Masters of Light - ROME

Topic: Tour Calendar October 10 to 18/26, 2008

A conference of the Interfaith Forum on Religion, Art, and Architecture - ROME

A rare opportunity: Visit Rome in the company of some of America's finest church architects and artists. The Interfaith Forum on Religion, Art, and Architecture invites you to join them on their visit to Rome. All presentations will be made on site in the most important churches in Rome, presenting the Masters of Light.

What’s Included

Registration, AIA learning units, accommodations October 11-18 at the Hotel Navona, continental breakfast, three dinners, transportation by both public transportation and private motorcoach in Rome, scheduled entrance fees, and leadership by Dr. Donald J. Bruggink.

Tour Program

Friday, October 10

Depart from the United States.

Saturday, October 11

Arrive in Rome, check in at the Hotel Navona. Built in 1470, the hotel is operated by the family that has owned the building since that time.

“Getting to know the neighborhood.” In the afternoon, Dr. Bruggink will do a walking tour of the hotel’s immediate surroundings. On the way to the Pantheon, we can visit the Church of Sant Eustacio. Near the Pantheon is the famous coffee bar, Tazza d’Oro. Nearby is Bernini’s Elephant in front of S. Maria Sopra Minerva where S. Chiara and Fra Angelico are buried. Then we’re on to S. Luigi dei Francesi with its splendid Caravaggios. Up the street is the Agostino where Martin Luther said mass during his visit to Rome, and from there it’s on to the Piazza Navona with Bernini’s famous Fountain of the Four Rivers, standing before St. Agnese with a facade by Borromini. On our way back to the hotel is the Sapienza, the University of Rome until 1935, with Borromini’s masterwork, Sant Ivo.

This evening we will have an early included dinner at an outdoor restaurant near the Pantheon.

Sunday, October 12

We will approach St. Peter’s through the Bernini Colonnade, discussing the detailed iconographic program of the colonnade, fountains, obelisk, façade and dome, the porch, the great bronze doors depicting the martyrdoms of Peter and Paul, Bernini’s equestrian statue of Constantine, the nave, the crossing with Bernini’s great baldanquin, and the chair of Peter held up by the four doctors of the church, beneath the Gloria. Masses take place sequentially for all who wish to attend. Others may wish to ascend the dome, using the lift to reach the roof, and then climbing between the inner and outer shells of the dome to the exterior walkway around the lantern.

After a lunch of individual choice and a bit of leisure, we will proceed to the great pilgrimage church of S. Paolo fuori le Mura for the other apostle martyr of Rome, St. Paul. Begun in 384, it suffered a disastrous fire in the 19th century, but was rebuilt to replicate the original. This seems an appropriate place to consider the biblical and theological background for the metaphor of light, a la “Masters of Light.”

An eight-minute walk from St. Paul’s takes us to the contemporary church of San Gregorio Barbarigo by Giuseppe Vaccaro. The evening is free to follow your fancy.

Monday, October 13

Today we will follow the “Masters of Light,” Bernini and Borromini. S. Maria della Victoria with Bernini’s “Ecstasy of St. Theresa” will be our first stop. We could hardly walk past S. Susanna, built in the 4th century, redone in 795, and restored again in the 16th century, without stopping to view a fully frescoed church. Down the street is Borromini’s San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane, and then Bernini’s Sant Andrea al Quirinale. Later we will visit Borromini’s sophisticated renovation of the ancient church of S. Giovanni in Laterno. Borromini’s masterpiece is the church nearest our hotel, Sant Ivo.

This evening we will dine together at the elegant L’Eau Vive.

Tuesday, October 14

A day of contemporary Roman religious structures, beginning with Paolo Portoghesi’s Moschea Islamica, with the architect as our guide. On our way a stop at Renzo Piano’s Parco della Musica seems appropriate. S. Maria della Visitazioni is one of the more spectacular churches of the 70s. In the afternoon, while churches are closed, we must visit Meier’s elegant home for the Ara Pacis of Augustus.

Wednesday, October 15

Tickets can be obtained for the Wednesday papal audience (architecturally attractive if held in Nevi’s Papal Audience Hall). An alternative would be a visit to the Vatican Museum (somewhat less frenetically crowded during papal audiences). Late afternoon can be used to visit further contemporary Roman churches, or as one may wish.

Thursday, October 16

Our first stop will be San Francesco di Sales (2003-2005) by Lucrezio Carbonara. Then we will visit Dio Padre Misericordioso (1998-2003) by that contemporary “Master of Light,” Richard Meier. The afternoon will be free until 4:00 p.m. when we leave for a tour of the American Academy and the Villa Aurelia by the Academy’s director, Carmella Franklin, and Bill Franklin. Following the tour, there will be an included reception and dinner at the Academy.

Friday, October 17

An 8:00 a.m. departure for the San Giovanni Rotondo and Renzo Piano’s mega pilgrimage church Chiesa San Pio da Pietrelcina (1994-2004). Those staying for the extended tour of southern Italy and Sicily will stay with the bus, those flying back to the States on Saturday will return by train to Rome.

Saturday, October 18

Departure from Rome (FCO) for the United States via Washington D.C. (IAD)

Hotel Information

The IFRAA/AIA committee requested a hotel in the center of ancient Rome, in an ancient building, at a modest cost. The two-star Hotel Navona fits that description. The building was built in 1470, and recent preservation rules have prevented the addition of a lift. The hotel is next to St. Ivo and within two blocks in either direction are the Pantheon and the Piazza Navona.

Also available is the more elegant three-star Albergo Santa Chiara (with a lift and breakfast buffet). It is located within two blocks of the Hotel Navona and a short block from the Pantheon on the piazza di Minerva.

Optional Post Conference Tour

Friday, October 17

An 8:00 a.m. departure for San Giovanni Rotondo and Renzo Piano’s mega pilgrimage church, Chiesa San Peo da Pietrelcina (1994-2004). Those flying to the States on Saturday will return by train to Rome. Those fortunates traveling to Sicily will proceed by private deluxe motorcoach to Bari and the four-star Hotel Vittoria Parc. Included dinner and buffet breakfast.

Saturday, October 18

This morning we will visit the trulli of Alberobello. These buildings, domed without mortar, are of construction similar to those of Mycenae (3,000 BC). After lunch, our deluxe motorcoach will take us by coastal road and autostrada to the four-star Vibo Valentia. Included dinner and buffet breakfast.

Sunday, October 19

The ferry will take us to Sicily and Cefalu with opportunity for prayer in the 12th-century Norman duomo built by Roger II. The magnificent mosaics are the most purely Byzantine works of art in Sicily. From Cefalu we proceed to Palermo, the most exciting city in Sicily, sited on the Conca d’Oro. Our hotel is the four-star San Paolo Palace (an appropriate hotel as this is the 2,000th anniversary of the birth of St. Paul). Included dinner and breakfast buffet.

Monday, October 20

A day to explore the delights of Palermo with its architecture influenced by the Byzantine, Arab, Norman, exhurberant Sicilian Baroque, and Art Nouveau. The dozen really important churches reflecting all of the above (except Art Nouveau). Perhaps the Byzantine gem is the Capella Palatina with its dazzling mosaics. For those with a taste for the macabre, there are the catacombs with dessicated, costumed remains on view. Dinner, overnight accommodations, and breakfast at the four-star Hotel San Paolo Palace are included.

Tuesday, October 21

A short distance from Palerma is Monreal, built by Norman William II as a gift to God and to counter the influence of Palermo’s archbishop. It is the artisitic high point of Norman Sicily. Its interior glitters with mosaics of Sicilian and Byzantine origin. The gold used in the church weighed over a ton. The mosaic cycle, complete in 1182, contains Old Testament scenes in the nave, the teachings of Christ in the aisles, choir and transept, the Gospels in the side aisles, and the Christus Pantocrator in the apse. After the overwhelming splendor of the interior, the quiet beauty of the cloister of the Benedictine monastery offers a welcome respite. After lunch we will make a short geographic journey, but a long chronological leap as we go to the 5th century BC Greek temple in Segesta. In a serence countryside setting, its beauty is perhaps the least compromised by modernity of any in Sicily. We return to Hotel San Paolo Palace for dinner and overnight.

Wednesday, October 22

After breakfast visit the Valley of the Temples, the ancient Akragus. Dating from the 5th century BC, nine of ten temples are still visible. the Temple of Concord is one of the most beautiful. The temple of the Olympian Zeus was to be one of the biggest Doric temples ever built. The city was completely destroyed by the Carthaginians in 406 BC. This evening we will stay in the four-star San Michele in Caltanisetta. Dinner and breakfast included.

Thursday, October 23

Our stop in Piazza Armerina brings us into the Roman world of the 3rd century AD. Here visit Villa Romano del Casale, noted for thousands of square feet of floor mosaics in public rooms, privates quarters, baths and courtyards, this magnificent country villa was begun by Maximanius Herculae, Diocletian’s co-emperor. The mosaics are the largest and best preserved from Roman antiquity. Later this afternoon, travel past Mount Etna to Taormina. After a time to visit this earliest and most beautiful of Sicilian resorts, we will have dinner in Taormina, and then drive to Messina where we will board the overnight ferry for Salerno.

Friday, October 24

Debarking at 8:00 a.m., we will proceed to Salerno where we will first visit Paolo Portoghesi’s Parrocchia S. Maria dei Barbuti, and then it’s on to Pompei, the city buried in the volcanic ash of Vesuvius. After our tour, we will drive the incredibly scenic road of the Amalfi Coast to the spectacular town of Ravello. Noted from Boccaccio’s Decameron to the jet set, on the Via San Siovanni del Toro one sees some of the most beautiful palaces of Ravello. Of special note is the beautiful Romanesque Church of Santa Maria a Gradillo, and the duomo (1086). Then it is a short drive to Amalfi, where we will stay at the four-star Grand Hotel Excelsior with its spectacular views. Dinner and breakfast included.

Saturday, October 25

Via the Amalfi Coast we continue to Naples and a visit to the National Archaeological Museum, which includes Roman treasures from Herculaneum and Pompei—including its famous frescoes. Naples is famous for its presepios, so we will visit the street where many of the finest Christmas figures are made. Toward evening we will take the autostrade to the Holiday Inn Parco dei Medici, not far from Rome’s airport. Included is the farewell dinner.

Sunday, October 26

After a good night’s sleep and an included buffet breakfast, we have an easy transfer to the Leonardo da Vinci Aeroporto (Fiumenchino) for our flight back to the States.

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