Among the ruins of Ostia and one lone Bernini Angel.

This is a detail from the face blocks at Ostia Antica (you can see in the last post that I'm casually leaning against them. I really did enjoy my time there!)Interestingly, it reminded me of another place I hold fond in my memory.

And it was, oddly enough, Blarney Castle in Ireland.

Beautiful Blarney Castle, where Spider Girl and I roamed free in '99. Climbing trees, scrambling through dark under tunnels deep below the walls and scaling the ruins of the castle itself, free from red velvet ropes and warnings not to touch. (Also very free from handrails and other safety features that are so predominant in other places more concerned about litigation!)
(Pssst, I didn't take that picture. It's from Wikipedia. It was "Taken by Valdoria august 2006").

Most other countries (it seems to me) have their history and precious artifacts tied up, nailed down and encased in plastic only available from viewing at a great distance.

Not so Ireland, and not so Italy!

No, my experience with both countries was a general welcoming to experience first hand the art and architecture. (Lounging was obviously encouraged as seen by the strategic placement of low lying walls, placed most advantageously for weary Canadians.)

It said to me, "Here. Here is how we lived. What we walked upon and the things we saw. It's been here for hundreds of years before you arrived and will be for many more centuries after you pass."

That being said, I understand the necessity of 'protecting' things from humanity.

We'd be fools to allow all our precious objects exposure to the elements and religious dictate (witness the loss of many fine genitals to mallets, chisels and fig leaves), but sometimes history really needs to be touched to be understood. (And no! I'm not referring to the aforementioned lost genitals!)

So I'm really grateful to Italy for allowing it's history to absorbed in a more visceral manner.

And I'm really thankful to Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598-1680) for carving the angels on the Ponte Sant'Angelo! My friends may laugh, but I've been crushing on Bernini since my last trip to Rome, and this trip just reinforced it.

We even made the trip to the church Santa Maria Maggiore to see his extremely modest tomb. In fact, it was so modest it was no more than a 'step up' to the main alter.

As that area was under some kind of restoration all I could do was wave and say 'thanks' to the man who took Baroque art and architecture to such marvelous heights in Rome.

(I didn't take that picture either. I couldn't even get near it! Thanks to mcsmith.blogs for this one!)