Rome – August 4, 2024

Last updated on October 3rd, 2024 at 05:19 pm

[This is a rough draft to get started. We’ve done a lot of traveling so far, and are behind in sleep, so we’ll keep this updated as we have a chance. When this isn’t here anymore, you’ll know that we’re finished with the page!]

Pictures from Rome Aug 4

Video from Rome – Aug 4

This morning we had breakfast in our room, literally, delivered on a silver platter! At our small hotel we ordered from a continental+ menu in the evening it was delivered to our room at the time we specified. It wasn’t especially glamorous, but it was filling enough to start the day.

Maxi, our Golf cart guide, had recommended visiting  St. Ignazio Di Loyola and this church was also on Alan’s list to see. We planned to go to mass there and knew we would walk by the Pantheon. Before the Pantheon, we came across the Basilica di Santa Maria sopra Minerva. In front of the basilica was an obelisk on top of an elephant. We learned on our Golf Cart tour yesterday an obelisk was often placed in front of important religious sites to guide those on pilgrimage. The church’s name comes from the fact that the first Christian church structure on the site was built directly over the ruins of a temple dedicated to the Egyptian goddess Isis, but erroneously credited to the Greco-Roman goddess Minerva. Construction of the current building and adjoining convent was started by the Dominicans in the 13th century, modelling it on their church in Florence, Santa Maria Novella. The basilica contains numerous paintings and works of art, including a Michelangelo sculpture and frescoes by Filippino Lippi. The church’s interior has blue vaulted ceilings, ornate altars, and intricate marble floors. In the back of the basilica were three beautiful rose windows.

On to St. Ignazio di Loyola. This 17th century church is dedicated to St. Ignatius of Loyola, the Spanish soldier turned priest, who was the founder of the Order of Jesus, better known as the Jesuits.  A real dome in the church was never built; the ‘dome’ we see is a painted image on a flat canvas, 17 meters in diameter that appears to be three dimensional. A fresco of The Glory of St Ignatius filling the entire vault of the nave is breathtaking. For mass we sat near the back as we are not Catholic. The organ music and singing was beautiful and worshipful. The priest surprised us by repeating the homily in English. While we didn’t understand everything that was spoken or sung, it was good to be in God’s house to worship Him.

After mass we headed for Piazza  Barberini, our meeting place for our next tour, The Original Crypts and Catacombs tour, about a 16 minute walk from St. Ignazio di Loyola. After arriving in Piazza Barberini, we looked around the area and found Ristorante La Fontanella Sistina. For lunch we split salmon bruschetta, lasagna, and a chocolate coconut dessert, and water, of course. La Fontanella Sistina was a small charming restaurant with both outdoor and indoor (i.e. air conditioned) seating. We ate indoors and were very happy with our food.

After lunch we headed back to meet the guide for The Original Crypts and Catacombs Tour. The first portion was the Capuchin Crypts and Museum, which was a short walk from Piazza Barberini. We first toured the the museum using a self-guided audio tour. We didn’t have time to listen to the information about each exhibit, so the tour company gave us a page of suggested exhibits to visit. Legend states during the years of the Terror in France, some Capuchins, in order not to renounce their faith and save their heads from the guillotine, took refuge in Rome. As the Capuchin friars died, tradition has it the land of their cemetery was holy land brought to Rome from Palestine or even from Jerusalem. Bones were removed to make room for other friars. This leads us to the crypt, consisting of a corridor about thirty meters long, with six rooms containing the mortal remains, bones, of about 3,700 deceased, mostly Capuchin friars. The bones are displayed in these six rooms on the walls and ceilings of each room. Some bones, such as skulls were stacked, a few skeletons that looked intact were laying in various positions. Some bones were arranged in patterns on the ceilings. In Joyce’s opinion is was rather macabre.

We left the Capuchin Crypt and walked a rather long way to buses waiting to take us to the Roman Catacombs, located outside the ancient Roman city walls. Catacombs are subterranean passageways that were used as places of burial of Jewish, pagan and early Christian Roman citizens from the second to the fifth century. Christians did not agree with the pagan custom of burning the bodies of their dead, so to solve problems created by a lack of space and the high price of land they decided to create these vast underground cemeteries. The catacombs consist of a large number of subterranean passageways that form labyrinths that are several kilometers long containing rows of rectangular niches dug out of the walls. There are more that sixty catacombs in Rome made up of hundreds of kilometers of underground passageways that hold thousands of tombs. Currently, only five of them are open to the public. We visited The Catacombs of Domitilla with the only underground Basilica dedicated to the Holy Martyrs Nereo and Achilleo, along with Saint Petronilla, daughter of St. Peter. After the basilica, our guide led us through the underground passageways into several rooms with niches. We saw Christian symbols on the walls.

 We exited the catacombs, boarded the buses and headed for the last stop on our tour, Basilica of San Nicola in Carcere. The first church on the site was probably built in the 6th century, constructed in and from the ruins of the Forum Holitorium and its Roman temples, including a jail. The three temples are still partially visible, having been incorporated into the church. In 1128, it was dedicated to St. Nicholas, since a Greek community, devoted to the saint, lived in the area. Presently, the church is known for celebrations to the devotion of the Madonna; one is the Italian Our Lady of Pompeii, whose feast is celebrated here, and the other is the Mexican Our Lady of Guadalupe.

The tour ended at Basilica of San Nicola in Carcere, so we walked back to our hotel, about a 8 minute walk. On the way, we walked by the Marcellus Theater, an ancient open air theater built in the closing years of the Roman Republic, completed in 13 BC, formally inaugurated by Augustus. We returned to the hotel a little after 6 pm after a full day.

We rested until the sun was setting, which made it more pleasant to be outside to find a place for dinner. We found a place close to our hotel, Pasta Eat, which served Italian street food. It was a small place with quite a few younger people outside. At first we thought they were the line to order, but it was people waiting for their food. When you ordered, you chose a type of pasta and the sauce and then they cooked it. We found a bar inside with a stool and watched the process. There were two pots of heated water with 6-8 smaller cylinders containing the individual pasta orders. The sauce was cooked in small skillets and the pasta was added to the skillet. While we were waiting, Alan found seating was available on a second floor, up a spiral staircase, so we decided to eat there instead of walking back to the hotel. Joyce had gnocchi and Alan had Cacio e pepe (fettuccini?) with pecorino cheese and lots of pepper. Both dishes were very good. The portions were large and Joyce was not able to finish hers. She did, however, have room for gelato as we walked back to the hotel. In case you don’t know, gelato can slide into tiny spaces in one’s stomach. Joyce had peach and Alan tried pomegranate. Back in the room, we were pretty tired and watched some Olympics before heading to bed.