~ VIRTUAL TOURS ~
"Direct your eye inward, and you'll find a thousand regions in your mind yet undiscovered. Travel them, and be expert in home-cosmography"
​
- Henry David Thoreau
Wake up on the other side of the Atlantic with Clam Tours! Join our Director, Tess Amodeo-Vickery, on a virtual visit to some of Rome’s most intriguing secret sites as she teams up with museum directors, master art restorers, famous authors & storied art critics for Rome Espresso - a 30 minute live-streamed, on-site lecture series happening weekends at 9:30am EST. Enjoy your morning caffè from the comfort of your favorite chair as we take you with us to discover some of Rome’s bespoke art historical & architectural gems, served with a side of insider perspective & expert commentary. Our first series will be dedicated to the 500th year anniversary of Raphael's death, celebrating the artist's intervention in Rome's historic center.
FRESHLY BREWED
$25 - Single Espresso
​
Want to try a shot of virtual Clam Tours? Try out one tour & see if it's the right way to start your day!
​
$80 - The Double Doppio
Even if the tour date has passed, get access to 4 virtual tours at a reduced rate! Videos of past tours will be delivered exclusively to DD clients.
Saturday, October 3 - 9:30am EST
Acqua, Farina & Raphael in Villa Farnesina feat. Virginia Lapenta & Antonio Sgamellotti
In celebration of the 500 year anniversary of the artist’s death, our final appointment for this series will focus on an off-the-tourist-track villa in the heart of Rome and site of one of Raphael's great artistic rivalries with Sebastiano del Piombo. Our clients will get an absolute first-look of the new exhibit Raphael in Villa Farnesina: Galatea & Psyche opening to the public on October 6. Be the first to see the preparatory drawings made by the artists underneath Sebastiano's "Polyphemus" - discovered in the 1970's, these sketches remained hidden under faux tapestries painted in the 1900's until now! Professors Virginia Lapenta and Antonio Sgamellotti will walk us through the new chemical investigation techniques they used to restore and reveal the secrets of these 16th century frescoes!
The tour will last about 30 minutes, with 10 minutes for live Q&A with participants at the end.
​
FEATURING
Virginia Lapenta - Virginia Lapenta is resident curator of the Villa Farnesina in Rome. She is specialized in Archaeology and Classical and Medieval Art History, with particular emphasis on the topography of ancient Rome and the historical landscape of classical and medieval Campania.
​
Antonio Sgamellotti - Professor Antonio Sgamellotti is honorary President and co-founder of SMAArt (Scientific Methodologies applied to Archaeology and Art) and co-founder of Mobile Laboratory "MOLAB" for the non-invasive, on-site investigation of precious artworks. He has published over 400 articles on the chemistry applied to innovative and non-harmful art restoration.
​
​
​
RESERVE YOUR SPOT!
PAST APPOINTMENTS
Sunday, September 13 - 9:30am EST
Breakfast at Bramante's - "The Four Sibyls" by Raphael featuring Antonio Forcellino
In celebration of the 500 year anniversary of the artist’s death, our first appointment for this series will focus on one of Raphael’s oft-overlooked masterpieces in Rome’s historic center. Tess will set the stage, introducing you to the artwork in the context of its setting amidst a complex site that saw much evolution across the centuries. Professor Giulia Silvia Ghia of La Sapienza University in Rome and New Jersey City University, and founder of Verderame, will then explain the piece in detail, while master restorer & special guest Antonio Forcellino divulges what he discovered during his 2020 restoration. The tour will last about 30 minutes, with 10 minutes for live Q&A with participants at the end.
​
FEATURING
Antonio Forcellino - Antonio Forcellino is an Italian architect, author and restorer specialized in Renaissance art. He most notably led the restoration of Michelangelo's "Moses" statue in Rome, the Arch of Trajan in Benevento, and the facades of both the Duomo of Siena and the Duomo of Orvieto. It is he who discovered Michelangelo's signature on the statue of Pope Julius II in the pope's monumental tomb in San Pietro in Vincoli, of which Michelangelo's "Moses" is the centerpiece.
​
Giulia Silvia Ghia - Giulia Silvia Ghia is an Italian art historian, curator, restorer and professor working in Rome and New York City. She curated the restoration of many masterpieces by authors such as Giotto, Giorgio Vasari, Guido Reni, Tintoretto, Bernini and Caravaggio. She is President of Verderame cultural institute, and its sister association International Friends of Verderame with 501c3 status in New York, and sits on the Board of Directors for Villa Giulia in Rome. She is an active member of international women's association The Circle and writes a culture column for The Huffington Post Italy and Artribune.
​
​
Sunday, September 20 -9:00am EST
Colazione al Fresco - Prophet Isaiah in Sant'Agostino featuring Costantino D'Orazio
In celebration of the 500th year anniversary of the artist's death, our second appointment of the Rome Espresso series will take us to explore perhaps the most surprising and understated intervention by Raphael in a modest church in the heart of Rome. Tess will set the stage outside the church before weaving us through the scaffolding of this hidden gem towards the fresco, where Giulia Silvia Ghia will explain to us in detail the modest multimedia installation realized by Raphael and Sansovino. Costantino D'Orazio will conclude the tour, painting a picture of the specific moment in Raphael's life when he realized the opera, to give us a 360 degree appreciation of the piece in space and time.
The tour will last about 30 minutes, with 10 minutes for live Q&A with participants at the end.
​
FEATURING
Costantino D'Orazio - Costantino D'Orazio is an Italian art historian, national television and radio host, and noted biographer of Raphael. He was Head Curator of MACRO (Museum of Contemporary Art of Rome) from 2014-2017, and continues to publish catalogues and art books for museums throughout the capital. His most recent publication was "Raphael: The Magnificent Youth" (Skira, 2020), remembering the artist on the 500th year anniversary of his death.
​
Giulia Silvia Ghia - Giulia Silvia Ghia is an Italian art historian, curator, restorer and professor working in Rome and New York City. She curated the restoration of many masterpieces by authors such as Giotto, Giorgio Vasari, Guido Reni, Tintoretto, Bernini and Caravaggio. She is President of Verderame cultural institute, and its sister association International Friends of Verderame with 501c3 status in New York, and sits on the Board of Directors for Villa Giulia in Rome. She is an active member of international women's association The Circle and writes a culture column for The Huffington Post Italy and Artribune.
Saturday, September 26 -10:00am EST
Patisserie al Popolo - Chigi Chapel of S. M. del Popolo featuring Claudio Strinati
In celebration of the 500 year anniversary of the artist’s death, our third appointment for this series will focus on a little-known architectural, sculptural and even mosaic intervention by Raphael in Rome’s historic center. Tess will explain the greater structure of the church, its importance to the Romans, and give a brief lesson on distinguishing Renaissance art from Baroque. Professor Giulia Silvia Ghia of La Sapienza University in Rome and New Jersey City University, and founder of Verderame, will then give a detailed overview of the chapel and the two major interventions by Raphael and Bernini before handing it over to author Claudio Strinati, founder of art society Dialogues, and one of Rome's most important art historians, responsible for conceiving and curating the world-renowned Caravaggio exhibit at Scuderie del Quirinale in 2010. Mosaicist Megan Mahan will also stand by to shed light on the process of creating mosaics from Raphael's cartoons from a technical perspective.
The tour will last about 30 minutes, with 10 minutes for live Q&A with participants at the end.
​
FEATURING
Claudio Strinati - Claudio Strinati is an Italian art historian, founder of Dialogues art society, and former Superintendent of the Polo Museale Roma museum group, which during his mandate included Galleria Borghese, Palazzo Barberini, Palazzo Corsini, Galleria Spada, Castel Sant'Angelo and Palazzo Venezia. An expert in painting and sculpture from the Renaissance and Baroque periods, he worked for many years in the Ministry of Culture, both in Liguria and in Rome, and has curated countless exhibitions of works by Raphael, Sebastiano del Piombo, Caravaggio, Titian and Tiepolo. He was responsible for conceiving and curating the world-renowned exhibition dedicated to Caravaggio at Scuderie del Quirinale in 2010 and published one of the most important monographs on Raphael's body of work in 2016. He is a best-selling author, one of the principal columnists for Italian national newspaper la Repubblica, and contributes to Il Messaggero.
​
Megan Mahan- Megan Mahan has a Bachelor's Degree in Art History from Pomona College and a Masters in Conservation from the Istituto Superiore per la Conservazione e il Restauro (ICR). She studied for years under master mosaicist of the Vatican Mosaic Studio, Roberto Anselmi, responsible for the maintenance and restoration of the mosaics of St. Peter's Basilica and St. Paul's Outside the Walls in Rome. She has since opened her own practice in Rome, where she creates contemporary pieces and micro-mosaic jewelry on commission. Megan collaborates with Clam Tours, leading private workshops for clients on our Mosaic Craftsmen Tour.