knowledge. This was tied in Seneca’s stoic views and were compared to other texts. After ending off with a class discussion session, we took a coffee break.

Group presentation (Taken by Anand)

Part two of Mona’s class consisted of looking at the assigned reading. Today’s topic was brought to you by Simmel, Hyde, and Nemoianu. The focus was on the main ideas of gratitude and faithfulness along with the relationship between gift and commodity.

Mona teaching class

Notes

After taking a lunch break and getting some tasty pizza at the Forno, we all came back to watch the movie William Shakespeare’s “The Merchant of Venice” at 1:00 pm. This recently filmed movie (2004), was a respectable movie and kept my interest although I have seen an older version.

With some time remaining before Lisa’s class, most of us went up to the Rome Center library to do some work and pass the time. At 4 pm, we started the Art History class in Piazza Farnese, where we learned about their extravagant spending and the Palazzo Farnese, which is currently the French Embassy.

Piazza Farnese sign

Palazzo Farnese

Fountain in Piazza Farnese

After commenting on the Farnese crest, we would transition into Peter’s presentation of his introduction to the Farnese Family. We talked about the history of the Farnese Family and ventured to Castel San Angelo. On Ponte Sant’Angelo, Peter talked about Hadrian and his ambitions to build the Castel San Angelo.

Castel San Angelo

Peter presenting his project

As he spoke, ominous clouds would slowly come toward us and lightening would light up the sky. We then toured the Castel San Angelo and learned more about the structure and its intentions as a fortified safe house for the papacy.

One of the angels holding elements of The Passion of the Christ

Looking at the different rooms, we eventually reached the top, where it started to pour rain. With a strong conclusion Peter did a great job introducing us to the Farnese Family and after taking two group pictures and getting soaking wet, we rushed out of the San Angelo.

The original angel by Raffaello da Monteluop

Group picture #1 in the rain (Taken by Lisa)

Group picture #2 in the rain (Taken by Lisa)

It continued to rain, and finally stopped when we got to Massimo’s for our wine tasting. We learned a lot about the history and examining wine through taste, smell, and sight to look at fluidity, softness, alcohol content, and much more. Today was a long day, but it was definitely worth it. So much to see, but so little time; well, ciao for now and enjoy!