PARKS AND PARROTS

The major sites of Rome are almost always packed with throngs of rather hot, tired and grumpy looking tourists numbly trailing along behind their guide.  So as to not lose any of the herd, the leader often carries something highly visible high on a stick such as plastic flowers, bright ribbons or my personal favorite, a rubber chicken.  I'm certain that after returning home the weary travelers impress their friends with stories and selfies in front of things that they have long ago forgotten the names of.  Places like the Colosseum, Trevi Fountain and the Pantheon do merit a visit.  But also worthy of being experienced and usually not too far from these epicenters of activity is a quiet park or garden politely waiting.

This morning after enjoying almost an hour as the only person in the Basilica of Saints Giovanni e Paolo, I wandered through the nearby gate of the Villa Celimontana Garden on the slopes of Rome's Caelian Hill.  There were a few parents walking a child to school.  Others were giving their dogs an opportunity to sniff other dogs.  Remnants of a Roman aquaduct added an impressive backdrop and an Egyptian obelisk from Heliopolis provided a focal point. Sounds of distant fountains echoed through iconic umbrella pines and palm trees.  The only thing disrupting the peacefulness of the morning was the squawking of birds.  On closer inspection I realized that the park was full of parrots!  What a surprise that was to me.  I knew that Rome was flooded with tourists.  But I had no idea that it is also flocked with parrots! 

Basilica of Saints Giovanni and Paolo in the Morning Light

Going to School through Arches of SS. Giovanni e Paolo

Villa Celimontana Gardens on Rome's Caelian Hill

Umbrella Pines, Junipers and Palms in the Villa Celimontana

One of the Many Permanent Residents of Villa Celimontana Park

23 October 2021 •  The Monastic Life

Even though I admire it, I have never really been able to fully comprehend how a person could choose the cloistered life of a monastery.   Especially difficult would be vows of celibacy, poverty or silence.  Just obedience is enough of a struggle!  But now that we are at about the midway point of our time here in Rome, I realize that we have taken a definite shift toward the monastic lifestyle.  We have no car.  We don't watch TV or listen to the news.  Our "cloister" is the beautiful piazza surrounded on all four sides by the Temple where we work five days per week, the Visitors' Center where we visit missionaries and play music, our Stake Center where we go to church, and the Foresteria where we live.  And all of our earthly possessions will fit in a suitcase.  We do miss family and friends, but Face Time phone calls help greatly with that.  And with a bus pass that frequently puts us in the heart of the Eternal City in about 45 minutes plus ample access to the best Italian food in the world, we're not exactly Cistercians!  But when we return home at the end of this pilgrimage, I hope we won't let ourselves just slide back into our status quo. Rather, I hope we can retain some of this simplified life. . .with pasta of course!

SILENZIO

The Window of a Monk's Cell overlooking the Cloister of San Marco Monastery

San Marco Monastery

Spaghetti alla Carbornara • A Speciality in Roma

October 14, 2021

It has been said that one of great differences between the U.S. and Europe is that for Americans, 100 miles is a short distance and 100 years is a long time.  Nowhere is this time contrast better seen than in the architecture. Take for example, the little Basilica of San Nicola in Carcere that sits in the Forum Olitorium along side of the ancient Roman Theatre of Marcellus.  Small scale models inside the church show that three temples from the 2nd & 3rd centuries B.C. stood in this forum.  In 1128, the middle temple was converted into the Church of Saint Nicolas, revered by the Greek community living in this area at that time.  Doric and Ionic columns from the 2,200 year old temples are still visible imbedded the church walls.  A neoclassical facade designed by Giacomo della Porta was added in 1599.  And the "Parte Superiore", the restorations and decorations added in 1865, the year the the U.S. Civil war ended, are relatively brand new!

San Nicola in Carcere

Doric columns from Roman Temple of Hope visible

Taller Ionic columns from Temple of Janus on opposite side

Model of San Nicola juxtaposed with original Roman Temples

Exterior plaque showing various dates.

Nave of San Nicola in Carcere

Mismatched columns taken from other Roman Ruins

Frescos and Statues in the Nave

Madonna & Child fresco by Antoniazzo Romano, 1470

The nearby Theatre of Marcellus

October 12, 2021 •  A Morning in the Vatican Gardens

The walls the Vatican encompass Saint Peter's Basilica, the Vatican Museums, Papal apartments, the Sistine Chapel and the beautiful gardens covering most of Vatican Hill. The gardens include areas forested in trees from all over the world and smaller areas landscaped in the Italian, English and French styles.  Scattered throughout are fountains, sculptures and even a replica of the grotto at Lourdes, a favorite place of prayer for the Pope.  Sitting at the highest point of the hill is the Vatican radio station, appropriately named after Guglielmo Marconi, the inventor of the radio. Even though the Vatican is the smallest sovereign country in the world, it has one of the largest world wide radio audiences. This little country even has a helicopter port, railway station, post office and a gas station.  We even spotted a stop light at one intersection. I guess they have it all.

Saint Peters Basilica

One of the Many Garden Vistas

Pontifical Academy of Sciences

Marconi Radio Station

Michelangelo's Dome from the Gardens

A Sculpture of Michael the Archangel

Swiss Guards in the Renaissance Uniform designed by Michelangelo (except the masks!)

This must be the entrance.

October 8, 2021 • Tivoli Gardens

Some kind friends offered to let us borrow their car.  So before our temple shift later today, we took a morning drive out to Tivioli to visit the Villa d'Este with its spectacular gardens.  The palace and gardens were built by Ippolito d'Este, a Catholic Cardinal and son of Lucrezia Borgia (the femme-fatale who probably inspired the Blood, Sweat & Tears song "Lucretia McEvil")!  Ippolito fell out of favor with the church when he demolished a Benedictine monastery to build his palace.  But history remembers him kindly for his beautiful gardens with hundreds of gravity-powered fountains.  

The Oval Fountain

The Fountain of Neptune

Avenue of the Hundred Fountains

Terraced Gardens

Pomegranates

 

The Dragon Fountain

The Water Organ 

(It actually plays)

Deluxe Panini's (panini di lusso) in Tivoli Old City

08 October 2021 • Sprouting Seeds

We are loving this wonderful opportunity of being here at this unique time.  The temple currently has only one evening shift per day from 4:00 pm until 9:00 except on Saturdays that also have morning shifts.  We have not yet been able to return to a normal schedule of two shifts every day due to the limited number of trained workers and with covid related closure of patron housing.  But we are being trained and getting ready in anticipation of adding more morning shifts hopefully soon. Consequently, we are assigned on almost every shift, even sometimes two on the same day. And we are being used in virtually every possible assignment, including as coordinators in the various ordinance areas.

Last night I was assigned to be the coordinator over the baptistry.  A small group came from Caserta, near Naples.  This group included a senior missionary couple as chaperones, one experienced Melchizedek priesthood bearer, two men who were recent converts and the two sister missionaries who had taught these two men.  President Pacini has made it possible to provide train tickets for young missionaries to come to the temple with new converts if they have first taught them how to do family history work and have prepared them do baptisms for their own family members. The experienced brother first performed the baptisms for the new converts, doing this work for their own ancestors.  The new convert having just had that new experience would then in turn perform other baptisms. What a profound and rich experience for these new members and what a joy for us to watch the seeds they recently planted begin to blossom.

Rome Temple Baptismal Font

(stock photo)

 October 6, 2021 - Italy and Covid 19

When this pandemic first began, Italy was hit very hard and early.  That's why we had to return home early back in 2019.  Milano in the north, with fashion industry connections and daily flights to and from Wuhan China, was devastated.  Some smaller towns lost almost an entire generation of older residents.  Because of this, the Italians are taking vaccinations and the wearing of face masks very seriously.  A "Green Pass" (proof of vaccination) is required for trains, museums, restaurants, etc.  On busses, trains, stores and churches virtually everyone is wearing a mask. Even in crowded outdoor areas people are masked even though it is not required.  

This has not nearly become the divisive political issue in Italy as it is in the U.S. where many argue that mask and vaccination mandates are a violation of civil liberties.  We all are free to choose on which issues we will draw the line. And I admit that wearing a mask is kind of a pain. But currently Italy has a much higher vaccine and mask wearing rate than the U.S., and their incident of Covid infection and death rates are significantly lower. You could call this a coincidence and not cause and effect.  But for the Italians, this is not the hill they choose to die on, because the dying is not just figurative for them.  

 

 Monday, October 4, 2021 • San Giovanni in Laterano

One great advantage of being in Italy for three months is that we can experience it in many small bites rather than consecutive days of gluttonous overdosing like we had to do when we would bring student groups to see several countries in only three or four weeks. Today I focused on the Papal Basilica of San Giovanni in Laterano with its accompanying, cloister, baptistry and Scala Santa.

The impressive nave of the basilica, redesigned in the early 1700's by Italian architect Borromini, is flanked by heroic scale marble statues of the twelve apostles, frescos of old testament prophets and Biblical events in bas relief. The mosaics in the apse center around Christ flanked by saints.  From cromatesque mosaic floors to sculpted and frescoed ceiling, this basilica is magnificent.

The peaceful cloister is surrounded by varied double marble columns and contains important relics including the porphyry slab on which it is believed Roman soldiers cast lots for Jesus' robe and the "Mensura Christi", a slab supported by four columns measures what is believed to be the physical height of Christ.

The Laterian Baptistry is built on the spot where tradition says the Emperor Constantine was baptized.

The Scala Santa is the stairway brought from Jerusalem by Constantine's mother that tradition says is where Christ ascended when taken before Pontius Pilate.  

On these stairs faithful Catholics make the prayerful climb on their knees in an attitude of prayer.  Three of the steps are stained with what is believed to be the blood of Christ.  At the top of the Scala Santa lies the Sancta Sanctorum, the "Holy of Holies" of this sacred edifice.  I walked up a different set of stairs and was blessed to have over 30 minutes as the only person in this small chapel "reading" the stories of saints and martyrs in the beautiful frescos.  We are loving our small-bite approach to Italy.

San Giovanni in Laterano

A nun dwarfed by the figure of Saint Andrew

Cromatesque Floor Mosaics

Varied Columns in the Cloister

"Mensura Christi" and Porphyry "Dice" Slab

Lateran Baptistry

The Scala Santa

Sancta Santorum

Sancta Santorum

Saturday October 2, 2021 - A Special Invitation

Elizabetta and Pierluigi, both natives of Rome, are the landlords of the AirB&B apartment we rented for our three months here, even though we are actually staying in one of the temple missionary apartments for now.  We were very excited and honored when Elizabetta invited us to come to dinner at their apartment in the city center.  Elizabetta came to pick us up a fashionable 45 minutes late with her two children, nine year old Andrea, and five year old daughter Lola.  What ensued during the drive into the heart of the capital city would make a Disney ride envious: Honks, curves, cobblestone clatter and constant chatter from Elizabetta, driving with one hand on the steering wheel, one hand holding a cell phone, and one hand on the stick shift?! And throughout the white-knuckle event, landmarks of the Eternal City were flashing past the car windows until we reached the checkered flag at her apartment overlooking the Colosseum.

The performance that followed was prepared from scratch and then enjoyed, one course at a time.  Elizabetta started with "Fiori di Zucchini".  We watched as she stuffed the zucchini flowers with fresh mozzarella and an anchovy, then battered and deep fried them.  Next, by mixing flower, salt, egg yolk plus a little egg white, she began hand mixing pasta dough, and with the help of a little pasta roller, prepared fresh linguini.  After about a two minute boil in salted water, the steaming linguini noodles were topped with a sauce she prepared from fresh tomatoes, a few mixed vegetables, Italian sausage and olive oil: very simple and buonissimo!  That would have been enough, but we still had a way to go.  The next course was "Salta in Bocca", literally "jump in the mouth".  Elizabetta wrapped prosciutto and dried sage leaves in a thin filet of beef, securing each with a toothpick, and quickly deep frying them.  The name says it all.  The final event was home-made cannoli.  Elizabetta mixed another sweet dough, rolled it into little squares, wrapped each around a hollow wooden dowel to hold the shape, and deep fried while still on the form.  Each crunchy tube was then filled with sweetened ricotta and little chocolate bits, garnished with candied cedar cubes and sprinkled with powdered sugar.  

It was almost midnight before we left the table for a little passeggiata from the apartment around the colosseum and Arc of Constantine.  The two children were just going to bed when we left, and the city looked like it wasn't planning on sleeping any time soon. Maybe that's why they drink so much cappuccino!  

What a beautiful and rare opportunity it was for us to spend an evening like this with such delightful people in their home in this historic place.  We finally strapped ourselves back into Elizabetta's little rocket for our return "home" and a repeat performance of "Mister Toadalini's Wild Ride".

Elizabetta in her cucina

Fiori di Zucchini

Preparing Linguini

Salta in Bocca

Cannoli Dough on Wooden Forms

Finished Cannoli

View from their Apartment