"Very pretty, take a picture."

On a site visit to Siena, Emilio once said, "Very pretty, take a picture." Bill and I still repeat that phrase when the occasion arises. There is not much to say about these images because a picture is worth a 1000 words. Let me simply apologize for the lack of a consistent order in posting them. There is probably a way to label blog images but I've yet to figure it out. Mi scusi. All this eye candy really needs is identification of the pictures so I'll start from the top and work down.

The cloister at S. Paolo Outside the Wall
S. Sabine
Detail of the ceiling and alabaster windows at S. Paolo Outside the Wall
Borromini's Oratorio next to the Chiesa Nuova
Ceiling detail at S. Maria in Trastevere
Interior view of a series of chapels at S. Maria in Trastevere
The colonnade outside S. Paolo Outside the Wall

What was really a surprise is the remarkable difference between the exterior and the interior environments at S. Paolo. I had never found myself in such a monumental peristyle before. You can see from the last image that the peristyle is very immense, very classical (ok, neoclassical), and very crisply executed. I expected to find the interior to be the same. However, there is no correspondence between the cold precision of the exterior and the warm execution of the interior except perhaps typologically speaking insofar as peristyles and courtyards often marked the entrances to basilicas. I love the alabaster windows in the basilica of S. Paolo. So, there is really nothing more to say except, "Enjoy!"