St. Basil on Aventine Hill

Europe » Italy » Lazio » Rome
September 22nd 2006

Published: September 27th 2006

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Mary Margaret

St. Basil's Church

Today Davide took us to the church of St. Basil on Aventine Hill. It’s this remarkable church that is the only work of Piranesi that was executed during his lifetime. Davide had received special permission for us to look inside and it was so great! It used to be the headquarters of the Knights of Malta, a group very similar to the more popular (thanks, Dan Brown) Knights of Templar. The whole church detail was done in plaster, so it’s all very white, very smooth. I loved it. The altar was so beautiful and really reflected Piranesi’s style of collaging different objects to make one. The church had this great view overlooking the city.

We also went into the gardens behind the church. They were so awesome. It was really like being in the Secret Garden. We walked out of there and down the street to this basilica. The basilica was absolutely amazing. It had these great high windows that really emphasized the use of light in there. It was probably one of my favorite churches I’ve seen so far, and it wasn’t terribly detailed either. I think that the use of light really made an impact and related the

The alter

idea of Christ as light. The church also had a bit of Celtic influence and Davide said this was a product of the Lombards influencing the northern part of Italy and trickling its way down to Rome. Cool, huh?

We walked outside of the basilica and found ourselves in this amazing orange garden/park. It was gorgeous and had a really nice view over the city. You forget how much you miss green space while in a city—it really makes me miss Fayetteville.
Being in a huge city is really exciting but also really humbling. I walk down the street to school, hear a car honk and look around to see who is trying to get my attention and say hi. In reality, it’s just an angry driver trying not to hit the moped. But in Fayetteville, I walk down Maple and there’s usually always someone driving by who knows me. It makes me realize just what a speck I am in the universe. Which is kind of sad, but most of all eye opening in how big the world really is. But it is a little lonely here, especially coming from a place where you have lived your entire

The ceiling

life and everyone knows you. But I’m sure I will get over my homesickness. It’s not bad enough to keep me from having a good time, but it is a little hard.

Jamie, Amanda, and Jinny wanted to cheer me up from my homesickness, so of course we went shopping. We went down this street I like to call Viale di High School Musical. That’s not really the name, but I don’t know the street name and I just remember that it has this huge advertisement of High School Musical on it. The street is pretty close to the Spanish Steps and is basically flanked by rows of shops. We were walking, trying to decide which store to go into, and I spotted The Body Shop. I know, a little American, but it’s still great—all natural, refuses to test on animals, and it smells really nice. We seriously spent an hour in there. I got a discount card (yea!) so now I also get something like 10% off every time I visit, and some special thing for it being the month of my birthday. Now I smell really good, I’m super clean, and I feel a lot better. It

Close up of the alter

was just so incredibly comforting to go in there and smell things that reminded me of my past. I can’t really explain it, but there’s one scent there called “satstuma”. It’s basically a sweet, exotic orange smell, and I’ve loved it ever since my sister Jennifer brought me some lotion of it when I was in the 3rd grade. So you can imagine my trip down memory lane when I bought it. It was great!

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