Giorgio Morandi at the Pope's

Even on a non-peak day, visiting the Vatican Museum is a trial. Like a corpuscle in a pulsing artery, one is swept along in a vast crowd that grows more intense as you approach the Sistine Chapel, through hallways and chambers that were never meant to accommodate that number of people. On a visit earlier this month, something leapt off the wall, as we passed from the Stanze painted by Raphael back toward the Sistina. The route you take if you follow the detour to see the Stanze is through the papal collection of modern art. Most people do not even bother to stop there, because there is just so much in the antiquities and Renaissance. If you do pause there, however, you can see some amazing things, including five exquisite still lifes by Giorgio Morandi. My favorite one of the five is shown here. Sorry, no further information.