Santa Maria in Trastevere

Yesterday when we were in Rome to see the Orto Botanico, we passed by Santa Maria in Trastevere, one of the oldest churches in Rome. This is the first church I went into exactly a year ago, on the trip when we saw Calvi for the first time. It felt to me a really big deal to re-visit this site, to go inside and remember the feelings of overwhelmedness, the jaw dropping beauty, and the uncertainty of what I was going through then. Walking into the same gorgeous space, this time LIVING here and knowing I could come back to see this whenever I might desire, was a completely different experience.

The image of Mary flanked by five women holding lamps is a 12th-C mosaic and some believe it might be one of the earliest iconographic depiction of the Virgin nursing Jesus.

Inside the church are a number of late 13th-century mosaics attributed to Pietro Cavallini on the subject of the life of the Virgin, centering on a “Coronation of the Virgin” in the apse.

This is said to be one of the first depictions that presents Mary on the same level as Jesus, sitting next to him as his peer, as opposed to at his feet or standing nearby.

In other late-breaking news, Josie is taking after Icarus.

Apparently unthwarted by fear or reason, we discovered this morning that she had gotten herself quite an impressive burn. That stripe of fur on her right front leg is permanently brown and a big ‘ol strip is singed down to the skin- though I don’t think she actually damaged her skin. I swear it’s not THAT cold in here. What is she trying to tell me? Or is it just that she’s expressing her American-ness in wanting more, more, more?Yesterday when we were in Rome to see the Orto Botanico, we passed by Santa Maria in Trastevere, one of the oldest churches in Rome. This is the first church I went into exactly a year ago, on the trip when we saw Calvi for the first time. It felt to me a really big deal to re-visit this site, to go inside and remember the feelings of overwhelmedness, the jaw dropping beauty, and the uncertainty of what I was going through then. Walking into the same gorgeous space, this time LIVING here and knowing I could come back to see this whenever I might desire, was a completely different experience.

The image of Mary flanked by five women holding lamps is a 12th-C mosaic and some believe it might be one of the earliest iconographic depiction of the Virgin nursing Jesus.

Inside the church are a number of late 13th-century mosaics attributed to Pietro Cavallini on the subject of the life of the Virgin, centering on a “Coronation of the Virgin” in the apse.

This is said to be one of the first depictions that presents Mary on the same level as Jesus, sitting next to him as his peer, as opposed to at his feet or standing nearby.

In other late-breaking news, Josie is taking after Icarus.

Apparently unthwarted by fear or reason, we discovered this morning that she had gotten herself quite an impressive burn. That stripe of fur on her right front leg is permanently brown and a big ‘ol strip is singed down to the skin- though I don’t think she actually damaged her skin. I swear it’s not THAT cold in here. What is she trying to tell me? Or is it just that she’s expressing her American-ness in wanting more, more, more?