ROME :Italy’s capital,home to the Vatican as well as Colosseum:’the Roman Wonder of the World’ & ancient ruins:the Roman Forum

On 5/9/22,We proceeded from Barcelona to Rome on a 3-day trip to visit some amazing destinations.Here I am giving the list of all destinations worth visiting! Description of the destinations I will be posting alongwith the forthcoming respective blogs!Here we will also have some glimpses of famous Italian sculptors & painters

ROME :

Rome is the capital city of Italy. It is also the capital of the Lazio region, the centre of the Metropolitan City of Rome, and a special comune named Comune di Roma Capitale. Rome is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, within Lazio (Latium), along the shores of the Tiber. Vatican City (the smallest country in the world) is an independent country inside the city boundaries of Rome, the only existing example of a country within a city. Rome is often referred to as the City of Seven Hills due to its geographic location, and also as the “Eternal City”.Rome is generally considered to be the “cradle of Western civilization and Christian culture”, and the centre of the Catholic Church.
Rome’s history spans 28 centuries. While Roman mythology dates the founding of Rome at around 753 BC, the site has been inhabited for much longer, making it a major human settlement for almost three millennia and one of the oldest continuously occupied cities in Europe. Eventually, the city successively became the capital of the Roman Kingdom, the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire. Rome became first one of the major centres of the Renaissance and then the birthplace of both the Baroque style and Neoclassicism. Famous artists, painters, sculptors, and architects made Rome the centre of their activity, creating masterpieces throughout the city. In 1871, Rome became the capital of the Kingdom of Italy, which, in 1946, became the Italian Republic.
In 2019, Rome was the 14th most visited city in the world, with 8.6 million tourists, the third most visited in the European Union, and the most popular tourist destination in Italy. Its historic centre is listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. The host city for the 1960 Summer Olympics, Rome is also the seat of several specialised agencies of the United Nations, such as the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the World Food Programme (WFP) and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). The city also hosts the Secretariat of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union for the Mediterranean.Rome’s EUR business district is the home of many oil industries, the pharmaceutical industry, and financial services companies. The presence of renowned international brands in the city has made Rome an important centre of fashion and design, and the Cinecittà Studios have been the set of many Academy Award–winning movies.

SOME WORTH VISITING DESTINATIONS OF ROME :

1)COLESSIUM ,2)ROMAN FORUM ,3)THE PANTHEON(Pizza Della Rotonda) ,4)TREVI FOUNTAIN ,5)ST.ANGELO CASTLE, 6)PIAZZA NAVONA ,7)SPANISH STEPS ,8)SAINT PETERS SQUARE ,9)VATICAN MUSEUM ,10)LEANING TOWER OF PISA

Some famous Italian Sculptors & Painters:

1)BERNINI SCULPTURES:

Impressive & realistic sculptures by the 17th-century baroque artist Gian Lorenzo Bernini can be seen in Rome’s churches, museums & squares. You’ll find his life-sized, marble “David” in the Borghese Gallery & Museum & can spot carvings of river gods in the Fiumi Fountain in Piazza Navona, an open public space on the site of Stadium of Domitian, Rome. Italian sculptor & architect Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598-1680) was a genius of the Baroque era who left an indelible mark on Rome’s artistic & architectural heritage. Almost three & half centuries after his death, Bernini’s masterpieces can be found in Rome’s streets as well as its churches, museums & palaces.

2)MICHAELANGELO SCULPTURES:

In his lifetime, Michelangelo (6 March 1475 – 18 February 1564), was often called Il Divino (“the divine one”) was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect and poet of the High Renaissance. Born in the Republic of Florence, his work had a major influence on the development of Western art, particularly in relation to the Renaissance notions of humanism and naturalism.Michelangelo is one of the best-documented artists of the 16th century and several scholars have described Michelangelo as the most accomplished artist of his era.

He sculpted two of his best-known works, the Pietà and David, before the age of thirty. Despite holding a low opinion of painting, he also created two of the most influential frescoes in the history of Western art: the scenes from Genesis on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Rome, and The Last Judgment on its altar wall. His design of the Laurentian Library pioneered Mannerist architecture. At the age of 71, he succeeded Antonio da Sangallo the Younger as the architect of St. Peter’s Basilica. He transformed the plan so that the western end was finished to his design, as was the dome, with some modification, after his death. Michelangelo was the first Western artist whose biography was published while he was alive. In fact, two biographies were published during his lifetime.

3)DONATELLO SCULPTURES :

Donatello was born in Florence, Italy in 1386 and started his apprenticeship as a goldsmith before becoming an apprentice to the famed architect and designer, Filippo Brunelleschi. Numerous of Donatello’s paintings depicted characters from the early Christian movement, such as John the Baptist and many of Jesus’ followers.

Donatello’s representation of the Bible’s David is one of his most renowned sculptures.

4)MARINO MARINI SCUPTURES :

Marino Marini (27 February 1901 – 6 August 1980) was a sculptor and educator from Italy.Marini created sculptures based on numerous subjects, including equestrian, Pomonas (nudes), portraits, and circus characters.

Marini is most known for his stylized equestrian sculptures, which depict a man riding a horse with extended arms. The artist’s reaction to the changing setting of the contemporary world is reflected in the development of the horse and rider as a subject in Marini’s paintings. In Florence, there is a museum devoted to his work in the old church of San Pancrazio.

5)BENVENUTO CELLINI SCUPTURES :

Cellini, Benvenuto (1500 –1571) was an Italian jeweler, sculptor, and author. Cellini’s most well-known existing works are the Cellini Salt Cellar, Perseus with the Head of Medusa, and his autobiography, which has been dubbed “one of the most significant texts of the sixteenth century.”Apart from his gold and silver creations, Cellini created sculptures on a greater scale. Probably one of the most significant works of his French time is the Golden Gate at the Château de Fontainebleau.

6)FILIPPO BRUNELLESCHI SCULPTURES:

Filippo Brunelleschi (1377-1446) was an Italian architect, designer & sculptor who is today regarded as the first modern engineer, planner & single construction supervisor. Brunelleschi received the first patent in the Western world in 1421.

He is best known for designing the dome of the Florence Cathedral, a feat of engineering not seen since antiquity, as well as for pioneering the mathematical technique of linear perspective in art, which governed pictorial representations of space until the late nineteenth century and influenced the rise of modern science. Other architectural achievements, sculpture, mathematics, engineering, &ship design are also among his talents.Majority of his surviving works are housed in Florence,Italy.

7)LUCA DELLA ROBBIA SCULPTURES:

Though he was a prominent stone sculptor, he specialized in terracotta after establishing his technique in the early 1440s. His vast studio produced both affordable mass-made works cast from molds and more pricey one-of-a-kind personally sculpted pieces.

The Nativity (about 1460) and Madonna and Child (around 1475) are two of his most renowned paintings. In stone, his most renowned work, the choir gallery, Cantoria in the Florence Cathedral (1431–1438)(shown above), is also his first important assignment.

8)ANDREA DEL VERROCCHIO SCULPTURES:

Andrea del Verrocchio (1435 – 1488), born Andrea di Michele di Francesco de’ Cioni, was an Italian sculptor, painter, and goldsmith who was the master of a prestigious studio in Florence. Leonardo da Vinci, Pietro Perugino, and Lorenzo di Credi were among his students.

His greatest accomplishment was as a sculptor, and his last work, the Equestrian statue of Bartolomeo Colleoni in Venice is widely considered a masterpiece. The monument was subsequently mounted on a Leopardi-designed pedestal in Venice’s Santi Giovanni e Paolo Basilica, where it still stands today.

9)ANDREA PISANO SCULPTURES:

Andrea Pisano (Pontedera, 1290 – Orvieto, 1348), also known as Andrea da Pontedera, was a sculptor and architect from Italy. Pisano began his career as a goldsmith. Around 1300, Pisano became a disciple of Mino di Giovanni, with whom he collaborated on the sculpture for S. Maria della Spina in Pisa and elsewhere.

Andrea Pisano also created several signicant works of marble sculpture while residing in Florence, all of which have a striking resemblance to Giotto’s work. He replaced Giotto as Master of the Florence Cathedral’s Works in 1340. In 1347, he was appointed Master of the Works at Orvieto Cathedral, which Lorenzo Maitani had previously planned & completed. Pisano’s sole known works are these &the aforementioned doors. Pisano also had a role in emancipating contemporary art from Byzantine influence.

10)LEONARDO DA VINCI :

Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (1452-1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor,& architect. While his fame initially rested on his achievements as a painter, he also became known for his notebooks, in which he made drawings &notes on a variety of subjects, including anatomy, astronomy, botany, cartography, painting & paleontology. Leonardo is widely regarded to have been a genius who epitomized the Renaissance humanist ideal,&his collective works comprise a contribution to later generations of artists matched only by that of his younger contemporary, Michelangelo.

Leonardo is identified as one of the greatest painters in the history of art & is often credited as the founder of the High Renaissance.Despite having many lost works and less than 25 attributed major works—including numerous unfinished works—he created some of the most influential paintings in Western art. His magnum opus, the Mona Lisa, is his best known work & often regarded as the world’s most famous painter.

11)RAPHAEL :

Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino, better known as Raphael (1483 –1520) was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. His work is admired for its clarity of form, ease of composition, and visual achievement of the Neoplatonic ideal of human grandeur.Together with Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, he forms the traditional trinity of great masters of that period.

My dear readers may kindly point out any incorrect information in my above writeup needing any corrections! I am truly indebted to Wikipedia & for the invaluable information on the subject !Happy Reading !