Being a Tourist in Italy

[Birdjaguar]

We did eat while in Rome.

My Easter morning breakfast in the Airbnb.

Typical restaurant menu

Ravioli stuffed with ricotta and spinach. 13 euros

The kitchen

 

[Birdjaguar]

A typical Italian breakfast. Extra euros to eat at a table....

The large cappuccino and yellow filled sweet roll are mine. In the background is the basilica of Mary Major

Roasted chestnuts street food.

 

[Samson]

There are two particular things that struck me about Rome:

• All the little churches that you would hardly notice, but have a massive Renascence painting from a famous master
• It has the worst food in Italy. I am sure it has some of the best as well if you know where to look, but no where else in Italy have I had a bad meal, and that is not because I spend lots of money.

 

[Birdjaguar]

There are two particular things that struck me about Rome:

• All the little churches that you would hardly notice, but have a massive Renascence painting from a famous master
• It has the worst food in Italy. I am sure it has some of the best as well if you know where to look, but no where else in Italy have I had a bad meal, and that is not because I spend lots of money.

There are so many churches in Rome. Walking around we found some unexpectedly. When I get to churches, I will show some. I think I posted up thread that Rome had over 900 churches. And the art is everywhere too. We could have spent our entire time doing just one of these three items on our list: Churches, Art, ancient Rome. Our days were always an assortment of each. Posting a day-by-day thread would have been a jumble and, I think, diminished the scope of each area.

Regarding food, I am not a foodie and don't seek out food experiences. I do love roasted chestnuts and bought a bag. The ravioli above was just fine. I like a breakfast that is more than a sweet roll and coffee. making my own suited me. We did find a pancake restaurant one day. Food was almost always an after thought and we usually only ate in restaurants for lunch. For a light dinner we shopped at the local markets between the metro station and the apartment. Because reasons... I did buy a coffee everyday mid morning.

EDIT: Well, I did eat gelato more frequently than I should have.

 

[Birdjaguar]

Churches
I won't know how many churches we went to until this section is finished.

Rome is a predominantly catholic city. 2025 is a Pope designated Jubilee year.

"A jubilee is a special year of remission of sins, debts and universal pardon. In the Book of Leviticus, a jubilee year is mentioned as occurring every 50th year (after 49 years, 7x7, as per Leviticus 25:8) during which slaves and prisoners would be freed, debts would be forgiven and the mercies of God would be particularly manifest.

In Western Christianity, the tradition dates to 1300, when Pope Boniface VIII convoked a holy year, following which ordinary jubilees have generally been celebrated every 25 or 50 years, with extraordinary jubilees in addition depending on need. Catholic jubilees, particularly in the Latin Church, generally involve a pilgrimage to a sacred site, normally the city of Rome.

The most recent holy year was the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy (2015–2016). The present ordinary Jubilee Year of Hope commenced on 24 December 2024."

"A Holy Door (Latin: Porta Sancta) is traditionally an entrance portal located within the Papal major basilicas in Rome. The doors are normally sealed by mortar and cement from the inside so that they cannot be opened. They are ceremonially opened during Jubilee years designated by the Pope, for pilgrims who enter through those doors to piously gain the plenary indulgences attached with the Jubilee year celebrations.

In October 2015, Pope Francis expanded the tradition by having each Latin Catholic diocese throughout the world designate one or more local Holy Doors during the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy, so that Catholics could gain the plenary indulgences granted during the Jubilee year without having to travel to Rome." The four Hoy Doors in Rome are found at these churches:

St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican
St. John Lateran Basilica
Basilica of Saint Mary Major
Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls

So we were in Rome on Easter of a Jubilee year and the Pope died. Not being Catholic the implications of the first two were not fully apparent during my planning. The third was an added surprise. My friend is a Chinese evangelical protestant and she had a checklist of religious and cultural sites on her list.

We arrived in Rome on Saturday April 19. The day before Easter Sunday. The Pope died early Monday morning. Our first stop on Easter morning was the Basilica of Saint Mary Major. This video of the façade includes the sound of the bells . Turn off the sound to just see the church. The bells are loud. The column that you see only part of on the left is one from the Basilica of Constantine in the forum.

Inside an Easter service was in progress. I recorded a minute or so of it. The church is beautiful and is the place Pope Francis chose to be buried.

This last video shows more of the interior.

 

[Birdjaguar]

The Holy Doors at Basilica of Mary Major

Given the crowds and line pressure, getting good pictures of them was a challenge.

 

[Birdjaguar]

Church of San Vitale

It is the oldest Catholic place of worship in the historic center of Rome. The imperial basilica of San Vitale al Quirinale, built under the pontificate of Pope Siricius after 386 and consecrated and richly decorated by Pope Innocent in 402 is the first public Christian basilica with a baptistery (still not found) not founded on pre-existing pagan temples, mentioned in the Liber pontificalis, built by the Emperor Theodosius at the behest of Saint Ambrose of Milan, in honor of the miraculous discovery of the bodies of martyrs Gervasius and Protasius in Milan. It is the most frescoed basilica in Rome.

The basilica was built in CE 400 with funds provided by Vestina, a wealthy widow, and was consecrated by Pope Innocent I in 401/402. It was dedicated to Ss. Gervasius and Protasius, and called the "titulus Vestinae". The dedication to St. Vitalis and his family (Saint Valeria, his wife, and Sts. Gervasius and Protasius, their sons) is dated to 412.

San Vitale was restored several times, most importantly when it was extensively rebuilt by Pope Sixtus IV before the Jubilee of 1475. in 1598, in 1859 by the generosity of Pope Pius IX; in 1938 and 1960. Because of changes in the city over the centuries, the floor level of the church is now several metres below the level of the street on which it is located, the present-day via Nazionale.

 

[Birdjaguar]

Church of St. Ignatius of Loyola

The old church was eventually demolished in 1650 to make way for the massive Church of St. Ignatius of Loyola, which was begun in 1626 and finished only at the end of the century. In striking contrast to the Church of the Annunciation, which occupied only a small section of the Collegio Romano, the Church of St. Ignatius of Loyola took up a quarter of the entire block when it was completed.

The church was opened for public worship only in 1650, at the occasion of the Jubilee of 1650. The final solemn consecration of the church was celebrated only in 1722 by Cardinal Antonfelice Zondadari.

The star of the basilica is its ceiling.
The church has a well placed mirror which allows one to see the entire ceiling and take pictures. In the above picture the mirror is hidden by the guy in the orange shirt. It cost a euro (IIRC) and the waiting line was 30-40 minutes long.

Andrea Pozzo, a Jesuit lay brother, painted the grandiose fresco that stretches across the ceiling of the nave around 1685. It celebrates the work of Saint Ignatius and the Society of Jesus in the world presenting the saint welcomed into paradise by Christ and the Virgin Mary and surrounded by allegorical representations of all four continents. By the skilful use of linear perspective, light, and shade, he made the great barrel-vault of the nave of the church into an idealized aula from which is seen the reception of St. Ignatius into the opened heavens.

The mirror view.

The looking up view from another angle

 

[Birdjaguar]

This is the neighborhood church for our apartment. I walked by it frequently. The bells heard from the apartment terrace in one of the first Rome posts are from this church.

Santa Maria Liberatrice a Monte Testaccio is a 20th-century parochial church and titular church on the Monte Testaccio in Rome, dedicated to Mary, mother of Jesus.

History​

Mosaic on facade; it depicts Pope Zachary, Saint Julitta, Saint Paul, Mary and Jesus, Saint Peter, Saint Cyricus and the emperor Theodosius I. This image reproduces frescos from the Cappella di Teodoto, of Santa Maria Antiqua.
Santa Maria Liberatrice a Monte Testaccio was built in 1908 to serve the new suburb at Monte Testaccio, and put in the care of the Salesian Order and the Oblates of St. Frances of Rome

 

[Birdjaguar]

La Scala Santa (Holy Stairs) is one of the most valuable relics of the Christian faith. Twenty-eight marble steps lead to the Holy of Holies (Latin: Sancta Sanctorum), the chapel of the popes, located in the Lateran Palace (Italian: Palazzo del Laterano). The legend says it is the very stairs down which procurator Pontius Pilate walked Jesus Christ to judgment. According to legend the mother of Emperor Constantine moved the steps from Jerusalem to Rome in 326. In the 16th C the steps were moved to this location and four more steps were added the original 24. To preserve the marble, the stairs are covered with wood. (during a brief period in 2019 the wood was removed and pilgrims could climb the original marble surfaces).

The Basilica of San Lorenzo or Sancta Sanctorum, where the steps lead, is where the treasures of the Roman pontiffs are kept. The chapel’s most valuable property is the miraculous icon with the face of the Savior Akeropit (the 6th century AD).

This church is across the street from the Basilica of Mary Major. The line to (and up the steps) was long both times we were in the area. It moved very slowly since pilgrims climbed the steps on their knees. We did not go in.

 

[Birdjaguar]

"The basilica of Santi Cosma e Damiano is a titular church in Rome, Italy. It is the conventual church of the General Curia of the Franciscan Third Order Regular. The lower portion of the building is accessible through the Roman Forum and incorporates original Roman buildings, but the entrance to the upper level is outside the Forum facing the Via dei Fori Imperiali.

The circular building located at the entrance of the Forum, which now houses a small archeological exhibition, was possibly built in the early 4th century as a Roman temple which may have been dedicated to Valerius Romulus, deified son of the emperor Maxentius; it is often referred to as the Temple of Romulus. The main building was perhaps the library of an imperial forum. It became a church in 527 and contains important but much restored early Christian art, especially in its mosaics."

Entrance: purple
Courtyard/Cloisters: green
Chapel: red
Roman Temple (lower level): blue

this is another good example of how things in Rome are built on top of one another.
Courtyard

Chapel

Old Temple

 

[Birdjaguar]

Graffiti from around the town.
From our walk to the Metro

Lower section of above

 

[Birdjaguar]

Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls​

We went on a Saturday (same day as the Pope's funeral I think). We got off the metro and it was about a 15 minute walk to the church. We followed the crowd. The crowds were huge and included hundreds of school groups in uniforms.

The metro stop was off to the upper left and the line began near the small red 6 on the upper left and followed the length of the very long building to the bottom center entrance.

This picture shows the size of the basilica

And this one the length and breadth of the line. Until you reached near the front of the building where the various gates began, the line was pretty loose. We just walked up to the first gate and joined the line there.

Once one got through security, which was tight, you entered a large courtyard. No tickets needed.

 

[Birdjaguar]

Entrance to the Basilica itself was through the now opened Holy Doors.

Crowd pressure made getting clear good pictures of the doors difficult. If the doors had been closed, one could stgand back and capture both together. Since they were opened, two pictures were needed and I could not get back far enough to see the entire door and avoid people getting in the way. Oh well.