Up until this point, I feel like I haven’t seen as much as Italy as I
should have. I’ve been to most of the major cities – Rome, Florence,
Venice, Milan and the Amalfi Coast – but what about all the beautiful
little towns in between? This weekend was a working weekend with our
drawing class, which gave us the opportunity to see some areas we hadn’t
yet seen: Ostia, Caprarola and Bagnaia.
We rode the train out to Ostia on Saturday morning to spend the day exploring and sketching Ostia Antica, which our professor described as the “little sister” of Rome. This ancient city was excavated in the 20th century by Mussolini and is preserved in a way similar to Pompeii (minus the volcanic ash). This day was perfect for two reasons. First of all, the weather could not have been more perfect. Sunny with a high of 70 degrees and not a single cloud in the sky. Second of all, the archaeological site allowed complete access to all of its ruins… meaning all columns were available for hugging. ALL OF THEM! There wasn’t a single rope in my way.
We began our day exploring the graveyards. Since it was illegal to bury the dead inside of Rome, Ostia was a common place for burials among Romans. Next we proceeded to the amphitheater, where we were assigned to draw both the theatre and the piazza behind it. The sunny weather was perfect for sitting and drawing, and there was just enough of a breeze to keep us from sweating. The shaded piazza behind the stage of the theatre had ruins of an ancient temple. After about 20 minutes of drawing, we had a “throw down” which is where everyone puts their sketchbooks together on the ground and the professors can see and review all of them. Here we get lots of feedback on how to improve our drawings, mostly by looking at the work of our peers.
Our next stop was the ancient forum, which is typical of every Roman city. We were only given 15 minutes to sketch this time. Throughout the day, the exercises got faster and faster so that we had to learn to draw without thinking (the idea here is to draw what your eyes see, not what your brain thinks should be correct).
After another throw down, it was time for lunch. Our professors recommended that we bring a lunch, so a group of friends and I had ourselves a lovely little picnic in the grassy field of the forum. We were all silent as we laid in the sun, enjoying the newly arrived spring weather. We didn’t move for the full hour of lunch because we were so comfortable.
After lunch we walked to the commercial center of the city. Ostia is on the Mediterranean coast, so it was a pretty major player in the ancient shipping industry. Our next assignment was to draw two perspectives of the commercial street in only 5 minutes. This is the hardest type of drawing for me, so it didn’t go very well, but the professors really just wanted to see us draw quickly, so I guess mission accomplished?
Our final exercise of the day was in the baths. Every ancient Roman city had baths, which are comparable to a modern YMCA in function. Almost all ancient baths are organized the same way, but the baths in Ostia are very different (organized along a diagonal axis rather than a linear one), which gave us a lot to think about while drawing. Luckily the professors gave us a little bit of extra time so we could figure it out.
We were dismissed from class around 4:00, but we decided to stay in the park and explore further. We found our way to the residential area of the city, where we were able to see typical homes of the time, along with some ancient sculptures. The staircases were preserved in most of the homes, so we climbed to the top floors where we caught a glimpse of the Mediterranean in the distance before heading back to Rome for dinner.
On Sunday we met up at Termini Station to hop on a bus to Caprarola, location of the other (lesser known) Palazzo Farnese. Caprarola is a small, quiet little town about an hour north of Rome. The hillside town is beautiful, full of small buildings scattered down the rolling terrain. We arrived at the Palazzo in midmorning, where we were assigned to draw both the plan of the palace in relationship to the urban context and the front façade of the building. It was another sunny day in Italy, making drawing outdoors a pretty easy task. We threw down our sketchbooks in front of the Palazzo’s piazza, and before our professors could begin to critique our work, a random group of people came up and started looking at our drawings. They immediately smiled and broke into a round of applause, complementing us (in Italian) on our sketches. After a nice little confidence boost, we headed inside the palace.
The palace was once a fortress, giving it a unique pentagonal shape. The interior, however, is full of stunning frescos and vaulted ceilings, making it feel pretty “normal” in every way other than its shape. This palazzo is often used by the movie industry to film scenes that take place in the Vatican since they look so similar. We explored a spiral staircase that connected the kitchen to the dining rooms above, which is a pretty close copy to Michelangelo’s stairway at the Vatican. There was a map room with (very wrong) maps of the known world at the time, as well as a beautiful garden outside. The garden had a grotto, which is something we don’t see a lot of in Rome, so we were pretty excited.
Sadly, we didn’t have a lot of time to explore the rest of Caprarola because we had to continue on to Bagnaia. We got back on the bus for a quick 30 minute trip to the other small, medieval town where we had a break for lunch and exploring. Since most of us brought our lunch again, we walked around the quiet streets and ate some gelato.
After lunch, we met our professors at the Villa Lante, which is considered by many scholars as the most perfect Renaissance garden ever designed. As our professor was giving the introduction lecture, a small old man approached us. He looked tired and confused, but managed to introduce himself and explain that he was a “lost American” who had walked 7 km (4.3 miles) looking for a train or bus back to Rome, after he had missed his. Our professors welcomed him into our class, saying that if he was willing to stick with us through our 2 hour drawing session, we would give him a ride back to Rome in our bus. Throughout the afternoon, he would wander from student to student, giving us complements and asking us questions to learn more about architecture.
We were happy to explain our surroundings because the gardens were so beautiful! The water springs from a grotto at the top, and trickles down the stepped garden in the form of fountains and pools, which are bordered by sculptures and hedges. The best part was that everything was so green! Though the sun had gone behind the clouds for the day, the colors of the garden were still vibrant as they reflected in the water. After throwing down our sketchbooks one last time for our new travel companion to see, we loaded the bus and headed back to Rome.
I have to admit: I wasn’t excited to have to spend a whole weekend in class. Drawing isn’t my strong suit, so a full two days of it didn’t sound like my ideal weekend. BUT, I take back my negative thoughts because within these two days I feel like my drawings improved, and I got to see some of the beautiful Italian countryside in the process. If you spend a whole semester in Rome and don’t make your way down to Ostia or up to Caprarola, I think you’ve missed out. As April approaches, we will be taking a lot more of these small drawing trips, and now I’m even more excited to see which part of Italy I’ll be going to next.
Number of Columns Hugged: 13
Days Since Mexican Food: 91
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Read more from Haley at https://haleywalton.wordpress.com/
To find out more about the U of A Rome Center semester program for Architecture, visit http://studyabroad.uark.edu/romecentersemester/
