Rome Day 2

Greetings from beautiful Venice, where it has rained most of the evening but it is spectacular nevertheless. We are here for three nights, and look forward to a full day of exploring tomorrow. But first, there is more Rome to share.

Thursday morning our walking route took us past two nice surprises - a supermarket ("DESPAR"), which we'd been hunting for, and a Muji, the store I love so much (and mentioned in the London post). Both were fairly close to the hotel so that was a great discovery. A couple days later I bought a small rolling suitcase from Muji, and I'm so glad I did. The heavy backpack and camera bag were proving to be harder on my neck than I'd thought, so the suitcase has helped a lot.

First on our agenda for the day was Santa Maria Maggiore (St. Mary Major), a very large and ancient basilica founded around 430 CE. Although it is now Baroque on the outside, there are wonderful medieval mosaics inside.

Triumphal Arch Mosaic, c. 435: Left Side — More 5th-century mosaics on the "triumphal arch" at the front

The church's main relic - a piece of Jesus' crib! It is under the main altar in the Bethlehem Crypt, which was built to resemble the cave of the nativity.

Then we had another fairly long walk down a major road to San Giovanni in Laterano (St. John Lateran), the official cathedral of the Pope. The popes used to live in the Lateran Palace next door, before they moved to the Vatican.

Interior [photo by Sarah]. The main shrine has the heads of Saint Peter and Saint Paul at the top, inside the reliquary busts.

Cloister [photo by Sarah.] Most of the church is newish (17th century) because of several fires, but the cloister is medieval and very beautiful. It is all done in marble, with elegant little columns, carved capitals, and inlaid designs.

Egyptian obelisk in Piazza San Giovanni.

A few blocks further down the road, just inside the city walls, we visited the church of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme (Holy Cross in Jerusalem), known for its relics brought by Emperor Constantine's mother from the Holy Land.

Depiction of the discovery of three crosses in Jerusalem (legend has it that Jesus' cross was identified by its healing powers).

When David and I visited this church in 2008 we were able to walk right up to the glass case containing the relics, but I was sad to find that they have now blocked off access and you can't get very close. I'm very glad I had my zoom lens, but the reflections off the glass were difficult.

Reliquary of the True Cross — Pieces of the True Cross (visible in the glass arms of the cross)

Left to right: the finger of St. Thomas (the very one he doubted with); fragments of Jesus' scourging pillar, tomb, and crib; two thorns from the crown of thorns.

Titulus Crucis — The "Title of the Cross," said to be the very sign that was carved in three languages and places above Jesus' head on the cross.

Detail of the basilica's copy of the Shroud of Turin - full-sized and specially produced for the church as a gift from Archdiocese of Turin. The real one is rarely on display, so this copy is fun to see.

Back by San Giovanni again, we started hunting for the Scala Santa (Holy Stairs). These are said to be the very steps up which Jesus climbed for his trial before Pilate, brought to Rome in the 300s CE. The marble stairs are covered with protective wood and pilgrims climb them on their knees. I knew the site was in the vicinity of San Giovanni, but not exactly where, and on previous trips I'd never come across it.

This time, though, Sarah spotted it - a nondescript building across the street with the Latin Scalam Sanctam in an inscription at the top.

The stairs are almost immediately inside the door, and were full of pilgrims.

Fortunately the Holy Stairs are flanked by two other stairways (the unholy stairs?), so we were able to walk up and see what was at the top. There was a center chapel enclosed by a fence, with an impressive icon, and another side chapel for prayer.

Next we visited the Lateran Baptistery, the octagonal brick building on the far right. The main building is the Lateran Palace, former accommodation of the popes.

Unfortunately the baptistery interior was under major renovations and it smelled strongly of chemicals. But I was able to take this single photo of the ceiling unmarred by construction.

And the side chapel, which has great mosaics, was totally free of renovations and an official even turned on more lights for us when they saw us taking pictures. Hooray!

Detail of a city, either Bethlehem or Jerusalem, on the upper right in the photo above.

Then we began to make our way home, passing by the Colosseum on the way. It looked nice in the dusk and a moon was rising above it...

And then, our feet really dragging, we managed one final photo stop: San Pietro in Vincoli (St. Peter in Chains). It is not far from the Colosseum and claims to have the chains that bound Peter when he was in prison. The legend goes that someone had a few links from his chains in Jerusalem and a few links from his chains in Rome, and when they were placed near each other, they miraculously fused together. Also, the church has a wonderful Michelangelo sculpture.

Michelangelo's Moses, 1515 — Moses, by Michelangelo. The stuff around Moses was added later - it blends in nicely from a distance, but close up, you can really tell the difference a master makes!

And then, finally, we made our way home. On the way we sought out a restaurant I'd researched earlier and marked on my map: Ciuri Ciuri, a Sicilian restaurant that is mainly a bakery but also has some delicious warm savory food, and some casual tables. David and I discovered it on our last trip and it was incredibly delicious, so I wanted to go back! And it was just as good as I remembered, I'm happy to say.

The very best is this dish, whose real name I don't know but I call "pasta circles." It is just really good pasta and really good sauce. There is something about the sauce that is different and delicious - I think it's a sweet spice like nutmeg. Really, really spectacular.

And then there is this delightful thing - a ball of rice coated in bread crumbs and filled with a mixture of meat, peas and delicious tomato sauce. It's like a casserole in your hand! And so good.

We also tried a pasta dish that was new to me - long macaronis with dill and something else - but neither of us liked it much. We got some gelato on the way out, since it looked really special, too, and our dinner was light (we split the single plate of pasta and one ball). It was special, indeed. The pistachio was so natural and delicious, almost brown in color rather than the more common fake-green. DELISH. Also we got a couple small cannoli to go. "Leave the gun, take the cannoli."

We finally arrived home well after dark, totally exhausted and with hurting feet. Then the next day we did it all over again!

Rome Day 2 posted on November 16, 2010 by Holly Hayes