Defintion of Dumbass Tourist

Whilst on our tour of Rome, we were en route between the Pantheon and the Vatican and decided to stop off at Sant'Agostino, a church in Rome that houses a work by Raphael and another by bad-boy artist Caravaggio (this guy liked to drink a lot and carry a sword.) We had walked up the steps and were three steps in the doorway when we realized everyone was crying and wearing black. We had also somehow overlooked the hearse sitting at the bottom of the steps, loaded with casket. We left hastily and without checking out the artwork.

On my day off, I decided to try again and this time, I was able to take my time inside. This church and another, Santa Maria at the Plaza del Popolo, are two small churches that get a relatively small amount of tourists but are amazing inside. A big difference between these places and the larger houses of art and relics is that they don't mind you taking pictures; at one place they even offered a suggestion as to where to stand to take the best picture.

Sant'Agostino displays Madonna di Loreto by Caravaggio, a depiction of an apparition of the virgin with child to two pilgrims. It was shocking at the time it was painted because the Virgin Mary looks like a common person in common surroundings, not an exalted figure. Also in Sant'Agostino is The Prophet Isiah by Raphael. In the center view of Sant'Agostino, you can see this fresco on the second pillar on the left.

Santa Maria houses two more Caravaggio's, The Crucifixion of St. Peter and The Conversion On The Way To Damascus. Both these and Annibale Carracci's Assumption of the Virgin Mary are packed into the same small chapel -- hard to take a good picture here.


This wasn't the first Carracci we'd seen. The day before, we had a tour of the French Embassy in Rome. I'd read about this place in Rough Guide's 25 Ultimate Experiences Italy. You have to make an appointment and provide all of your passport details in advance. The tour itself was free (but in Italian -- just nod and smile, nod and smile) and lasted about an hour.

The embassy is housed in the Palazzo Farnese, a palace built by a family with close ties to the Church. This place was impressive and belies it relatively plain exterior. Michelangelo was one of the artists who brought the place to its current form, but it underwent several transformations. The highlight of the tour was the Carracci Gallery, a room with art influenced by the Sistine Chapel. The ceiling and walls are all done in frescoes depicting the gods of Roman mythology. Both the missus and I agreed, on some levels, the effect of this room was more intense then the Sistine Chapel. No pictures allowed here, though, and online images of this place are hard to find. I found one nice shot and included it.