Newkirk (glances at his watch)
Wow, look at the time. I had no idea we'd been here so long. (looking towards the back of the café, he sees the proprietor precariously slouched in a chair, his head tilted back, mouth agape, and apparently sound asleep.)
(smiles at the others) He just did not have the nerve to ask you three titans of Rome to leave. It would be like telling the Pope to get out.
The Vatican at dawn
http://www.visitsitaly.com/tours/site_see_rome/vatican_at_night.htm
(Quietly they push back their chairs, stand and stretch. Newkirk leaves payment on the table with a generous tip for such respectful hospitality. Silently, the four slip out the door and stand together beside the predictable line of Vespas out front. The first whispers of morning in Rome greet them like gentle friends. It's the only time of day one can actually hear the occasional birdsong.)
Newkirk
Since we began our conversation with Raphael's fresco in the Vatican, if you are game, perhaps we'll head back there to the Sistine Chapel, to see what Michelangelo can teach us now. Does that suit you, Michelangelo?
Michelangelo
Oh, sure. This is a good time of day to be there. It'll be empty (then, with a sneer) with the possible exception of Bramante. Did you know that cretin could not imagine building a scaffold for my work without poking holes in both side walls to support the main beams? – holes that would have pierced my painting forever! I had to step in to get it done properly. And an ugly rumour I don't want to believe has it that he's been putting too much sand in the concrete he's using for the footings of his new St. Peter's. But ... he is without question, despite any shortcomings, the greatest architect since the ancients. I respect the man's genius, even though, like our pretty friend here, he is from Urbino, and therefore untrustworthy.
http://elizabethkramer.wordpress.com/2012/03/04/ancient-rome-at-columbia-university/
Raphael
Here we go again. Dear fellow, it's well known that your nose is always out of joint (Michelangelo fumes silently, fists clenched, while Newkirk and Bernini stifle laughter, studiously avoiding any glance at the famously broken nose). But please, let us steer away from debating the political and artistic superiority of any one city; the argument could be interminable, and very tedious.
Newkirk
Michelangelo, you refer to your own present, not to mine. The new St. Peter's has been finished for several hundred years now, and you and Gian Lorenzo are largely responsible for its final appearance. However, I think we'll concentrate on the Sistine for now, and perhaps come back to the architecture later.
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