Since it was Sunday, I started off by going back to Sant’Ivo alla Sapienza. Going there three out of the four Sundays I was in Rome seemed like a good accomplishment.

I spent most of my time sketching the exterior.

But since the church was open, I also spent some time sketching inside.

Both Scott and Sidney were suffering from colds so the rest of the morning was slow. And Scott was running short of pain medication and no pharmacies in the area are open on Sunday. We decided to keep our travel within the area.

We skipped lunch and went to Neve di Latte for gelato. My gelato consumption had been seriously down over the previous few days.

Since it was raining and I needed one hand for an umbrella, I opted for a cone instead of a cup. But, really, cones involve unnecessary calories. When the gelato was eaten, I donated the rest of my cone to the pigeons. The gelato was good but didn’t make the top five.

We went to the Museum of Rome in Piazza Navona. There are a number of Museums of Rome. This one focuses on the 18-20th centuries.

It was the first Sunday that was not January 1 so the city museums are free. I had never been to this museum which turned out to be interesting at points but rather disappointing. I can’t complain about the price.

The first floor was a special exhibition about the neoclassical sculptor Tenerani and photos of Tenerani’s work by Spina. I did not know either of these artists. The subjects were the rich and famous of Rome in the early 1800s. They were not familiar to me either but then I don’t know much about this era of Italian history other than a bit about Napoleon. The building is also neoclassical architecture built in the early 19th century.

The second floor was mainly about Rome in the 18th and 19th century when popes ruled and the rich, if not connected to the pope, seemed to have had nothing to do but be idle. There were lots of painted portraits or busts of bored looking aristocrats. And everyone tried to copy Bernini.

There was one room about Garibaldi but not much explanation on the Risorgimento or unification of Italy. There is a separate museum about that movement so I guess that’s why it wasn’t a focus.

Neoclassicism was the main focus of the art of the era which I find pretty but rather boring.

The third floor showed old photos and paintings of the Tiber river before and during construction of the embankment—much of which collapsed after three years of flooding starting in 1900. Photos and a video also showed the building of Via della Conciliazione, the straight road leading to the Vatican, built by Mussolini as a symbol of the agreement which essentially created the Vatican as a separate state and ended the conflict between the Pope and the Italian government.

The old photos were interesting but I particularly liked the views out the windows.

For dinner we went to Luciano’s where the chef is famous for his carbonara.