Baroque Churches

 

 

The Piazza del Quirinale is the most continuous open plane I've skewered with my verticality in Italy. There is a simplicity in the dark stones, a discreteness that flees into fusion. And a seriousness - there are no crowds of people shifting their weight on their feet, only guards, studding the quiet with their unblinkingness.

 

I imagine the fluctuations of the city billowing out over the years, being drawn in by the noose of rampant death, a pupil dilating in the ever-changing light. The way a city should survive - I'm scared, sometimes, that our American ones are too fast, too sure of themselves, when the foundations are so young. We can't tell if our youth are full of the kind of mischief that's just mischief, or if it bodes something darker, less forgiving.

 

...

 

The elliptical church is most magnificent, I think. Its warmth bedims my memories even of the grandeur of St. Peter's - its density and immediacy welcome me, an athiest, into its belly. Professor Blanchard said it was centered on the short axis for monumentality and power. I feel the strength, but it's the hug of a sister, not the posture of a deity.