even colder - and snow!

 A cold, cold morning. That 15 € coat I scored at Porta Portese has come in very handy during this cold snap.

Favio, Amadeo, Mauro & Sergio heading back after lunch.

a light dusting of snowflakes can be seen on Favio's jacket.

Santo Stefano Rotondo, Basilica of Saint Mary Above Minerva and San Giovanni dei Fiorentini

A walk around Celio last Sunday morning. This day had a little more of a plan than usual, based on reading the Mason/Fort book Gitta and Bliss gave me.

Santo Stefano Rotondo
This building was  quite literally breathtaking on entering.  It is a very old (late 400's) structure and  contains a mithraeum in its foundation that is still being excavated and is not open to the public. (How they manage these excavations without damaging the structure(s) on top is remarkable.)

Santo Stefano Rotondo

These photos do not convey the wonder of this place. I had been wondering if I should ease up on 'sightseeing'. On entering Santo Stefano,  it occurred to me that I would have had deep regrets to have missed this place had I learned of it later...

 Basilica of Saint Mary Above Minerva

It was in this church that Galileo was require to disavow his teachings about the heliocentric universe in 1633.  Some things never change. 

Saint Catherine of Siena's body is buried here - her head is buried elsewhere. The story goes that after her death, people from Siena - who felt that Catherine would have wanted to be buried in her birthplace - smuggled her head out of Rome.  When the Roman soldiers inspected the bag with her head, they saw only rose petals. 

San Giovanni dei Fiorentini

San Giovanni dei Fiorentini

I  only had a few minutes in this church because an attendant asked all the visitors to leave shortly as I arrived - but this piece in the altar was very beautiful.

Cold!

...and the forecast hints at the possibility of  a little snow tonight

Child's Play

Out walking this weekend I encountered a few hints of children's play things - but with an oddly dark mood about them.

Basilica di Santa Maria in Trastevere

Walking in Trastevere last weekend, I found myself in front of the Basilica di Santa Maria in Trastevere. What a marvelous place!

It can be dizzying in these basilicas.  The walls, the ceilings, even some of the floors are decorated. This ceiling is above the main altar. 

There were several chapels in this basilica.  Many were in use during my visit so I avoided making photographs in those.  Others were simply too dark to photograph.  The one below had so many ornate surfaces, it was hard to decide how to make any meaningful images of the space. 

And this is a bit of the floor from the same chapel.  Francesca, the guide DarleneF had recommended, taught me to pay attention to these sorts of floors. The colorful marble mosaic inlay was often taken from older ruins - giving some evidence to Francisca's  assertion that ancient Rome wasn't the pale, mostly white place one thinks of when walking through the Roman Forum. 

marching in Circo Massimo

I wrote an email to the landlady asking what these grown men where doing last weekend.  She replied:

"These troups are practice preparing for Imperatore Silvio Berlusconi's triumphal march when (and if) he manages to win the confidence vote in Parliament. If he doesn't triumph (quite likely), the country will go to the vote again after three years' of very dismal government management.  If only you could read Italian, you'd have such fun, believe me."

Later, she admitted to pulling my leg

.

During my walking today, I expected to run into demonstrations - but I seem to have missed them - though I was apparently only a block away at one point.

My sense of Italian politics is that it is best to avert one's eyes.  The scene almost makes US politics seem civil by comparison. One of the English language papers describes the Berlusconi leadership as " a lame duck government rocked by cocaine-fuelled sex scandals and wikileaks revelations of corruption." 

walking in Trastevere on Saturday.

I had no specific plan for the day except to begin it early.

I walked across the river and was surprised by the water level. The base of the island was submerged.   The walkways on either side of the river were also many feet under water. (Note where the trees emerge from the water. That is where the shore was a week ago.)

 Continued across the bridge and into Trastevere...through a farmers market.

This is one of my favorite things about produce here in Italy - the habit of offering up ad-hoc vegetable mixes for soup-making.  From week to week the mixes change depending on the harvest.  And when you've made your purchase, and the vendor is handing you your bag, they will often grab something - celery greens or parsley - and stuff them in your bag as a bonus. 

Kept walking up and up and up through a series of lookout points...

And managed to reach the Janiculum a few minutes before noon.  Looking north west, there was weather clearly heading towards the city.

The Janiculum is a hill where, each day, a cannon is fired precisely at noon. Noon arrived,  the cannon went off - it was loud!  And next the weather arrived.  In the absence of an umbrella, I found shelter in an archway to wait it out and then walked back home.

nightime walks

walking near the Colosseum

the first night of Hanuka in the Jewish district

 and then an evening walk coming back from Trastevere

ok, Mom

My mother has requested that I post a photo of me. Today, I finally found myself in circumstances suitable for a self-portrait.  Here you go, Mom!

S. Giorgio in Velabro

A little lunchtime visit down the street:  A block and a quarter from my apartment is the church of  S. Giorgio in Velabro - St George!  'Velabro'  refers to this area - which apparently was where Greek merchants lived in Rome.  In 1993, the mafia bombed the church and its portico was damaged.

It has a very simple interior:

The elaborately patterned marble in the apse is something called Phrygian marble.  In the altar is a relic - claimed to be a part of St George's skull.

The downside to working at home is the absence of a clear end of the day.   Responses to email messages arrive just as I am closing down.  The upside to work at home is that I could make a soup in the afternoon.   I just needed to start the lentils and periodically monitor the simmering.


In the evening I attempted a walk.  I did not get past the Campidoglio.  Alternate waves of heavy rain and wind kept passing through, inverting the umbrella and getting me very wet.

Walking in the evening

this is near Sacra Argentina, though you wouldn't have 

anyway of knowing that from the photo

Looking into the Roman Forum as I head back to the apartment.

The church at the center is called Santi Luca e Martina.

Looking up via Cavour through what is left of the Temple of Saturn.