Roma

Cast of Characters

Campo dé Fiori

Caffè San Pietro

Colosseo

Foro Romano

Chiesa del Gesu

Pantheon

P. Navona

S. Pietro

Il Papa

S. Eustachio

S. Maria Trastevere

Trastevere

Bocca Verità

Fontana di Trevi

Museo Vaticani

Villa Borghese

Vittorie

Mangia!

Loose Ends

Desktops

As we approach the church proper we see a signpost displaying the layout of the alters. I can see where things are, but I don't have a feeling for how big everything will be.

We enter the church.

It's big. Really big. Even bigger than London's Westminster Abbey seemed to be. Devin explains that Michelangelo manipulated perspective everywhere in the church. For example, in the panorama above you can see two tiers of statues in the wall niches. The top ones are larger, to compensate for the added distance from the viewer, so as to appear the same size. He knew much about how we percieve, and played with us to his own artistic end. Cool.

As we cross the cavernous interior I notice markers set into the floor. Devin explains to us that these show where other churches would end should they be placed against the far wall. I'm standing on the marker for London's St. Paul's Cathedral, listed here as 155.10 meters. Hey, isn't vanity one of the seven deadly sins?

We stroll around the church, looking in all directions.

We see a line of Catholic pilgrims heading straight for the last pilaster on the right before the main altar, to kiss the big toe of Arnolfo da Cambio's brass statue of Saint Peter (circa 1296). The toe has been worn down by centuries of pious lips. The statue is a very deep black; we weren't sure whether it was metal or stone.

Heading out of the church, going against the flow of tourists back toward the Puerto Santo, we come up to the Florentine Pietà, completed in 1499 by Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (b. 1475, Caprese, d. 1564, Roma) when he was 24 years old. It is his only signed work.

There's much to be said about the Pietà, a statue that depicts the Virgin Mary, the Madonna, holding the body of Jesus Christ. The contrast between the nude body of Christ against the copious drapes of the Madonna's clothes is stark. His hand dangling in mid-air and the limp body almost sliding off her lap suggests the quiet finality of death, as does the look of supressed grief on her face. It's said that this work represents pity, done at a time when most works were of the deposition from the cross or the weeping for the dead Christ.

The Pietà is now surrounded by bulletproof glass. On 21 May 1972 Lazlo Toth, a 33-year-old Australian geologist of Hungarian origin, the attacked the Pietà with a hammer while shouting "I am Jesus Christ". Broken off the sculpture was Mary's left arm and nose; extensive damage was done to her face. All has been repaired, as you can see.

In a strange twist of coincidence, comedian Don Novello, who portrayed "Vatican Correspondent" Father Guido Sarducci on Saturday Night Live, used the name Lazlo Toth in several books of gag letters to corporations and politicians.

Now we approach the inside of the Puerto Santo. It is believed that walking through the sacred door cleanses one of sins. Above the door is a mosaic of St. Peter holding the key to the Gates of Heaven. Here's a close-up. I think that's the Book of Life held in his left hand. Traffic through the Puerto Santo is one-way; perhaps one gains the sins of others if one walks the other way?

We leave the Basilica di San Pietro by one of the other doors and head out as directed. In a few moments we see the Swiss Guard holding secure one of the entrances to the Santa Sede (Stato della Citta del Vaticano), the Holy See (State of the Vatican City). It's the world's smallest state, including the thirteen buildings in Rome and the Castel Gandolfo (the pope's summer residence) enjoy extraterritorial rights. It has a unique, noncommercial economy; supported financially by contributions from Roman Catholics throughout the world (known as Peter's Pence), the sale of postage stamps and tourist mementos, fees for admission to museums, and the sale of publications.

This isn't the time we'll visit San Pietro during this trip; next time we'll see his holiness, Il Papa.