European Travelogues - Rome October 2002

Santa Maria Maggiore

Mary Major has always been a favorite of mine. I like the contrast of the 17th century outer shell and the 4th century interior.

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Santa Prassede

Santa Prassede's apse and the St Zeno Chapel ceiling. The chapel is quite small and you can walk right up to the ceiling mosaic and touch it if you wanted to, which you shouldn't. There is something nearly irresistable about having something so old and so beautiful that close, though... It's difficult for me to not reach out and even gently finger-tip touch it.

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Santa Maria In Trastevere, Santa Cecilia in Trastevere, San Clemente, SS Cosma e Damiano

Trastevere is a large neighborhood across the Tevere (we call it the Tiber) River. San Clemente is down the street from the Colosseum and has 3 separate layers: a 13th century AD church on top, a 4th century AD church in the middle and a 1st century AD Roman house with a shrine to Mithras at the bottom. SS Cosma e Damiano is a very cool old church inside a library room of the ancient Roman Forum of Peace. For some very strange reason I took no still photos in this church (the picture above is a video frame capture). I was kicking myself because SS Cosma e Damiano is one church I want to write about in the next book...

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Spoleto

Spoleto is an old Roman town that boasts a theater, an amphitheater, an arch and a bridge. The town has had such a good tourist reaction to the restored theater that they are apparently now restoring the amphitheater, too. The theater is quite interesting and the stage floor was obviously once quite beautiful.

And the waitress at the restaurant where we had lunch wasn't too bad, either... dang!

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