Italian Trip Diary -- Day #2 (part 2) -- Rome -- St. Peter's Basilica

Monday, July 2, 2001 Rome (continued):

After the gelato break, we walked along the Vatican walls and on around to St. Peter’s Square (Piazza San Pietro).  The arms of Bernini’s colonnades are always impressively, grandly welcoming.  They really are a wonderful invitation to come inside the basilica.  

St. Peter's Square (Piazza San Pietro) as seen from the steps of the Basilica.  The piazza was designed by Gian Lorenzo Bernini between 1656 and 1667.  It consists of two semi-circular arcades of Tuscan columns four-deep bracketing an oval plaza centered by an Egyptian obelisk installed in 1586 and flanked by two granite fountains.
The Pope would be celebrating his last open air mass of the summer in the piazza before heading to
his summer residence at Castel Gandolfo.  Photo by Blomme-McClure

However, a note of caution to visitors – be properly dressed.  This is the one place in Italy where the “propriety police” are strictly enforcing the signs about proper dress.  People in shorts, tank tops, and tight clothes were being turned away.

Young man being turned away from the Basilica -- his pants are too tight and too short to meet the strict
dress code of the St. Peter's 'propriety police' (see the pictogram behind him).  Photo by Blomme-McClure

We saw women tying on wrap skirts over their shorts and people zipping on the bottoms of their convertible shorts.  Several people pulled out light weight trousers and tops similar to those worn in operating rooms to slip on (it was hot).

St. Peter’s Basilica is one of the grandest churches in Christendom.  Nearly every part of it is done on an enormous scale that is overwhelming and ultimately oppressive.  There is so little human scale to the place that the throngs of tourists seem like a busy ant colony. 

Nave of St. Peter's Basilica looking west from the altar.  Successive architects included Bramante,
Michelangelo, Carlo Maderno and Bernini.  The barrel vault is supported by four giant arched bays
with transverse barrel vaults over the side aisles.  Photo by Blomme-McClure

This is probably the impression that the Roman Catholic builders wanted to convey to “the faithful”, but for those of us simply interested in the art and architecture it is a building that you respect, not one that you love.  Michelangelo’s dome

The interior of the dome of St. Peter's Basilica designed by Michelangelo rises over the main crossing.
Photo by Blomme-McClure

sits grandly above Bernini’s baldaquin

The baldaquin designed by Bernini is reputed to be the biggest piece of bronze in the world.
The twisting columns are decorated with bees (the symbol of Pope Urban VIII) and laurel leaves.
Bernini's 'Cathedra Petri' which houses the 'throne of Peter' is visible on the back wall of the apse.
In front of the baldaquin, two marble staircases behind the balustrade lead down to the tomb of St. Peter.
Photo by Blomme-McClure

covering the altar over the tomb of St. Peter.  Tombs and monuments for popes and famous Catholics are scattered everywhere.

Monument for Pope Alexander VII designed by Bernini.  Photo by Blomme-McClure

Tomb of Queen Christina of Sweden, a devout Roman Catholic who abdicated the throne and moved to Rome.
Greta Garbo played her in a movie.  Photo by Blomme-McClure

Michaelangelo’s “Pieta”, kept behind bullet-proof glass, is a mob scene and virtually impossible to see. 

'Pieta' by Michelangelo, marble, 1498-99.  After a madman attacked the sculpture with a hammer in 1972
it was placed behind bullet-proof glass.  Photo by Blomme-McClure

We stood in a line   

Line (heavy on nuns) to view the sarcophagus of Pope John XXIII.
Photo by Blomme-McClure

to see the body of John XXIII which lies near a famous statue of St. Peter.

Body of Pope John XXIII in a glass coffin.  Photo by Blomme-McClure

Although everyone is dressed properly, the behavior of the mob seems more appropriate for a carnival than for the center of the Roman Catholic church.  Flash bulbs are going off everywhere – a young man takes a picture of his girl friend making a mock confession – nuns have their picture taken with the body of the Pope.

We left the church somewhat dispirited by the experience.  Fortunately, the sun on the square with the enclosing colonnades is somehow more inspiring. 

Piazza San Pietro (St. Peter's Square) with canopy and chairs for outdoor papal mass.  Photo by Blomme-McClure

This is in spite of the fact that much of the square and the steps leading up to the church are obliterated by chairs, barricades and a temporary stage which we learn will be used for the Pope’s final mass of the summer before his retreat to Castel Gondolfo. 

Tourist seeking directions from a member of the Swiss (papal) Guards.
Photo by Blomme-McClure

We found the taxi line on the far side of the square and headed back to the hotel.

Piazza San Pietro with trees on the Janiculum Hill rising behind. 
 The colossal statue of St. Paul from 1847 is in the foreground.  Photo by Blomme-McClure

After a nap break, we took a taxi to Trastevere.  It’s advisable to carry a good map of the area because most taxi drivers will not take you into the maze of narrow streets which are often for pedestrians only.  By trial and error and with the help of an Italian couple with a map who spoke some English we found Ristoranti Sabatini in Trastevere (Piazza Santa Maria in Trastevere 13, Rome, 065812026, http://www.ristorantisabatini.com/
) where we dined outside with the lively street life of the square as entertainment and the church of Santa Maria in Trastevere as a backdrop across the square.  The food was delicious, but our waiter was the most obnoxious we encountered on our trip.  He seemed to be the only surly waiter in Italy, including all of the others at Sabatini and we decided that it was just bad luck.  We did manage to beg him to call us a taxi at the end of the meal.  The taxi could only come to the edge of the square and then had to back up several blocks before he even had enough room to turn around.

Italian Trip Diary -- Day #2, Rome

Thursday, June 14, 2001, Rome:

The following morning we left the hotel around noon (just as our friend, Carl K., was arriving at the hotel from NYC) and took the metro to the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls, the second largest basilica in Rome after St. Peter's.  We remembered St. Paul's fondly from our previous trip, when we had walked all of the way from the Jolly stopping at several more churches and the Basilica of St. John Lateran.  The exterior of St. Paul’s is distinctive chiefly for the striking mosaic in the triangular pediment and upper story of the facade and for the huge colonnade in front which screens a lovely courtyard with a huge statue of St. Paul.  

Mosaic on the facade of the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls, photo by Blomme-McClure

Entrance colonade and courtyard of the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls with statue of Saint Paul,
photo by Blomme-McClure

Inside, there is a grand nave (the second longest in Rome – after St. Peter’s) ending in a massive arch in front of the altar with four side aisles separated by long colonnades.  They provide a rhythm which somehow mutes the overall sense of grandeur and creates a more human scale lacking from many Italian churches -- which often seem more intent on humbling worshippers rather than welcoming them. 

Nave of the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls
with the Tabernacle above the Tomb of Saint Paul designed by Arnolfo di Cambio,
photo by Blomme-McClure

South Cloister of the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls built by Vassallatto  in the 13th century,
photo by Blomme-McClure 

It was on our way to St. Paul's at the metro interchange at Termini (the main train station) that we had a pick-pocketing attempt.  Three men crowded onto an escalator – one in front of Doug, one between us and one behind George.  Their plan was for the first one to drop a package at the top of the escalator creating a diversion that would allow the two to each take one of our wallets.  Doug caught the one behind him with his fingers inside Doug’s pocket and gave him a stern look.  The guy behind George succeeded in getting George’s wallet out of his pocket, but George yelled “wallet, pick-pocket, thief” at the top of his lungs and the guy dropped the wallet just at the top of the escalator.  We grabbed the thief between us (the one who had had his hand in Doug’s pocket) just as a policeman arrived.  His two accomplices got away, but George’s wallet was there on the floor with everything in it.  The policeman, the thief we caught, and the two of us went upstairs to a police station.  We refused to press formal charges (too time consuming and complicated) so the policeman took us back to the metro while the thief was kept in the police station.

That evening, with Carl K., we walked down the Via Veneto to Piazza Barberini, thence to the Trevi Fountain, on to the Pantheon, and then via an unexpected route into the church of Sant'Andrea della Valle and on to the Piazza Navonna -- which was crowded with tourists and locals enjoying the early summer evening in one of Rome's greatest public squares. 

Interior of the Pantheon built by the Emperor Hadrian in 126 A.D.,
photo by Blomme-McClure

Fontana del Pantheon from the portico of the Pantheon,
photo by Blomme-McClure

Facade of Sant'Andrea della Valle by Carlo Maderno, photo by Blomme-McClure

Interior of dome of Sant'Andrea della Valle by Lanfranco and Domenichino, photo by Blomme-McClure

Fountain of the Four Rivers by Bernini in front of Sant'Agnese in Agone by Borromini
Piazza Navona, photo by Blomme-McClure

Much of central Rome has been reserved for pedestrians, which means that all of these sights are less harrowing to get to, although they are all crowded with tourists.  After Piazza Navonna we crossed the Tiber on the Ponte Umberto with the Dome of St. Peter’s and Castel Sant’Angelo rising above the river on our left.  

Dome of St. Peter's from Ponte Umberto, photo by Blomme-McClure

Castel Sant'Angelo (Hadrian's Tomb) from end of Ponte Umberto, photo by Blomme-McClure

After a lovely dinner in the sidewalk café of Ristorant Antico Cavour (Piazza Cavour, Rome, 06 687 5065) on the lovely Piazza Cavour across from the monumental and ornate Ministry of Justice, we took a taxi back to the hotel.