Thursday Nov 12

Visited 3 areas south of town today. First, we took the subway down to St Paul Outside the Walls which is actually considered part of the Vatican. St Paul's sarcophagus is under the altar. The guard intently watches all who approach the window built underneath to view the stone end.


Interior of St Paul Outside the Walls. It is a massive structure- very dark. We saw 2 parishioners and all the others were tourists. This church probably can't afford to turn the lights on. This interior has a painting of every Pope since St Peter lining the wall.


Above you can see the Painting of Pope Benedict with the single light on it. There are 7 ovals to the left- for the future Popes. It is said when the last picture is placed, the world will end (not sure who "said" this).


After St Paul, we walked to the Centrale Montemartini Museum about a mile away through the "suburbs". This museum was practically empty so you can get away with about anything as you can see by this evidence.

This museum is most unique. It is part of the Capitoline Museums which we went to in town the previous day. They had so much statuary left they needed another museum. They converted this former electrical plant into a museum but left the machinery and piping. It is quite a stark background to the 2000+ year old works of art.

The museum itself becomes a piece of artwork.

We then took the subway back into town to the Circus Maximus area and had lunch here at the Bar Aventino. It was so nice we finally got to eat outside...and of course a lunch of pizza and pasta cometh.

After lunch we walked through a labyrinth of churches and parks of which several were closed or closing as many do between noon and 3pm. This small chapel at Chieso Sant' Andrea al Celio looks untouched for centuries. The monastery next door, San Gregorio Magno, was closed as was the Church of St Giovanni & Paul down the street. We then walked through a park with pieces of old Rome found around corners, next to the toilettes, down pathways, etc. We then went on to....

...the Basilica di Santa Maria in Dominica Alla Novicella. The area above the altar was all mosaic tiles. We were the only ones here until asked to leave (very nicely) by the woman attending the Church. She was very nice about it and even though it was all in Italian, we knew what she wanted (not our first time being asked to leave someplace :))

We then went on to San Giovanni in Laterano which was the seat of the Catholic Church prior to the existence of Vatican City. It is nice to see Pope Innocent III above protecting the entrance to the gift shop.

Exterior of San Giovanni in Laterano (soon after having our afternoon gelato)

Inside San Giovanni

This is the altar above the tomb of Pope Martin V from the 1400's.

Massive interior of San Giovanni. After leaving here, we took subway about 10 stops outside of town to a local shopping mall- nothing like what we are used to. They are quite small. We did do some grocery shopping while there and then returned to the apartment for the evening.

short video inside San Giovanni in Laterano