Join us at the Institute for a ten-week journey through two thousand years of history surrounding the most fascinating city in the world. From the great days of Cicero speaking at the rostrum in front of the Senate building in the Forum, to the exciting “La Dolce Vita” days of Federico Fellini, Marcello Mastroianni, and Anita Ekberg in post-war Rome, our class studies and enjoys each great moment, artist and achievement. We wander through the streets and piazzas of the Eternal City and visit the monuments, churches, and artistic projects that stand just as they were left so many years ago. Stops include the glistening, grassy Palatino hill with the palace of Augustus; the church of St Paul’s sitting among old marble blocks of broken Roman sarcophaghi; the shining white Santa Sabina nestled in its quiet park filled with poppies and daffodils among the greenery of the Aventine hill; and Castel Sant’ Angelo, where we will hear Puccini’s “Tosca.” We then explore Bernini’s spectacular pink and blue Piazza Navona, with its Poseidon fountain, and the noisy modern cinematic world of Cinecittá.
Week 1: "Rome Before It Was Rome" Mon, Tues, and Wed, June 21, 22, 23.
We will use part of our first evening to discuss the various civilizations that dominated the Mediterranean world in the thousand years that preceded the age of Caesar, Cicero and Augustus. The Greeks, the Carthaginians and the Etruscans all vied for control of various parts of the Italian peninsula during the age preceding the rise of Rome. When the little city on the Tiber began to prosper it had to confront all three older powers for supremacy in Italy.
PART TWO: THE ART OF THE ETRUSCANS
During our second part of the evening we will journey to some of the greatest sites of the Etruscan civilization and see their architecture, sculpture and painting.
RECOMMENDED READING:
I am listing here on our first week's recommended reading two books that offer two completely different kinds of information on Rome, each of which would be useful to own for this course and also very useful to have when you travel to Rome.
Georgina Masson is the author of the best guide to Rome ever published in the English language. Masson was a great art historian who lived in Rome and created this extraordinary book and now John Fort has updated it in a beautiful new edition. I cannot imagine going to Rome without Georgina in my pocket.
Reviews
When in Rome, consult Georgina Masson. --Sunday TimesCan rightly be called a classic... the definitive historical and cultural account of the city... it inspires complete faith. --Sunday Telegraph
Italy Special Masterly revision of a classic. --The Times
Product Description
Six years after his first, very thorough, revision, John Fort has returned to the task, so that this long-honoured guidebook, regarded by the discerning visitor, since its first publication forty years ago, as THE indispensable introduction to the glories of Rome, continues to give an accurate picture of the city's treasures as they are currently displayed. This latest edition of the Guide is immeasurably enhanced by the replacement of the old street plans with new, clear versions of the itineraries that structure a volume which remains the unrivalled guide to perhaps the most beautiful and historic city in the world. John Fort, who has lived in the city for the past thirty years, walked every step of the routes described so vividly by Georgina Masson, and many more besides. In addition to checking and updating the information she provided so inimitably, he uncovered and describes a wealth of sights which slipped her notice, and accompanies the visitor through all the major museums and galleries as now arranged. The result is a guide to that incomparable array of classical, Renaissance and Baroque masterpieces which will enthral first-time visitors to the Eternal City and also delight the persistent returnee with fresh inspiration and stimulation.
Reviews
..You feel, looking at them, as if you could close the book and step into the street. -- Contra Costa Times...considered to be the world's best travel resource to over 30 destinations around the world, make it easier to plan a splendid vacation. --North American Press Syndication
...each an intricate trove of 3-D aerial views, landmark floor plans, color photos and essential eating, shopping and entertainment info. --People Magazine
Each book is a visual as well as informational feast about a particular place. -- The New York Times
The Best Guidebooks Ever -- SKY MAGAZINE
The best travel guides ever. -- Sky Magazine -Delta In flight Magazine
The most graphically exciting and visually pleasing series on the market. -- Chicago Tribune --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Week 2: "Republics and Emperors" Mon, Tues, and Wed June 28, 29, 30.
During five hundred years, Rome was transformed from an ancient monarchy to a republic to an empire. The republican era created the most famous republic in all history. All later republics looked to Rome for inspiration. Our own American republic is based almost totally on the Roman model. The collapse of the republic was a struggle of monumental import in history and the participants such as Cicero understood exactly what the stakes were.
PART TWO: The art and architecture of ancient Rome.
During our second half of the evening we will wander through the streets and monuments of ancient Rome with a special visit to the great Domus Augustana on the Palatine that has been recently restored and opened to the public for the first time.
RECOMMENDED READING
Anthony Everitt has written two biographies that are the best two individuals we could study this week: Cicero and Augustus. Both books are available in nice paperback editions and both are a total pleasure to read. The Everitt Cicero biography is the first new biography of Cicero in many years and it is the best I have ever read. It is a total pleasure and if you find Cicero to be as interesting as I do then you will want to own the Everitt book. (WHF)
From Publishers Weekly
Using Cicero's letters to his good friend Atticus, among other sources, Everitt recreates the fascinating world of political intrigue, sexual decadence and civil unrest of Republican Rome. Against this backdrop, he offers a lively chronicle of Cicero's life. Best known as Rome's finest orator and rhetorician, Cicero (103 -43 B.C.) situated himself at the center of Roman politics. By the time he was 30, Cicero became a Roman senator, and 10 years later he was consul. Opposing Julius Caesar and his attempt to form a new Roman government, Cicero remained a thorn in Caesar's side until the emperor's assassination. Cicero supported Pompey's attempts during Caesar's reign to bring Rome back to republicanism. Along the way, Cicero put down conspiracies, won acquittal for a man convicted of parricide, challenged the dictator Sulla with powerful rhetoric about the decadence of Sulla's regime and wrote philosophical treatises. Everitt deftly shows how Cicero used his oratorical skills to argue circles around his opponents. More important, Everitt portrays Cicero as a man born at the wrong time. While Cicero vainly tried to find better men to run government and better laws to keep them in order, Republican Rome was falling down around him, never to return to the glory of Cicero's youth. A first-rate complement to Elizabeth Rawson's Cicero or T.N. Mitchell's monumental two-volume biography, Everitt's first book is a brilliant study that captures Cicero's internal struggles and insecurities as well as his external political successes. Maps. (On sale June 11) Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.From Library Journal
Everitt's first book is a good read that anyone interested in ancient Rome will enjoy. It is also the first one-volume life of the Roman leader in 25 years. To create a work that flowed and was therefore more colorful for the lay reader, Everitt, the former secretary-general of the Arts Council for Great Britain, has taken liberties when describing a person or a place that may annoy scholars. Yet reading this book is an excellent way to understand the players of the period and the culture that produced them. Bloody, articulate, erudite, sexist, slave-owning-Cicero and his circle were all that, but Everitt is careful to recognize that the orator was a product of his age. This is not strictly a political history; Everitt scrutinizes Roman society in discussing events of the orator's life and, when describing Cicero's marriage, acquaints the reader with various aspects of that institution and the home of the era. Throughout, he is willing to admit when the evidence for a theory is weak and when he is extrapolating from the assumptions of scholars. Recommended for public and undergraduate collections. Clay Williams, Hunter Coll. Lib., New York Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.RECOMMENDED READING:
From Publishers Weekly
British author Everitt begins his biography of Augustus (63 B.C.– A.D. 14) with a novelistic reconstruction of the Roman emperor's last days, offering a new spin on his murder at the hands of his wife, Livia. Everitt presents the death as an assisted suicide intended to speed and secure the transition of imperial power to his stepson Tiberius. Later, Everitt presents a careful historical argument for this theory—and, save for a few other shadowy incidents such as the banishment of the poet Ovid, he keeps guesswork to a minimum, building his narrative carefully on solid evidence. Everitt (Cicero) makes Augustus's rapid rise through Roman society comprehensible to contemporary readers, deftly shifting through the major phases of his life, from childhood through his adoption by his great-uncle Julius Caesar to the power struggle with Mark Antony that ended with Augustus's recognition as both imperator and princeps, or "first citizen." Everitt also neatly presents his subject's complex personality, revealing how Augustus secured a political infrastructure that would last for centuries while reportedly keeping up a highly active sex life, all the while fighting off longstanding rumors of cowardice in battle. This familiar story is fresh again in this lively retelling. (Oct. 17) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.From Booklist
*Starred Review* Everitt, whose biography of the great orator Cicero evoked Rome on the cusp of empire with dazzling energy, again captures the color of the city and an era in a biography of Rome's first bona fide emperor. Born Gaius Octavius in a town south of the city, Octavius wasn't automatically marked for a political career. But his family was related to Julius Caesar by marriage, and the great general took the boy under his wing and made him his protege. After Caesar's assassination in 44 BCE, Octavius was surprised to learn that his mentor had formally adopted him in his will, making the 19-year-old a serious contender for power in Rome. Required to deal with both Caesar's enemies and his old allies, Octavius' power wasn't truly solidified until he went to war with and defeated Mark Antony, his chief political rival. Taking the name Caesar Augustus, the young man wisely and judiciously implemented changes to take Rome from unstable republic to thriving empire. Everitt's writing is so crisp and so lively he brings both Rome and Augustus to life in this magnificent work, a must-read for anyone interested in classical times. Kristine Huntley Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Many books, documentaries and movies claim to chronicle daily life in ancient Rome, but it's rare to find a narrative so encrusted in detail as this lively offering from an Italian author and television host. Adopting a first person plural voice, Angela takes us on an eagle-eyed tour of the ancient city on an "ordinary day" in the year A.D. 115. Serving as a Virgil-like guide, Angela begins in a Domus, an upper-class home, exploring its meticulous inner workings, from the aqueduct hook-up to the slave labor. Out in the streets, Angela provides a fascinating, nail-by-nail description of Roman construction before schooling readers in the particulars of buying slaves. Next up is a bloody scene at the Coliseum (featuring hungry lions and their worthy meal), and a steamy sunset tour of bedrooms, salons, and sexual mores; Romans viewed sex as "a gift of the gods," something to enjoy, and would "judge our sexuality as excessively complicated... by mental complexes and roles." Angela's rigorous research and populist style, aided by Conti's seamless translation, should fascinate casual readers as well as dedicated Italophiles.Review
"Alberto Angela makes an important but often complicated subject fascinating and accessible. The reader is catapulted into a day in the Imperial capital and uncovers affinities, secrets, curiosities, and anecdotes about the inhabitants of ancient Rome . . . Angela transforms his book into a kind of three-dimensional set in which the reader strolls, visiting homes, markets, open air school, baths, and even public latrines." -Il Giornale"One discovers a wealth of details about the curious habits of ancient Romans, from their recipes to their tastes in interior design, from life in the Insulae, the giant Roman housing projects, to the shocking slave markets." -Il Corriere della Sera
Week 3: "Early Christians in Rome" Mon, Tues, & Wed July 5, 6, 7.
During our third week, we explore a dozen of the great early churches, many of which were constructed in the fourth century, immediately after Constantine’s edict of 313 A.D. permitted Christians to worship publicly.
RECOMMENDED READING:
Product Description
This remarkable study in social and cultural change explains how and why the Late Antique world, between c. 150 and c. 750 A.D., came to differ from "Classical civilization." These centuries, as the author demonstrates, were the era in which the most deeply rooted of ancient institutions disappeared for all time. By 476 the Russian empire had vanished from western Europe; by 655 the Persian empire had vanished from the Near East. Mr. Brown, Professor of History at Princeton University, examines these changes and men's reactions to them, but his account shows that the period was also one of outstanding new beginnings and defines the far-reaching impact both of Christianity on Europe and of Islam on the Near East. The result is a lucid answer to a crucial question in world history; how the exceptionally homogeneous Mediterranean world of c. 200 A.D. became divided into the three mutually estranged societies of the Middle Ages: Catholic Western Europe, Byzantium, and Islam. We still live with the results of these contrasts.About the Author
Peter Brown (Ph.D. Oxford University) is the Rollins Professor of History at Princeton University. He previously taught at London University and the University of California, Berkeley. He has written on the rise of Christianity and the end of the Roman empire. His works include: Augustine of Hippo (1967); The World of Late Antiquity (1972); The Cult of the Saints (1981); Body and Society (1988), The Rise of Western Christendom (1995 and 2002); Poverty and Leadership in the Later Roman Empire (2002). He is presently working on issues of wealth and poverty in the late Roman and early medieval Christian world.
Week 4: "Medieval Rome" Mon, Tues, & Wed July 12, 13, 14.
The generation of Augustine watched the transformation of their capital and their empire. Augustine was a "provincial," that is, he came from an outer are of the empire, North Africa, but he spent time in Rome and Milan during the later fourth century. By 400 it was clear that the empire was in trouble. The Sack of Rome 410 is the definitive event and Augustine knew it. He wrote his greatest book (The City of God) in an attempt to answer those who were saying the destruction of the empire was the fault of the Christians. After the fall of the empire in the fifth century, Rome declined into vacant fields with cows grazing among the ruins.
PART TWO:
The rebirth of painting in Rome and the painter who led the revival:
Pietro Cavallini. (1250-1330)RECOMMENDED READING:
Week 5: "Renaissance Rome" Mon, Tues, & Wed July 19, 20, 21.
The Rome of the Borgias, the Della Roveres, the Medici, Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Michelangelo, Cellini, Isabella d’Este, and Bramante.
The most concrete evidence of the nature of Renaissance scholarship was visible in the work of the many artists and scholars who went to Rome and excavated the ruins, made notes and drawings of the world they found, and helped unearth a missing Rome. Brunelleschi and Donatello were the first of these "modern" men looking for the real Rome that they suspected had been lost. This is the subject of Leonard Barkan's brilliant book.
RECOMMENDED READING:
Review
"In this book the idea of the Renaissance is itself reborn." -- Stephen Greenblatt, Harvard University"This book is a teasing exploration of . . . epistomological mysteries in the history of art." -- Garry Wills, New York Times
"Throughout this remarkable book, Barkan demonstrates an eye that is as refined and penetrating as his writing." -- John Hollander, Yale University
Product Description
In this rich and engaging book, Leonard Barkan tells the full cultural story of the emergence into daylight of the artworks of antiquity that had lain beneath Roman ground for more than a thousand years. As discovery and rebirth became literal daily narratives in the fifteenth century, Barkan shows, Renaissance conceptions of art, art history, aesthetics, and historiography were transformed.
Week 6: "Caravaggio's Rome" Mon, Tues, & Wed July 26, 27, 28.
In 2010, we are celebrating 400 years since the death of one of the most influential painters of all time: Michelangelo Merisi called Cavavaggio (1573-1610). He died at the very young age of 37 after a tumultuous decade in which he had transformed painting forever. All seventeenth-century painters acknowledged his primacy. Artists came to Rome for hundreds of years after he was gone in order to discover what his secret had been.
RECOMMENDED READING:
Among the many books on Caravaggio, there are some out of print and some in print and expensive. Of all the choices, this is the best one.
Amazon.com Review
Historian Desmond Seward has written an indispensable book on Caravaggio--equally balanced and historically double-checked. But even with all its references, dates, names, quotes, and careful scholarship, this biography reads like a novel that is impossible to put down. Caravaggio, of course, with his "wild, wild spirit" and "very strange temper," according to contemporary accounts, is a natural subject for a galloping narrative. Caravaggio's religious and social status as a Knight of Malta, his protection by a famous cardinal, his street fighting, his fine silk clothes worn until they rotted away, his prostitute models and lowlife friends, his repeated failure to win a commission for St. Peter's, and his bitterness at the rise of mediocre rivals are just some of the ingredients of this good read. What Seward does, to riveting perfection, is convey 16th-century life to the reader. He takes Caravaggio's renowned naturalism and shows us where it came from. He transports readers to Rome in the 1590s, where they explore the old stones of the ancient empire, step over the human excrement in the streets, and witness the pageantry of luxurious horse-drawn carriages promenading through the mud. Readers lurk with Seward in the darkness, light lamps and candles, and feel the damp as the Tiber rises, leaving behind more than a thousand corpses when it finally recedes after a terrible flood. They stand in the crowd and watch as the heads and bodies of decapitated criminals are quartered and hoisted on spears and ramparts for display. Gradually readers get the feeling that Caravaggio's predilection for severed heads was less the product of a tormented imagination than it was simply all in a day's observation for an unwavering realist. --Peggy MoormanFrom Publishers Weekly
Seward's passionately partisan life of the painter Michel Angelo da Caravaggio presents the master of chiaroscuro as a figure maligned by art historians and laymen (such as the late Derek Jarman), who have, Seward claims, mistakenly held him up as a darkly glamorous, homosexual and antisocial icon. Seward downplays Caravaggio's duels and deals with criminals, considering them reactions to the violence of 17th-century Rome. Caravaggio served as artist-in-residence to Cardinal Francesco del Monte, who was rumored in his lifetime to be homosexual, and who sponsored several of Caravaggio's more romantic paintings of young men; his servitu particulare is adequately defended here as a business relationship between a heterosexual painter and his celibate patron. In focusing on Caravaggio's artistic triumphs rather than his personal idiosyncrasies, Seward portrays the painter as a man of strong faith; according to the author, his art exemplifies the Counter-Reformation's exaltation of both the theatrical and the humble, while his realistic depictions of people and his dramatic, unnatural lighting anticipate later painters' realism. Caravaggio joined the Catholic order of the Knights of Malta (which Seward depicted in The Monks of War) only to be imprisoned in a Maltese dungeon after a duel with a higher-ranking Knight. From there, his life slid further into misery. It's a tragic tale, from what we can know of it; Seward's trail of evidence runs cold at times, reducing him to conjecture such as "All we can be sure of is that [Caravaggio's motif of decapitation] reflected some hidden anguish." Seward apologizes, excuses, exonerates Caravaggio too often (contrast Johanna Falk's treatment of the pedophile Egon Schiele in Arrogance); were it not for that narrative tendency, this look at late Renaissance Umbria and one of its most powerful artists, would be a truly engaging contribution to the field. 16 photos not seen by PW. Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
For those who want to own a book with beautiful reproductions of Caravaggio's work, this is the one to buy.
Amazon.com Review
As Catherine Puglisi points out in the most beautiful Caravaggio book ever, the soulful, tormented, ethereally talented painter has become a pop icon, with a "full-blown industry of Caravaggio publications." Puglisi's book is a standout in this crowded field. With remarkable evenhandedness, she sifted through the scholarship and discoveries--and the trash--of the past 20 years and wrote a Caravaggio book that does justice to the painter's glorious work. She doesn't skimp on the juicy parts of his life, however: she candidly but coolly recounts and appraises the bits of historical evidence for his sexuality (both hetero and homo), his use of whores and ruffians as models, and his many scrapes with the law. All the while, she focuses the reader on the paintings, aptly describing such naturalistic, groundbreaking works as The Calling of St. Matthew, of 1599. Gazing at the large, double-page color plates in Puglisi's book, it is easy to feel the erotic pull of the many early canvasses of supple youths that have been so widely reproduced in recent years. But the later religious pictures, in which the models for the saints and Madonnas still seem almost palpable in their reality, have the most dramatic magnetism. Rest on the Flight into Egypt is particularly moving. It may never be possible to unravel the tangled web of Caravaggio's life, but Puglisi manages to restore a welcome balance to our view of his art. --Peggy Moorman --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.From Library Journal
Neither the pedantic obscurantism nor the lurid biographical preoccupations that have marred recent studies of Caravaggio are present in this excellent opus. Puglisi's (art history, Rutgers Univ.) comprehensive overview covers what is known about the master with an unusually sensible and sensitive appreciation of the paintings and their place within his stylistic development. Caravaggio is insightfully situated in his art historical ambience, the paintings linked to a nexus of artistic influences. Refreshingly, the incisive iconographic explications of the paintings are articulated as expressions of the patrons' requirements and not as manifestations of the artist's psychological duress. A checklist of the master's oeuvre, an examination of his technique, and a selection of translated documents further enhance this exemplary study. Unusually fine and complete reproductions of the paintings and a plethora of comparative works complement the text. The elegant integration of biographical narrative, formal and intellectual characterization, and lavish illustration come together in what is now the best introduction to this pivotal figure.-- Robert Cahn, Fashion Inst. of Technology, New York
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Week 7: "Bernini's Rome" Mon, Tues, & Wed August 2, 3, 4.
Gianlorenzo Bernini (1598–1680) changed Rome forever. He redesigned streets, piazzas, churches, and fountains. In our seventh week, we will enjoy the spectacular achievements created during his long life.
RECOMMENDED READING:
Amazon Customer Reviews
For Intelligent Novices: I love this book! I've never explored any art history books before, but this was a great first experience. Hibbard has a gift for explaining all of the details of Bernini's works, without bombarding you with unknown lingo or being long-winded. I would highly recommend this book, especially if you plan on going to Italy someday. -- L Kuhn
Week 8: "The Rome of Puccini" Mon, Tues, & Wed August 9, 10, 11.
Giacomo Puccini’s “Tosca” premiered at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome on January 14, 1900. It remains one of the most popular operas of all time and is performed all over the world. In this our eighth week we discuss Puccini and Rome and the Roman settings for Tosca (Piazza Farnese, Castel Saint Angelo), and then we will see and hear one of the very greatest ever performances of Tosca.
RECOMMENDED READING:
From Library Journal
The literature on Puccini continues to grow with these two books. Italian-born Budden (The Operas of Verdi) here synthesizes Puccini's musical endeavors with his life. Using a straightforward, chronological approach, giving exact dates when possible, he treats each opera in a separate chapter, devoting much space to character and plot and citing contemporary reviews and subsequent reception. He also mentions Puccini's other instrumental and vocal compositions. Informed lay readers will gain insight while theoreticians will appreciate Budden's deeper musical analysis. His elegant turns of phrase ("rhythmic scaffolding") and obvious expertise combine in an exceptional whole, though a few Britishisms may confuse American readers. A list of works, useful biographical information on personalities mentioned in the text, and a strong bibliography round out the volume. Michele Girardi's recently translated Puccini: His International Art is similar, with even more specific treatment of musical passages. Highly recommended for academic and music collections, as well as sophisticated clients at public libraries. Phillips-Matz (Verdi: A Biography) discusses Puccini as if she were telling the life story of a valued friend. She remarks on premieres, casts, and critical reception of the works but says little about the music itself. However, she does expand upon the personal issues touched on by Budden (e.g., the Doria Manfredi incident). She also sets a cultural context with historical descriptions of the Tuscan region and extensive information on Puccini's forebears. Her style is stimulating and, for the most part, more entertaining than merely informative. In a rather old-fashioned way, she talks about her own meetings with characters like Puccini's granddaughter, Biki, and singer Gilda Dalla Rizza. Her method of including "footnotes" within the text and abbreviations is helpful; however, one wishes that she had indicated in the introduction the groupings of relevant materials rather than repeating them each time they occurred. She also includes a works list, six major contemporary opera composers and their works, and an up-to-date bibliography. Conrad Wilson's Giacomo Puccini in Phaidon Press's "20th-Century Composers" series makes a good complement, although Phillips-Matz's approach is more genteel and positive. Recommended for all collections. (Indexes and illustrations not seen in either.) Barry Zaslow, Miami Univ. Libs., Oxford, OH
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.From Booklist
Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924) stood at the end of five generations of composers. A generous man who helped others when they needed a boost, he loved motorcars and boats for excitement butretreated to his beloved Tuscany's lakes to escape urban hubbub. Much to his jealous wife Elvira's distress, he had many paramours and confidantes. His sense of drama drove him to demand perfection from his librettists. With his third opera, Manon Lescaut, he established himself as a leading composer for the stage. Giulio Ricordi, scion of the music-publishing house, was impresario for productions of his operas, and Toscanini conducted most of their premiers. Budden, president of the Centro Studi Giacomo Puccini in the composer's ancestral hometown, Lucca, Italy, looks closely at Puccini's music per se. He highlights events in the life but leaves out much in the way of conflict and incident, instead covering the operas' scenarios and music in detail. Because Puccini also wrote pieces for orchestra, band, piano, and chorus, Budden analyzes some of those as well. Puccini's operatic music embraces the use of leitmotifs and some of the harmonies that Wagner pioneered, and it demonstrates his ability to match dramatic and musical structures. His feeling for the stage picture is fundamental to his art, and the variety of musical shades he exploited with the orchestra served the pictures he sought to realize. For the amateur musicologist, Budden fills the bill. Alan Hirsch
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Week 9: "Rome at War" Mon, Tues, & Wed August 16, 17, 18.
In the war years of 1943 to 1945, Rome found itself in the middle of a titanic struggle for the control of central Italy. The story of the race for Rome is brilliantly told in Carlo D'Este's Fatal Decision. The city and its citizens fought secretly to help the allies and many were caught and executed by the German authorities who were in charge of the city. These stories are brilliantly told in the films of Roberto Rossellini, which we will see in week nine.
Statement from the President of the United States on the conquest of Rome by the Allies.
My Friends, Yesterday, on June fourth, 1944, Rome fell to American and Allied troops. The first of the Axis capitals is now in our hands. One up and two to go! It is perhaps significant that the first of these capitals to fall should have the longest history of all of them. The story of Rome goes back to the time of the foundations of our civilization. We can still see there monuments of the time when Rome and the Romans controlled the whole of the then known world. That, too, is significant, for the United Nations are determined that in the future no one city and no one race will be able to control the whole of the world. In addition to the monuments of the older times, we also see in Rome the great symbol of Christianity, which has reached into almost every part of the world. There are other shrines and other churches in many places, but the churches and shrines of Rome are visible symbols of the faith and determination of the early saints and martyrs that Christianity should live and become universal. And tonight (now) it will be a source of deep satisfaction that the freedom of the Pope and the (of) Vatican City is assured by the armies of the United Nations. It is also significant that Rome has been liberated by the armed forces of many nations. The American and British armies -- who bore the chief burdens of battle -- found at their sides our own North American neighbors, the gallant Canadians. The fighting New Zealanders from the far South Pacific, the courageous French and the French Moroccans, the South Africans, the Poles and the East Indians -- all of them fought with us on the bloody approaches to the city of Rome. The Italians, too, forswearing a partnership in the Axis which they never desired, have sent their troops to join us in our battles against the German trespassers on their soil. The prospect of the liberation of Rome meant enough to Hitler and his generals to induce them to fight desperately at great cost of men and materials and with great sacrifice to their crumbling Eastern line and to their Western front. No thanks are due to them if Rome was spared the devastation which the Germans wreaked on Naples and other Italian cities. The Allied Generals maneuvered so skillfully that the Nazis could only have stayed long enough to damage Rome at the risk of losing their armies. But Rome is of course more than a military objective. Ever since before the days of the Caesars, Rome has stood as a symbol of authority. Rome was the Republic. Rome was the Empire. Rome was and is in a sense the Catholic Church, and Rome was the capital of a United Italy. Later, unfortunately, a quarter of a century ago, Rome became the seat of Fascism -- one of the three capitals of the Axis. For this (a) quarter century the Italian people were enslaved. They were (and) degraded by the rule of Mussolini from Rome. They will mark its liberation with deep emotion. In the north of Italy, the people are still dominated and threatened by the Nazi overlords and their Fascist puppets. Somehow, in the back of my head, I still remember a name -- Mussolini. Our victory comes at an excellent time, while our Allied forces are poised for another strike at western Europe -- and while the armies of other Nazi soldiers nervously await our assault. And in the meantime our gallant Russian Allies continue to make their power felt more and more. From a strictly military standpoint, we had long ago accomplished certain of the main objectives of our Italian campaign -- the control of the islands -- the major islands -- the control of the sea lanes of the Mediterranean to shorten our combat and supply lines, and the capture of the airports, such as the great airports of Foggia, south of Rome, from which we have struck telling blows on the continent -- the whole of the continent all the way up to the Russian front. It would be unwise to inflate in our own minds the military importance of the capture of Rome. We shall have to push through a long period of greater effort and fiercer fighting before we get into Germany itself. The Germans have retreated thousands of miles, all the way from the gates of Cairo, through Libya and Tunisia and Sicily and Southern Italy. They have suffered heavy losses, but not great enough yet to cause collapse. Germany has not yet been driven to surrender. Germany has not yet been driven to the point where she will be unable to recommence world conquest a generation hence. Therefore, the victory still lies some distance ahead. That distance will be covered in due time -- have no fear of that. But it will be tough and it will be costly, as I have told you many, many times. In Italy the people had lived so long under the corrupt rule of Mussolini that, in spite of the tinsel at the top -- you have seen the pictures of him -- their economic condition had grown steadily worse. Our troops have found starvation, malnutrition, disease, a deteriorating education and lowered public health -- all by-products of the Fascist misrule. The task of the Allies in occupation has been stupendous. We have had to start at the very bottom, assisting local governments to reform on democratic lines. We have had to give them bread to replace that which was stolen out of their mouths by the Germans. We have had to make it possible for the Italians to raise and use their own local crops. We have to help them cleanse their schools of Fascist trappings. I think the American people as a whole approve the salvage of these human beings, who are only now learning to walk in a new atmosphere of freedom. Some of us may let our thoughts run to the financial cost of it. Essentially it is what we can call a form of relief. And at the same time, we hope that this relief will be an investment for the future -- an investment that will pay dividends by eliminating Fascism, by (and) ending any Italian desires to start another war of aggression in the future. And that means that they are dividends which justify such an investment, because they are additional supports for world peace. The Italian people are capable of self-government. We do not lose sight of their virtues as a peace-loving nation. We remember the many centuries in which the Italians were leaders in the arts and sciences, enriching the lives of all mankind. We remember the great sons of the Italian people -- Galileo and Marconi, Michelangelo and Dante -- and incidentally that fearless discoverer who typifies the courage of Italy -- Christopher Columbus. Italy cannot grow in stature by seeking to build up a great militaristic empire. Italians have been overcrowded within their own territories, but they do not need to try to conquer the lands of other peoples in order to find the breath of life. Other peoples may not want to be conquered. In the past, Italians have come by the millions into (to) the United States. They have been welcomed, they have prospered, they have become good citizens, community and governmental leaders. They are not Italian-Americans. They are Americans -- Americans of Italian descent. The Italians have gone in great numbers to the other Americas -- Brazil and the Argentine, for example -- hundreds and hundreds of thousands of them. They have gone (and) to many other nations in every continent of the world, giving of their industry and their talents, and achieving success and the comfort of good living, and good citizenship. Italy should go on as a great mother nation, contributing to the culture and the progress and the goodwill of all mankind -- (and) developing her special talents in the arts and crafts and sciences, and preserving her historic and cultural heritage for the benefit of all peoples. We want and expect the help of the future Italy toward lasting peace. All the other nations opposed to Fascism and Nazism ought to (should) help to give Italy a chance. The Germans, after years of domination in Rome, left the people in the Eternal City on the verge of starvation. We and the British will do and are doing everything we can to bring them relief. Anticipating the fall of Rome, we made preparations to ship food supplies to the city, but, of course, it should be borne in mind that the needs are so great, (and) the transportation requirements of our armies so heavy that improvement must be gradual. But we have already begun to save the lives of the men, women and children of Rome. This, I think, is an example of the efficiency of your machinery of war. The magnificent ability and energy of the American people in growing the crops, building the merchant ships, in making and collecting the cargoes, in getting the supplies over thousands of miles of water, and thinking ahead to meet emergencies -- all this spells, I think, an amazing efficiency on the part of our armed forces, all the various agencies working with them, and American industry and labor as a whole. No great effort like this can be a hundred percent perfect, but the batting average is very, very high. And so I extend the congratulations and thanks tonight of the American people to General Alexander, who has been in command of the whole Italian operation; to our General Clark and General Leese of the Fifth and the Eighth Armies; to General Wilson, the Supreme Allied commander of the Mediterranean theater, to (and) General Devers his American Deputy; to (Lieutenant) General Eaker; to Admirals Cunningham and Hewitt; and to all their brave officers and men. May God bless them and watch over them and over all of our gallant, fighting men.
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From Publishers Weekly
In January 1944 an Allied task force landed at Anzio on Italy's west coast, its mission to draw German forces away from the Cassino bottleneck and open the way to Rome. The landing was only lightly opposed but the Germans soon counterattacked, and for five months U.S. general John Lucas's Anglo-American VI Corps fought desperately to retain its fragile beachhead. D'Este's account of this bloody struggle and the subsequent capture of Rome is well researched and vividly told. The political, strategic and tactical aspects of the campaign are carefully reviewed, as are the dynamics of leadership on both sides. D'Este ( Decision at Normandy ) sorts out the still-simmering controversy over whether Lucas missed a great opportunity by not attempting to capture Rome early in the campaign when it was presumably undefended. First-class military history. Illustrations. Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.From Kirkus Reviews
A meticulous audit of Operation Shingle, the WW II campaign designed to win Rome for Allied forces at an acceptable cost. D'Este (Bitter Victory, Decision in Normandy) provides a panoramic overview of the planning, preparation, and execution of the 1944 assault on Anzio, a Mediterranean port about 30 miles south of Rome. The aim of the amphibious thrust was to bypass strong German defenses along the so-called Gustav line and at Monte Cassino, which had stalled American and well as British armies in their drive to liberate Rome. In D'Este's persuasive view, the strike failed in its objectives for lack of decisive leadership. For example, instead of issuing firm orders, General Sir Harold Alexander made gentlemanly instructions which Mark Clark (commander of the US Fifth Army) often ignored. Nor did Clark prod subordinates to seize highways and rail lines that supplied Wehrmacht forces under the able command of Field Marshal Albert Kesselring. At any rate, the Anzio beachhead became a death trap in which Allied troops fought for their lives in rain and mud for over five dreadful months. When opposition finally crumbled under air and sea pounding, Clark neglected to pursue, let alone destroy, retreating German soldiers, so great was his ambition to be the first man into Rome. In a crowning irony, the recapture of Italy's capital was almost wholly overshadowed by the D-day landings in France. In D'Este's book, blame for the botched Anzio expedition is widely shared. Among others meriting censure, he singles out a meddlesome Winston Churchill, who sowed confusion in the Allied ranks and raised unrealistic expectations. A vivid account of a campaign that attests to the high cost of miscalculation and overconfidence in matters military. (Sixteen pages of maps--not seen.) -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
Week 10: "Fellini's Rome" Mon, Tues, & Wed August 23, 24, 25.
Rome after the war, in the years of the “boom” and the years of the flowering of Italian cinema, is the subject of our last evening together. Federico Fellini (1920–1993) and his actors, Marcello Mastroianni, Giulietta Masina, Anita Ekberg, and many others are the stars of our final session.
RECOMMENDED READING:
Product Description
One of the greatest Italian filmmakers, Federico Fellini (1920-1993) created such masterpieces as La Strada, La Dolce Vita, 8 1/2, Juliet of the Spirits, Satyricon, and Amarcord. His prodigious body of work evokes Pirandello, existentialism, "the silence of God," as well as show business. Critics have accused him of being a charlatan, hypocrite, clown, and demon, and have hailed him as a magician, poet, genius, and prophet. Fellini on Fellini is a fascinating collection of his articles, interviews, essays, reminiscences, and table talk, carefully arranged to chart the progress of his life and work. There are boyhood memories of his hometown, Remini, and his highly improbable beginnings as a scriptwriter for Rossellini; letters to Jesuit priests and Marxist critics defending his first international success, La Strada; anecdotes and revelations about the making of La Dolca Vita, 8 1/2, and The Clowns; and insights into all aspects of filmmaking. Here, Fellini reveals, as no one else can, a rich digest of his brilliant and controversial career.
