what to do in rome

art at the vatican museum

Image | | a love letter to rome and italy!

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Raphäel rooms and frescoes.

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The sumptuous Borgia Apartments.

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The Vatican museum has room after breathtaking room of gorgeous golds, greens, purples, blues, reds and every soft and lush color and tone the eye can see. Everywhere you turn is the famed likeness of Lucrezia Borgia.

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The Vatican Museums trace their origin to one marble sculpture, purchased 500 years ago: The sculpture of Laocoön and his Sons was discovered 14 January 1506, in a vineyard near the basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome. Pope Julius II sent Giuliano da Sangallo and Michelangelo Buonarroti, who were working at the Vatican, to examine the discovery. On their recommendation, the pope immediately purchased the sculpture from the vineyard owner. The pope put the sculpture of Laocoön and his sons on public display at the Vatican exactly one month after its discovery. (Wikipedia)

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The minor Colossus reminds me a little of a fallen David.

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One can wander room to room in renaissance splendor.

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Minerva or Diana?

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A Roman woman as goddess.

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Venus or Aphrodite?

If you find yourself at the Vatican museum – don’t visit in August, get there early or off season to miss waiting in an interminable line – and before you see the Sistine Chapel make sure you don’t skip the sculpture gardens and statuary courtyards and the Borgia Apartments and the Raphäel Rooms!

//photographs copyright rebecca price butler …

find my work on tumblr & pinterest … please link & credit me.

at the Villa Borghese

Image | | a love letter to rome and italy!
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A rainy afternoon walk around the Villa Borghese in Rome, Italy.
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On an overcast day it reminded me of Paris.
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I love the faded colors of the buildings and the urn planted fruit and olive trees.
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The gardens are leftover remnants of the Renaissance and even ancient Rome, the famed gardens of Lucullus.
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The park and gardens were once a private estate of the Borghese family.
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The beauty of the grounds are immeasurable. No wonder I’ve grown to love it so much over the years.
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I love the colors of the stone architecture and the details of the buildings. I could hear a soft muddling of voices through an opened window.
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The Villa Borghese museum is one of the loveliest and important collections of Italian Renaissance paintings in the world. It houses master works by Caravaggio, Titian, Dossi, Correggio, Veronese, Rubens, Barocci, Parmigianino, Lotto, Raphael, Bernini, Reni, Bellini, Barocci, Domenichino, Canova, and many other greats.
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If you find yourself in Rome make reservations a few days in advance to view the art in the beautiful Villa Borghese in two hour blocks. Give yourself time to wander around the gardens and the park. You should arrange a time with at least four hours of sunshine so you can enjoy a stroll around and leave two hours for the museum. Finish up an hour before sunset and find your way to the Pincio (Pincial Hill) for the most beautiful sunset of your life.
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//photographs copyright rebecca price butler …  find my work on tumblr & pinterest … please link & credit me.