Giornale 2: Castele Sant'Angelo

Today I decided to take my second solo excursion literally and go by myself to the Castel Sant’Angelo. The enormous castle is situated on the Tiber River alongside the bridge of the same name and is a short walk from our dorms at St. John’s. Although I was feeling a little under the weather, the shining sun and prospect of going to a museum on my own with no restrictions on where I go and how long I can take gave me a small boost. Waiting in line at the ticket office, I heard at least three languages being spoken around me. There were tourists from America, England, and Germany as well as some native Italians. I wasn’t expecting the site to be so popular, but the line was quite long. Once again upon entering the castle, I was amazed by its sheer size. Even though its fortified walls and bastions make the entire structure seem larger, the main building itself is significantly larger than what I perceived the remains of the Mausoleum of Augustus to be. This is in keeping with the ancient emperors attempting to outdo each other and reminded me of Nero outdoing the original palaces on the Palatine with the massive Domus Aurea. After buying my ticket, I examined the walls from the inside. The high arches and underpasses reminded me of the base floor of the Colosseum. Then I walked up the stairs to the first landing, where I could look out over the Tiber and even glimpse the top of St. Peter’s Basilica. Walking through the dimly lit passageways, the atmosphere of the building felt cold and gloomy. I would peer through small doorways and niches in the wall only to find them blocked off with stone. These unexplained architectural mysteries are probably a result of the structure’s many transformations and expansions from the original 2^nd century CE structure. The maze-like organization of the fortress made it sometimes difficult to navigate. If I resided in the fortress during medieval times, I would feel both a sense of security and anxiety from its labyrinthine structure. Some areas were also closed off with locked iron gates, and I could only catch glimpses of smaller rooms that may only be opened for special exhibits. Also in these dark and winding staircases were walls labeled as “muro Romano” and an ancient sepulcher. These parts of the castle were architectural reminders of the layered and built up structure. Despite the architectural evidence of its ancient origins, however, the focus of the museum itself was on its more recent papal uses. The gallery of religious iconography had many paintings and sculptures similar to those in the Galleria Borghese. One of the most memorable pieces was a statue of the Grim Reaper called the ‘Allegory of Death’ by Giuseppe Lazzerini, which provided a stark contrast to the depicted nativity scenes. Another striking feature was the sculpture of the Archangel Michael, which gives the castle its name. According to the Blue Guide, legend has it that St. Gregory saw the angel atop the fortress after praying for the cessation of the plague in 590. After walking through the majority of the museum, I felt that I had grasped the historical evolution of the structure. Like so many other sites in Rome, the Castel Sant’Angelo provides a kind of “two-for-one” experience, connecting Ancient Rome to the Holy Roman Empire.