ROME 23/10 – Day 09: Lunch with a friend and some gallows humor

Fiery Helios drew his chariot above the Roman horizon at 07:13 and it will soon set at 18:41.  The Ave Maria bell should ring at 19:00.

It is the Feast of St. John Leonardi.   Invoke him the next time they try to jab you with who knows what.

It is also the Feast of St Abraham, Old Testament Patriarch.

This Rome Shot, below, needs a preface and explanation with an additional photo.

This is Piazza Navona, probably the most beautiful piazza in the world, a place of death for Christian martyrs and long centuries of Roman life. You walk into it and it never disappoints.  One of Rome’s 13 Egyptian obelisks is here and the lovely church with the head of beautiful St. Agnes.

You marvel at the Bernini fountain and the Borromini facade of Sant’Agnese.

You probably don’t pay a lot of attention to the walls.

This is the famous Restaurant Tre Scalini. Many of you have been there.

But there’s more.

Here is the wall above Tre Scalini a little closer. See anything interesting?

“But Father!  But Father!”, some of those eagerly “walking together” might squeak.  “There’s a head up there!   It is the work of the Spirit telling us never to lose our heads in affirming the imminent dangerous of climate change and the urgent need to bless sodomy… er um… sod… um… unions of ssss… ssssssame-gendered unions of couples or … or more.  YOU HATE VATICAN II!”

I take you to the days o’ good ol’ Pope Sixtus V (+1590), who will be the last of that name unless we get someone with a real sense of humor). This guy was hard core. He was a Franciscan who, before election, hobbled around with two canes. Elected, *clatter* go the canes and he strides across Rome like a giant, even going incognito to places to find out what was going on. He stripped cardinals of benefices and even executed a couple, if memory serves. Shall we see his like again.

Anyway, there was a osteria here in that day, in the photo, where there was much drinking and some food and much drinking. Did I mention the drinking. Sixtus was around once and heard the proprietor running him down. The next day, some soldiers showed up across the way and started building a scaffold for an execution, which happened in those times, the penalties not being soft. The proprietor of the inn was ecstatic because executions were popular and there was money to be made from the crowd. He was less happy when the soldiers came into his place and took him out to the scaffold.

In honor of the event some who knew him, or maybe relatives, put the little head up on the wall, where it has been every since. So the story goes.

I should specify that in Rome executions were pretty solemn affairs with the population often in penitential clothes praying for the one who was about to die.

Today I was out with a priest friend whom you would all instantly recognize from TV appearances in this time and others. A good friend and faithful guy. We went to a Roman and Sicilian place which I favor where we had a terrific lunch. I stuck with a couple of “appetizers” rather than the full raft, but they were awesome.

Fried anchovies.

A kind of soup of shell fish.  Some bread, no pasta.   Frankly, this is one of the best things I’ve had in Rome in a while.

My buddy had spaghetti alla norma and a wonderful orata.

With all the great people in town, in the last week I’ve eaten out more than the times I was out last time I was in Rome… for two months.

Tonight, left overs.  I did buy some taleggio.  Yum.

White to move and win.

It’s a pawn race. Black’s king is in the way.

What about h7 with Kg6? Does that line do it?  If not, what to do?

NB: I’ll hold comments with solutions ’till the next day so there won’t be “spoilers” for others.

Please remember me when shopping online. Thanks in advance. US HERE – UK HERE  These links take you to a generic “catholic” search in Amazon, but, once in and browsing or searching, Amazon remembers that you used my link and I get the credit.