From our customary A Line stop [1] we rode up to the B Line, then down to St. Paul outside the walls. The guide books don’t seem to like this one much, calling it cold, etc. It has been my favorite so far; I’m attracted to the clean lines inside (not so many niches) and the beautiful front, especially the hooded, traveller statue of St. Paul.
Wide angle view of front of church (snapped in a rare non-tourist-filled moment)
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Apse
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Main altar, with recently excavated sarcophagus of St. Paul
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Marble, may have been over grave early on
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Classical lines
The Mass was in Italian, and the Eucharistic Prayer was ad orientem.
This picure taken of a different celebration, not the one we attended.
The famous medallions of the Popes were re-done after the 1823 fire. There are only seven more empty medallions for future popes, then—the end of the world. [2]
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Paschal candle (one of few items that survived the fire), with medallion of B16.
The cloisters were similar to those at Laterano, but in much better repair.
12th C. cloisters
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Back to the apartment for lunch and a nap (me) and laundry (Izzy). He went to an internet café during the wash (the attendant moves clothes from washer to dryer to basket) and discovered that the motu proprio on the Tridentine Mass had been released 07/07/07. There had been no word of this on the local news that night, just coverage of the demonstrations.
Out for a PM stroll — Seven Fountains.
1-4: the four corners of Via Quattro Fontane (Boromini's work)
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5: the Trevi, where we tossed our coins (one each) [3]
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Seen on the way to Trevi - good to know where these can be gotten
6: Bernini’s Bees (where a homeless guy was washing himself) [4]
7: the Triton
Pre-1: At the start of our walk, we walked from Piazza della Repubblica up to Santa Maria della Vittoria, home of Bernini’s St. Teresa (in Ecstasy).
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Bernini's Ecstacy of St. Theresa, and the old men looking on
Between 4 & 5: San Carlo was closed, but after the four fountains we walkeddown to San Andrea al Quirinale, an oval church said to be Bernini’s favorite.
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We souvenir shopped around the Trevi Fountain and selected a lot of scarves for family. (On the pretense of buying a tie, Izzy got scarf / shawl for me without me knowing -- fluffy, soft silk.)
We stopped for an impromptu pizza dinner when I spotted pizza with incredibly thinly sliced eggplant. Izzy got ’shrooms and tomatoes.
After the fountains, we rode the Metro back to our stop and went to an internet café for about an hour (only 1 €, which offset the place being a steam bath.) We refreshed ourselves with some gelato and strolled home to catch up on reading and writing.
The plan for the next day:
- St. Lawrence outside the walls
- the Roman Forum
- Peter in Chains
- Pack up
- arrange a taxi to the airport
[1] We enter the subway from the Piazza Vittorio Emannuell II at staircase with a “NO REDS” graffito, but there are some other entrances to this same stop are down at Piazza Dante. We keep seeing signs that say “p’zza Dante,” and our eyes naturally fill in the space under the apostrophe to read “pizza Dante.” This would be a great name for a place specializing in spicy pies. “Pizza Dante — Little Circles of Hell.”
[2] Legend has it that when the last papal portrait is done, the world will end.
[3] One coin to return to Rome, two to fall in love with a Roman, three to marry a Roman. Another version says two to marry, three to divorce.
[4] (from aboutroma.com.) Immediately after the erection of the Triton Fountain, Bernini was charged to plan a small drinking fountain for horses, usually to be found near all monumental fountains. This beautiful example of Roman baroque was demolished in 1867 and carried to one of the deposits of Testaccio. Thanks to the pressure made by students, the fountain was rebuilt in 1916 with some material of the previous one. But according to the design of the Dutchman Lievin Cruyl, of 1665, the result was not very faithful to the original. Who knew?
Today's Cool Bike sightings:
Outside Santa Maria della Vittoria
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On the way home
Flickr sets for today:
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