lauramsgarden

For our last day we had bought advanced tickets for the Borghesi Gallery. The security was tight but efficient. I don't know why I reacted differently here but I love love loved it. Perhaps because it was so well labelled and the pieces were each exquisite in their own way, beautifully displayed (except some glare on some of the higher paintings). The Bernini's were mind-blowing. the graceful beauty of the statues, the use of color, the pressure of the marble hand on thigh - Steve and I have been marveling all night. the collection was enriched by an exhibit of a modern artist, Damien Hirsh, whose pieces reflected and commented on the classic collection. I'll let the photos speak for themselves. We then returned to the hotel to pack and rest before our early flight tomorrow. buono notte

Borghesi gallery

the grasping hand!

David by Bernini

Bellini

Damien Hirst

Damien Hirst

TDudette

Bernini was an unknown name before our trip to Rome....that hand on the thigh was incroyable. Good trip home and thanks for taking the time to share your trip!

Leely2

I found them both (the brother and sister owners) very gracious, as was the rest of the staff. And you sure can't beat the food!

ETA: laurams, I saw a very interesting, love-it-or-hate-it Damien Hirst exhibition in Venice a few years ago, Treasures of the Wreck of the Unbelievable. I enjoyed it--a sight to see. But the art world largely panned it. The pieces in your photos from the Borghese look like they're from that exhibition.

lauramsgarden

same for us, as well as Bellini and Fra Angelo, learned a lot about art. There was also in the Pitti a woman artisst who reminded me a lot of Mary Cassat but of course I've already forgotten her name!

Adelaidean

Thanks for taking the time to share your trip with us!

whitehall

lauramsgarden I enjoyed your TR and photos. Sounds like all went well. Although my wife and I once owned a fine dining restaurant, we weren't brave enough to have menu items like "pigeon and popcorn." I especially liked the personal silver bureau with drawers full of different kinds of cookies! Thank you for sharing.

KarenWoo

Yes, thanks for sharing your trip to Italy! I loved following along. Did you need an Italian health pass to get into restaurants, museums, etc.?

whitehall

KarenWoo Easy answer, since we were in Italy a few weeks earlier than laura. You do need a "{Green pass") to go into restaurants and museums. However, under current Italian rules, the US CDC card is equal to an Italian Green Pass. If you are from the US, the only way you can currently get a genuine Italian green pass is a temporary one, good for 2-3 days, based on a then current negative Covid test, the length of which depends on the type of Covid test. The negative Covid test we received in order to return to the US, for example, resulted in our getting an Italian Green Pass, good for two days with an accompanying QR code. Again, our CDC card has the same weight, without expiration, and was accepted everywhere we traveled in Italy (although a little prompting by us was needed a couple of times when we were dealing with untrained people in areas not frequented by people from the US). Of course, all of this is subject to change at any time, depending on the course of the pandemic.

KarenWoo

Whitehall, thank you for your detailed response. Yes, we are from the US. We were in France in August, and the CDC card was not "officially" recognized/accepted by restaurants, museums, etc. But most restaurants did accept them (even though they weren't supposed to). Only one restaurant turned us away because we didn't have the French Pass Sanitaire. It's certainly convenient that Italy accepts the CDC card, and hopefully it will continue to do so.

lauramsgarden

Yes, what Whithall said - I will post separately but the cdc pass was accepted everywhere. (it was kinda cute - they would look at it and say, "oh Modena, bene" and then look at Steve's and say "Pfizer, bene". Only one place in Venice did we need to have ID with it as well resulting in running back to hotel for drivers license and losing half an hour of time. Ironically after that first time no one asked for ID. In Rome we were told to carry our passports with us and had to show them once or twice. Almost all restaurants were good about asking to see them. A couple asked but then forgot to look lol. The museums were very strict about the enforcement and a couple of times did temperature checks as well. .
Getting the negative test to go back was super easy as well. The hotel made an appointment for us with a local pharmacy - barely took 15 minutes. You do need your passport for that.

lauramsgarden

Just to put the final punctuation on this very long trip report I am pleased to announce that we are home. We were very grateful that we had reserved a ride on the hotel van to the airport when we learned that morning that Italy's taxi drivers were on strike! We left ourselves plenty of time and had plenty of time. The part I was nervous about (would the covid test pass muster) went fine and security was relatively smooth. We had an hour to spare. Flight was early and went well but 9 hours is long no matter how you cut it. The only part of the return trip that didn't go well was the driver on the way home tried to get clever with the route and a 1.5 hour trip took 3 hours by which point we had been up for almost 20 hours and I was not amused.... Here are a few last pictures - Happy travels all.

Castellina in Chianti

floor in Siena Duomo

Borghesi Gallery

Keats Shelley house

from the top of the Spanish Stairs

sunset over Venice

TDudette

It was a super trip report, lauramsgarden. Thanks for taking the time to organize everything so well.

lauramsgarden

You are welcome TDudette - thanks for all your input. Safe and healthy travels (and here's to joyous times)

KarenWoo

All the photos are gorgeous! Especially that sunset over Venice! It doesn't look real!