On my last full day, I am running some errands. It is as beautiful a Roman autumn day as I have ever seen.
I went to the Campo de’ Fiori for some small items I have been lacking. This was the place of public execution for a while. Here is a nice inscription you can puzzle out.
There is a great Norcineria on the edge of the campo.
Some people like to walk around with a gelato. I prefer coppiette!
Skipping ahead I made a visit to Piazza Navona on order to ask St Agnes for a favor and ask her intercession for the soul of Msgr Schuler. The saints skull is preserved here
The “sanctuary” inscription outside the door… maybe hard to read:
Some of us may need this before the next four years are up.
A few more views on my way home to drop my stuff.
I know this town like the back of my hand. It’s my second home town, as it were. It is still fascinating and so photogenic.
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Father, the Eternal City always looks so beautiful.
God Bless.
Safe home.
Sorry, double tap.
Well, “in your spare time :) ” I think you should write a travel guide to Rome. I think it would be a very profitable thing for you to write as I dont think there has ever been one written by a priest; let alone a priest and a foodie!
Roman inscriptions being (to me) generally impenetrable – not least when they’re in elegiac couplets! – I found the following translation of the Campo de’ Fiori inscription on the NYTimes website:
”You field of Mars, who before were decaying and filthy with foul-smelling slime, filled with ugly neglect, under Pope Sixtus [IV] doff this shameful condition. Everything is admirable in clean surroundings. A worthy reward is due to Sixtus, bringer of health. How much Rome owes to its supreme leader!”
Is that like a slim-jim or beef jerky? Prayers for your safe travels home.
This coppiette, it intrigues me. Why do I not see this on our fair shores?
Have a safe trip home, Father.
Thanks for the wonderful pictures.
Father, the St Agnes inscription is almost illegible. All I can seem to read is
“Per ordine di nostro Signore del X agosto 1838”
“L’immunità ecclesiastica in questa chiesa”
“si restringe alla sola porta”
“restando escluse le grad…X…”
Which should mean “By order of Our Lord (the Pope and King, presumably), dated August X 1838, ecclesiastical immunity is only applicable to the main door of this church and not its (steps?).
Given our current political situation, maybe you should consider just staying there!
Beautiful photos! Have a safe trip home.
No place like it! It feels like home. I feel I belong, how can it be otherwise?
My Christian ancestors died for the Faith I now am free to practise. Their presence is palpable at every turn, immortalised in paintings, frescoes, sketches, churches, carvings and reliquaries. These saintly and humble warriors for God who left the world with an undeniable legacy laced with passion and valour, but most of all, love for our Lord in their hearts and on their lips.
Patruus, you rOOOOiined it! The fun with the inscription, that is. ;)
Where is this amazing NY Times Rome Inscription atlas?? Or did someone just happen to get it translated while doing a piece on Sixtus IV? Well, let me do my own just for funsies. I’ll try to throw out a few fun notes on the way.
You, o Martian (Marsh-en too!) Land, who used to be just rotten and befouled with stinking filth, and full of disgusting grime, under the power of Sixtus the Princeps (!! same name used by the emperors!!) do divest yourself of this unsightly form; all things are admirable in their handsome settings. Worthy rewards are owed to Sixtus, the healer (perhaps “bringer of salvation”). O how greatly indebted is Rome to her highest leader!
Flowery Street
Battista Archionio and Ludovico Margani, Superintendents of Roa(ds), AD 1483
This is fun; the first part makes me think of Bill Cosby’s jeremiad against other comics who use foul language: “and then they say ‘where the filthin foulen filth?? and what the filth?'” etc! Apparently, prior to the 14th century, Roman citizens meant that literally about the Campus Martius area. XD
Is it wrong for me to raise an eyebrow at the use of both the title of the Roman Emperor for the Pope and the later use of the word that will become the title of Mussolini, while at the same time being strongly reminded of North Korea??
Thanks, Fr. Z, for these lovely pictures. The fall really is so pretty.
“Some people like to walk around with a gelato.”
A gelato from Giliotti… Of course. [Wellll… I know better gelato than Giolitti.]
And what, pray tell, are coppiette?
You are very, very lucky Father to have lived there. I’ve spent some time there myself, by myself, and I love the place.