Prima Notte

Blogging is hard to start. It’s been suggested that we perhaps choose a theme, but I think maybe it’s just best to start and see where you end up.

I guess that’s how I’ve approached this trip; I mean, I knew I wanted to be here, but I wasn’t sure what to expect, and I made a point of not thinking about it too much.

Probably the best place to start this blog is the same place we started this experience, the Pantheon. Julio Bermudez gave a lecture on Beauty, a moment of Inspiration and Ecstasy, a moment of Understanding and Unity. I don’t believe I have yet experienced such a moment, but perhaps the closest I have come was my first visit to the Pantheon three years ago. Feeling the cool, monolithic granite of the columns, staring at the blazing oculus, it was (to be cliché) magical. Therefore on our first night in Rome, as Eric led us through the winding (then confusing) streets of Rome, when I started to recognize our surroundings I was overcome with silent excitement building in my chest. ‘He can’t be taking us there… the first night… is it possible?’ We burst from the weaving streets onto the piazza and before us stood the massive, quiet structure of the historic temple. I can remember nothing that was said as I walked toward it, only the feel of its draw. Standing there on the porch, feeling the columns rising next to me, I knew that this was what I had waited for, this was the reason I needed to come back to Rome.

Many people come to Rome. They take pictures of the outside of the Pantheon and move on along their Rome-In-A-Day tour. To some this is distressing, as it is the inside of the Pantheon that is truly a must see. To me, however, it is standing on the threshold of a masterpiece, feeling both the inside and the outside, feeling it pull at you, threatening to overtake you.