Beyond the Walls of Rome: South Trip

This academic term in Rome has many perks, one of which being trips! For our Rome and the Campagna Course, we study ancient Rome and all of its triumphs. But the most interesting thing about this course, is that it is condensed into three weeks because the professor is also the Director of the school and can't stay in Rome for longer than that. Because of this accelerated timeline, our lectures are started with a five day trip to the South of Italy!

First stop: Cuma and Baia

Cuma... I don't quite remember. I do remember there being the remains of two temples here, nestled in the wilderness at the top of an outcropping of rocks. One day, these temples would have been visible from the sea just south of Naples.

Ruins of a Doric Temple

And Baia. Baia was truly incredible. In ancient Rome, Baia would have been the equivalent of a Spa Getaway. The place is filled small rooms that would have had water flowing through them. There was also a beautiful temple here. This temple was an incredible place, with perfect acoustics. We were told this was the perfect place to watch someone sing, so my classmates convinced me to.

Here's the video

Second Stop: Capri!

Capri is by far my favourite place in Italy. It's a small island located off the Amulfi Coast that is incredibly beautiful. Nestled between two peaks, the town of Capri lies at the centre of the island. To get to it, you have to climb straight uphill for 15 minutes (25 if you are my roommates, but I got some amazing pictures while I waited for them!). From here, you can go to either of the two peaks, but we chose the "architectural" one (of course). After 45 minutes of walking along a mountain trail with picturesque ocean views framed by trees to the right, we were rewarded for our efforts with a view of the Villa Maloparte. Unfortunately, it's still privately owned, so we couldn't go down to see it! About half an hour beyond this, we met our Nemesis. 700 stairs, Straight up. So, we climbed! About halfway up, there was a "landing" which actually turned out to be a cave with an ancient temple in it. From here, we departed for the second half of the stairs, and lunch in the town. After lunch, we retraced our steps around the trails to find a set of stairs leading down to the most beautiful private beach I have ever seen. We got mattresses, drinks and just lounged around in the sun until it was time to head for the boat back to our hotel on the mainland.

The Amulfi Coast

On the Capri Trails

Arco Naturale

Swimming at the Private Beach

Third Stop: Pompei

Well, who doesn't know Pompei? The Roman city perfectly preserved (almost) by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. The interesting thing about Pompei was that it was not the lava that killed the people and buried the town. For a day or two after the eruption, the people of Pompei watched as Vesuvius decimated their neighbors to the north, but on the second day, the winds changed. This blew a cloud of poisonous gas and soot south of the volcano, blanketing Pompei and its surrounding area. Today, you can walk through the streets as they once were, even see some of the graffiti from many years ago. Some of the houses have even been restored to amazing conditions, where you can walk around and see it as it was seen before the eruption. One of these houses was the house of Happy Julie, which archaeology tells us was a brothel. This house had marble columns, showing the wealth of Julie, the owner. Unfortunately, the house was closed, but when has that ever stopped an architecture student? I don't understand why so much time would be spent restoring something, only to block people from seeing it. Another house that was restored impeccably was the Villa of Mysteries. This was a small villa located outside of the city walls, and contained within it a room decorated with a fresco for which the house is named. This fresco depicted the induction of a woman into a cult, a cult within which the penalty for revealing the secrets of induction into it warranted death. Why was this fresco allowed to stay, and who painted it? All interesting questions, all unanswered, hence the mystery!

Roman Forum in Pompei

House of Happy Julie

Negatives of human bodies discovered in the hardened ash

Villa of Mysteries

Fourth Stop: Paestum

For the entirety of this trip, we stayed in a beautiful beach town called Paestum. Paestum is a unique place, because it sits on a rock, floating in a marsh. Because of this, the area is not affected by earthquakes. The ancient Greeks figured this out early, and built three temples here. These temples, each dedicated to the the gods, are the best preserved in the world because they have not had to deal with earthquakes over the years. It is unknown who the temples are dedicated to, but there is speculation that two are for Hera, the Goddess of Motherhood. Paestum is also known for Buffalo Mozzarella. We saw all the water buffalos on the way to the temples, and were told to buy the cheese for lunch, so we did! We bought sandwiches and had a lovely picnic on the beach, followed by swimming and relaxation!

Paestum Beach at Night

Doric Temple at Paestum

Doric Temple at Paestum

Doric Temple at Paestum

The Diver, a Fresco Painting from the Inside of an Atruscan Tomb at Paestum

Last Stop: Sperlonga

Sperlonga was a beautiful stop on the way back to Rome after a wonderful trip. In Sperlonga is a Villa famous from antiquity, the Villa Tiberius. This Villa has a cave located beside the ocean, in which the owner once hosted Tiberius, the Emperor of Rome, for dinner. This cave was connected to the Villa by a series of tunnels and acted as  a formal dining room. Sperlonga also has a beautiful beach where we spent the afternoon and took a class of picture of the 60 students who made it through the 4 years of school that proceeded our Rome Term.

Villa Tiberius 

Ocean at Sperlonga

And after these 5 days were done, we headed back to Rome for October!

Ciao for now!

September in Rome

Today is November 8. I have been in Italy for 80 days. Today is my father's birthday. I have a scholarship application to complete for my Master's. My current studio project needs a lot of work. And I have decided now is an excellent time to write a long overdue post about September in Rome. 

September is a wonderful season in Italy. It has all the best aspects of Canadian summer, with none of the humidity! From my many walks around the city in the early parts of the term, I ended up with a really nice farmer's tan on my arms and glasses tan on my face! 

Throughout the month of September we had a very interesting project to complete for studio. The class was tasked with designing a thematic pavilion within the area of the Colosseum and Roman forum. I choose to design a "White Box", which meant I was designing a room meant for exhibiting objects. I chose to locate the pavilion right next to one of the entrances to the forum, using the forum itself as the object I was displaying.

I designed an interior pathway, with a series of walls, framing and explaining specific views of the Forum, isolating individual objects so as to give people an understanding of them on their own, before entering the forum and understanding them as a collective.

These are the completed panels for the project:

The experience of creating this project was great, because I got to spend several days exploring the Colosseum, Roman Forum, Capitoline Hill, and Palatine Hill areas of Rome. I gained some amazing insights into the use of historical spaces as tourist destinations, and was given some inspiration for the next project on recreating the strategic plan for the whole area surrounding the Colosseum.

Ciao for now!

Rome Away from Home

The time has come. Our whole education in architecture at Waterloo has lead to this. 

Rome. 

The Rome Term at Waterloo Architecture (where I am a student, in case you were unaware) is a tradition dating back 34 years. Every year, the fourth year class travels across the great wide ocean for 4 months to study in the Eternal City. And in the grand tradition of architecture, this first post is GROSSLY overdue. I promised everyone back home (Coworkers, family, friends, and eager Grandparents) that I would start a blog when I got here. Well, I got here on August 20th, 2013, and today, it is October 7th. And today, also in the grand tradition of architecture, I am avoiding other work, by writing it now. (Maybe studio will start later tonight :P) I have spent the last month doing a lot, including travelling with my family, a group case study project, my first studio project, travelling to the south of Italy (More on all of these later), and just generally getting settled. 

My apartment is wonderful. It has three bedrooms (which means no sharing!) and is a beautiful half an hour walk along the Tiber River from my school, in the heart of Trastevere. The only disappointment with the apartment is the view... We traveled thousands of kilometers, to one of the most incredible cities in the world, where you could have a million things to look at from your apartment; inspiring, incredible, breath taking things. And our view, is a McDonalds. Yup, big golden arches and everything. Now don't get me wrong, it is a very nice McDonalds, they don't make them like this back home. But it is still a McDonalds. Not terribly inspiring, but what can you do. 

Despite the view, the location is still great. Every Sunday, this giant flee market comes out of nowhere right outside our front door and just goes on and on with hundreds of stalls. I haven't bought anything yet, but I walk though it every week, looking for something really special. 

We also have an assignment while we are in Rome to fill a page in our sketchbooks everyday, so lookout for some sketches in the future!

  

I will write a few more posts this week to catch you all up on everything that has happened up until this point. But for now, I should really get to work! 

Ciao for now!