Greetings from Roma!
We've been here three weeks, and have been enjoying our visit until the first week of May. I will have many photos and tales to post and I hope you find these of interest. The weather has basically been very good, and we've been wandering around.
Above is a composite view of the Roman Forum, looking south from the lower part of the Capitoline Hill. The Colosseum is barely visible in the center background, to the left of a slender tower. The Colosseum's upper levels peek over the other buildings.
We deliberately avoided many of the most popular tourist sights during Easter Week and for the week after that, because of the increased number of tourists, pilgrims, and students on "spring break". This is not to say we haven't been going around, and I have nearly 4,000 photos in my computer that say we have been out and about.
We've been trying to see some of the places we sometimes miss, either because of places being "in restoration" (a condition that CAN last decades, mainly due to lack of funding), or their being a little out of our way.
The Basilica San Lorenzo fuori le Mure.
One example of a place we've missed visiting is the basilica of San Lorenzo fuori le mure, (Saint Lawrence outside the Walls). It's really not that much out of the way, and there's even a tram line that goes directly past it. The map from Google below has a scale for kilometeres, which are about 0.6 of a mile.
Our rental apartment is at the lower left arrow, the Pantheon and the main railway station (Termini) have arrows for reference. Termini is about a mile from San Lorenzo, which matters because in 1943 Allied bombs targeted for the station destroyed parts of this church. (It was fixed up very nicely immediately after the War, as a sign of Italy's rebuilding after the wartime damages.)
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St. Lawrence's martyrdom.
San Lorenzo is a popular saint in Italy, and especially in Rome, with several churches dedicated to him. This one is built over what is believed to be his tomb. When Pope Sixtus was taken away in martyrdom (258 AD) because he would not turn over the treasures of the early, not legally recognized Christian Church, he ordered his deacon Lorenzo to quickly disperse everything he could. When questioned, Lorenzo made believe there were so many treasures of the Church that he would need a little time to sell them, and was granted three days to do so.
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Three days later, Lorenzo was hauled before the magistrates
and was again ordered to produce the treasures of
the Church. Lorenzo had with him a crowd of the poorest Romans, who all had received food from the
secret sale of the Church's limited goods, and told the authorities that
these people were the treasures of the Church.
(The above photo is from another
of the Roman churches dedicated to San Lorenzo, this one is San Lorenzo in Lucina,
between the Piazza Navona and
the Piazza del Popolo, Rome.
Painted by Guiseppe Creti
in the later 1600's.)
