Palazzo Barberini

After working out this morning, I met a friend at AquAniene for a spremute (fresh squeezed orange juice -- blood orange in this case) and a panino. We had a great chat; her daughter is one of Avery's friends at school. Afterwards, I dropped the car off at home, and rode my bike into centro. It was another glorious day in Rome with temps in the 70's.

I stopped by the AWAR office at the Hotel Savoy to pick up invitations to the Gala party which will be held at the U.S. Ambassador's residence -- conveniently located just around the corner from our villa. Coincidentally, the young girl working at the office today is a student at Loyola and is from Skokie! She expressed sadness that her junior year in Rome was coming to an end.

Then I rode over to the Palazzo Barberini, a beautifully restored Palazzo from the 17th century. The site had originally been owned by the Sforza family -- they had a villa with family apartments built in 1549. It was purchased in 1625 by Maffeo Barberini who had just become Pope Urban VIII. The construction of the Palazzo is an interesting story. The original architect was Carlo Maderno. He was assisted by his nephew, Francesco Borromini. When the Pope died, Borromini was passed over in favor of Bernini, then only known as a sculptor, beginning what would become a bitter rivalry between the two genius artists.

The Palazzo now houses the Galleria Nazionale d'Art Antica, an important collection of paintings primarily from the 13th to the 17th century including works by Rafael, Caravaggio, El Greco, Tintoretto and Hans Holbein. Unfortunately, the Salon with the beautifully frescoed ceiling by Pietro da Cortona, the Allegory of Divine Providence and Barberini Power, was closed for restorations. The museum is the perfect size; 10 rooms of paintings in a beautiful setting easy to see in a little over an hour.

When I collected the kids from school, I was surprised that Charlotte (still) didn't have any information regarding her trip to Sicily next week. Yesterday, at pick up, I'd heard from some other parents that the flight on Monday had been pushed back to the afternoon and that the parents were responsible for getting kids to the airport. These parents also expected that some information, including a final schedule, would be disseminated today. When I got home, I decided to give the school a call. The assistant principal was away from her desk, but the head of the middle school was not. I really gave him an earful.

Since the original email went out on March 15th-- a letter from the head of the middle and high school -- we've received no further details of any kind or any communication whatsoever regarding this class trip, other than a phone call reminding us to pay for it. You might recall, that the email letter dated March 15th, stated that the itinerary and details of the trip would follow. Well, there are only two school days left before departure, and we are still waiting for those details. I told the head of the school that the lack of communication is appalling. He was apologetic and contrite. He indicated that they were having some trouble with the travel agent in Sicily that is putting the trip together. But he did add that the kids were now going to Siracusa since "I had requested it." CAN YOU BELIEVE IT? I told him that the fact that they were originally planning to take students to Taormina, and not Siracusa, on a class trip to Sicily requires a whole other conversation because that would've been completely ridiculous. Are they going on vacation? Or, are they suppossed to learn something? You can't learn about Sicily without going to Siracusa. Finally, I asked about the transportation to and from the airport. When he confirmed that each family was responsible for getting the kids to/from the airport, I asked why on earth the school did not organize a bus as part of the trip? "Additional cost." How much more could it possibly cost per child? Not to mention the ecological issue of sending 20 cars to the airport when it could have just been one bus. Anyway, my blood was boiling and he promised to email me something. When I read the attachments to his email, I discovered that they shortened the trip by one day and the kids were now coming home on Thursday instead of Friday. And, apparently no one else knows about this but me!?! Of course, we already planned our week around Charlotte being away, and thus we won't even be in Rome next Thursday to pick her up. But that's not the real problem. It is extremely disappointing that the school is so disorganized. Perhaps I should have volunteered -- I could have easily planned a better trip to Sicily for 20 kids myself!