Giornale 1

    The sun slowly started to set. The humid air hung to us as we ran towards the metro station. I was determined to start my Giornale early so that I would not be scrambling to finish all three of them at the end of the trip. For my first Giornale, Hannah, Emily and I went to Santa Maria in Trastevere. I recognized the area since I had passed the church a few times while walking through the Piazza di Santa Maria, but I had never noticed the church in the corner of the Piazza. 
The first thing I noticed when I gazed up at the façade of the church was that the first floor was made of marble but it was a very simple exterior. The only decorations were the ionic columns on the first floor while on the second floor, it was decorated with mosaics and beautiful images of palm trees that adorned the outside of the building.   
  As I stood in the atrium of the church, I remembered how Professor Curley had told the class that Santa Maria in Trastevere was known for its beautiful mosaics. In preparation for entering the church, I covered my shoulders in a sweater and prayed that no one would notice how short my skirt was since I had forgotten to pack pants in my bag. 
    As I entered, my eyes had to adjust to the dimly lit space. There were people sitting on benches in the back and someone sang in Latin but I couldn’t tell where the song was coming from.  My first instinct was to look up to the ceiling. The symmetrical designs adorned in gold caught my attention. Growing up in a family that attended church consistently for most of my childhood, I never remember seeing ceilings that looked so magnificent and geometrical. There was always a focus on decorating the apse of churches I attended but never the ceiling. I also appreciated that while the ceilings were intricately designed in Santa Maria in Trastevere, the floors and walls were simple. The floor had basic geometric shapes like circles that I would later learn were called Cosmati floors.  
    The mosaics in the church were magnificent and adorned the interior. This was my first time in a church that had mosaics, and while I was not able to identify many of the figures in the apse, I did identify Mary and the apostles depicted as sheep. 
    What I liked about this church was that it was a balance of being exquisite yet simple. St. Peter’s Basilica was gorgeous but for me, it could be an extremely intimidating space.  While the churches I attended as a child were simple which made them extremely welcoming but the spaces did not feel very special. Santa Maria Maggiore did a good job of having simple and elaborate features. I wasn’t able to stay for a long time because I was worried about the length of my skirt but I did really enjoy the space while I was able to walk around. While many churches that I visited looked the same to me by the end of our trip in Rome, I am happy I visited Santa Maria in Trastevere because I feel like it really differentiated itself from others that I had seen through its mosaics, ceiling, and balance of being welcoming while also being intimidating.
( Santa Maria in Trastevere 05/24/2019)