Race for the Cure

This morning it was raining in Rome, but that did not stop us (and thousands of others) from participating in the 8th annual Roman "Race for the Cure." Here are some pictures from the race. 

The race began and ended at the Baths of Caracala,
completed in the year 216 AD.

Go Sisters!

From the Baths of Caracala, the race route went along the Circus Maximus, past the Temple of Hercules, through Piazza Vinezia, along the Roman Forum and around the Colosseum before heading back to the Baths of Caracala past the Arch of Constantine.
Here is Vincenzo modeling the race shirt. He ran the 5 km race.
I walked the 5 km. Below is a picture of me at the Colosseum with some of my colleagues from school.

Happy Mother's Day

This is a picture of the Madonna, as a mother,  in the Oratory of St. Francis Xavier del Caravita. I share it here in honor of Joan Litman, the mother of our kids, Emily and Peter. It is also in memory of my own mother, Dorothy Hilda Litman.

Pentecost: Do people wear red to Mass in Rome?

The Ambo icon of Pentecost

at the Oratory of St Francis Xavier del Caravita

Today is Pentecost Sunday. In my New York parish there was a tradition that the congregation wore red clothing to church on Pentecost. This morning I got dressed in a red shirt, wondering... "Do Romans wear red shirts to church on Pentecost?" (Did I look like one of Garibaldi's men during the Risorgimento, the campaign for the unification of Italy?) As I walked to the bus stop, the woman waiting at the traffic signal was wearing a red blouse. At the bus stop there was a man with a bright red shirt. (I don't think either were going to church.) There seemed to be red roses blooming everywhere this morning.

When I got to church there were maybe a half dozen Americans wearing red. A couple of us posed for this picture after Mass. (I apologize that it is out of focus. It was taken by a Dominican from Florida.)

Ambrit Dance Festival

This past Thursday Ambrit-Rome International Schoolhad a Dance Festival with each grade performing. The festival featured dances from around the world. Everyone worked hard to prepare the dances and we all had fun on the day of the festival.

The 2nd grade performed a Canoe Dance

from the Haliwa-Saponi Nation of North America.

The 4th grade performed a Virginia Reel.

These are some of my 5th grade students

performing a traditional Tyrolean dance.

The 1st grade performed "Yuyake Koyake," 

a traditional Japanese dance.

The 3rd grade performed a Harlem street dance.

Prep performed a traditional Chinese ribbon dance.

The Kindergarten performed "Draw Me a Bucket of Water,"

a U.S. children's dance.

The 6th grade brought the Scottish "De'il Amang the Tailors."

The 7th grade performed "Les Bouffons,"

a Renaissance sword dance,

using sticks and pan lids for swords and shields.

We enjoyed "Kalamatianos," a traditional Greek dance,

performed by the 8th grade.

The Ambrit After School Dance Clubs performed Hip Hop.

Olives, Poppies, and Trulli

On Sunday we got back from a four day trip to Puglia, a region in southern Italy on the Adriatic coast. We spent three nights in Locorotondo, a beautiful baroque town overlooking the Valley of Itria. Puglia is a land of roads lined with rock walls, fields of poppies and acres and acres of olive trees.

One of our first excursions took us to the Castel del Monte, an interesting octagonal stone prisim built by the Emperor Frederick II in the 13th Century. There are several theories about the construction of the castle. Is the plan mathematical or magical? One can see Romanesque, Gothic, and Arabian influences in its design. All in all, it seems to be more of a monument to the emperor than a structure for defense. It sits atop a hill like a permanent crown for the Holy Roman Emperor who built it.

Locorotondo is a hill top town, surrounded by farm lands, built on a plan of narrow circular streets with white washed houses, staircases and arches. Our bed and breakfast was in the shadow of the bell tower of the 18th Century of San Georgio. We enjoyed quiet evenings walking through the white stone streets to go to dinner or to the bar/gelateria for a dessert.



Close to Locorotondo is the city of Alberobello, which has been designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO because of the many Trulli in the city. Trulli (singular=Trullo) are unusual rounded structures made from grey stone with cone-shaped roofs. The hilltop that makes up Alberobello's center is made up of over a hundred Trulli, some 5 centuries old.

Trulli Saints!

The origin of this stone teepee design is unknown. Some theories date the Trulli back 5000 years. One story of their origin claims that they were first constructed during the Middle Ages to avoid paying dwelling taxes. If the occupants heard that the tax man was coming, the Trulli were rapidly dismantled and moved out of sight. After the tax collector's visit was over, the homes were re-erected. Today you see Trulli that are firmly "planted and buttressed" with stucco and connecting walls. Three or four Trulli are often united by walls to form larger homes.


We also visited the towns of Ostuni, San Vito dei Normanni and Martina Franca.

Women of Ostuni.

Cleaning time in Marina Franca

Men of San Vito dei Normanni

Wedding in Martina Franca

1001 Buildings: A Post Office

Last Christmas some friends gave me a book titled 1001 Buildings You Must See Before You Die: The World's Finest Architectural Masterpieces, edited by Mark Irving. (2007, Universe Publishing, a division of Rizzoli International, New York)

One of the buildings in this book was the big Post Office, 3 km from our apartment. I had always noticed it as a "nice" building, but after reading about it in the book I now pay particular attention every time I pass it on the bus. Adalberto Libera and Mario DeRenzi's design was the winner of a competition for a post office at the foot of the Aventine Hill, across the street from the 1st Century BC Pyramid of Cestius and the medieval Porta San Paolo,

This post office is one of the many buildings from the Fascist era in Rome. It is a travertine U-shaped building, housing three floors of offices with an enclosed oval space in the middle. This attractive stainless steel, marble and glass public hall is a form like the nearby Circus Maximus and the familiar Piazza Navona. Instead of people gathering here for races and games, people wait for postal services. I find particularly interesting the lattice-like walls of the building's side wings, the strong horizontal of the long front porch, and the view from the street of the upper level of the public hall.






















Here are some pictures of a 1929 fire station across the street from the Post Office. It was built just four years before the Post Office!

"San Carlino" by Borromini

The church of San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane is dedicated to the Holy Trinity and to St. Charles Borromeo.



Francesco Borromini (1599-1667) came to Rome when he was 20 years old to work at St. Peter’s for his architect uncle, Carlo Maderno, and Bernini. Borromini did not get his own architectural commission until he was 35, when the Order of the Holy Trinity asked him to build a monastery and then a church for their property on the Quirinale Hill.



The Order of the Holy Trinity in Rome (Trinitari Scalzi or Barefoot Trinitarians) was a reformed Spanish branch of an order whose founding intention was the ransom of Christians held captive by Moors during the Crusades. As their website says, from the beginning they were “dedicated to the service of redemption and unarmed, with no other weapon beside mercy, and with the only purpose of returning hope to the brothers in the faith who suffer under the yoke of captivity.” Today the order is made up of men and women throughout the world working with refugees and the oppressed, as well as education and pastoral work.


It is difficult for me to put into words a short description of either the interior or the exterior of San Carlo alle Quttro Fontane. I hope these pictures and quotes will allow you to enjoy “San Carlino.”


One of the most subtle and original buildings of the Roman Baroque, and a source of endless pleasure for anyone who enjoys the play of space, light and texture in architecture. A masterpiece by one of Italy’s most unusual designers and a work so skillfully integrated into a given piece of Rome’s monumental townscape. John Wilton-Ely (Art historian, Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, London, and Royal Society of Arts)



This is a complete work of sculpture masquerading as a building. The contrapuntal rhythm of its curves and the complete inversion of interior and exterior space is breathtaking. The building shows that the distinction among painting, sculpture and architecture disappear in the work of a great artist. Waltar Chatham (Architect, New York City)