GALLERIA DORIA PAMPHILJ
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| THE BALLROOM |
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| THE GALLERY |
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| POPE INNOCENT X |
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| THE RED VELVET ROOM |
It was a cold, rainy day in ancient Rome.
The rain, heavy at times, materialized, but it was sunny when we walked up the Tiber, crossed over on Ponte Garibaldi, which is at the tip of the island, and wound our way through various front and back streets to a museum we almost skipped, Galleria Doria Pamphilj. It turned out to be perhaps the most delightful palace/museum we've been to on this trip. It's still owned by the family, and an audio guide, narrated by one of the family with a strong Cambridge accent and matching wit guided us through the many restored rooms and pointed out some of the special features of the palace and the pictures exhibited. There was the ballroom, built for someone's wedding, and the gallery that had windows and gold-framed mirrors on both sides that gave it a dazzling effect similar to the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles. Among the various Bruegels and Caravaggios was an exquisite portrait of one of the family members, Pope Innocent X by Velazquez. (Uncle Frank?) After, it was still raining fairly hard, so we took the #170 back to our neighborhood. Maybe after a few more trips to Rome, we can get around town by bus half as well as the Brucatos do, which would be saying something! Tomorrow, an almost 24-hour trip home! We'll be so delighted to meet up with the Spillers at the Tucson airport. We will...right John?
