The Borghese Gallery

Hands down, this is my favorite site in all of Europe...so far.  (We have Paris later this week!)

The top floor is filled with Renaissance and Baroque paintings, which is pretty cool, but the highlight of the gallery are the Bernini statues on the first floor, each major one the centerpiece of their own rooms.  I first learned about these statues in my first humanities classes when I was a freshman in college, and I've wanted to see them ever since.

When we saw "David," I was practically jumping up and down...

If that's not a determined face, I don't know what is.

So much movement.  I imagine it's hard
to do that with stone.

It's when I was taking this shot that I realized what was next.

When we saw "Apollo and Daphne,"  I felt like throwing up (from excitement, like O'Hara on Travesera de Gracia)...

It amazes how thin Bernini was able to make these leaves.
You can practically see light through them.

Daphne transforming into a laurel tree.
Her toe nails are turning into roots.

When we saw "The Rape of Proserpina," I thought I was going to faint...

 

This looks too real.

Eric pointed this out to me:  There's a tear under her left eye.

We saw a few more Bernini statues (and other pieces of artwork by other artists), then circled around twice more to get two more looks.  I wanted to soak in as much Bernini before I had to leave them indefinitely.  Who knows when we'll be back to Rome.

Incredible.  Beautiful.  Awe-inspiring.
I can keep going...

As I was admiring "Apollo and Daphne" for the third time, a couple of pre-teens dragged around by their parents in a large American tour group passed by me.  As they did, I glanced down and saw them playing a mindless game on an iPad.

Clutching my heart at this scene displaying the horrendously uncultured generation of kids we have today (Don't they know Bernini is THE BEST sculptor to ever pick at a rock?!!), I turned to Eric, who was stifling a laugh at my shocked face, and exasperatedly whispered, "Did you see that?"

Still chuckling, he replied with, "I knew you would notice."

At that moment, a large group of noisy 10 (or so) year olds began coming down the hall.  "Hey. Brazilians," Eric said once he could pick out their chattering.  As each of the school group stepped into the Apollo room (as it's called on the gallery map), they pointed to the statue in awe and exclaimed, "Olhe, Daphne!" ("Look, Daphne!")

I can breathe a little easier knowing that our cultural future is in good hands with Brazilian children.  They appreciate good art when they see it.