Trip to Vallepietra

On Sunday we took a trip up into the mountains outside of Rome to escape the heat of the city and see a little bit more of Italy. We stopped for lunch in the tiny town of Vallepietra, which ended up being most of where we spent our day. Vallepietra's elevation is 2,700 feet, which meant quite a few windy roads through the mountains, thinner air, a stiff breeze, and cooler temperatures. Here is a shot of the "main" street in the town.


As you can see, the residents of Vallepietra feel quite secure leaving the keys to their house in the door.


Where we stopped for lunch, there was this really nice triple fountain. The water was icy cold, and quite welcome.


This is a shot from Vallepietra looking down into the valley below.


A picture of Mom and Philomena at an overlook. As you can see it was quite windy.


From Vallepietra, we climbed a little further up the mountain, to the Santuario della SS Trinita, a sanctuary where there is a famous image of the Trinity. Here is Augustin, on the trail.


Once we got to the sanctuary we saw the fresco. It was quite unusual seeing the Trinity depicted this way, all three persons look exactly the same!


This is the overhanging rock that you see over the sanctuary.


A family shot, with the mountains in the background.


We descended the mountain on the other side, which took us through the little town of Jenne, population 460. Jenne is famous for its willow forests, the bark of which Salicylic acid is extracted from. Salicylic acid is chemically identical to the active component in Aspirin, and has been used since the time of Hippocrates to ease aches and pains and reduce fevers.


The last town we passed through on our way down the mountain was Olevano, which is derived from the words Olio e Vino or "oil and wine". As you can imagine, Olevano produces quite a bit of wine and olive oil. Here is one of the vineyards.


And here is a shot of some not-quite mature grape clusters.

Scala Sancta

Right across the piazza from St. John Lateran is part of the old Lateran palace, which houses the 28 marble steps that were climbed by Christ to the praetorium of Pilate when he was judged. They were brought from Jerusalem in the 300's by St. Helen, mother of the Emperor Constantine. Today they are covered by protective wood casing, and are climbed on one's knees.


A close up of the marble steps seen throw the windows in the wood.


Also cut into the wood are little windows through which you can view stains of Christ's blood.


At the bottom of the stairs are several beautiful statues depicting scenes from Christ's passion. Here is the agony in the Garden of Gethsemane.


A Pieta'.


Christ condemned.


And lastly Judas the traitor betraying Christ with a kiss.

St John Lateran

Heading east on the metro line, we came to the famous basilica of St. John Lateran. This is the oldest of the four major basilicas of Rome, and ranks higher than even St. Peter's. The basilica was originally constructed in the 4th century, but was renovated and rededicated in the 12th century. It has a magnificent facade of white marble, and there is an obelisk in the piazza that is the largest in the world.


Here is a shot of the massive pillars on the facade, with carved emblems of the papacy including the tiara and keys.


The interior of the church is massive, and dominated by statues of the 12 apostles along the nave.


This is an example of the statues, this one being St. Andrew the Apostle, sculpted by Camillo Rusconi.


And here's St. Batholomew, sculpted by Pierre Le Gros the Younger. I thought it was very interesting because it shows him holding his skin. (He was martyred by being flayed alive.)


One of the relics in the Lateran is the table of the Last Supper, brought back from Jerusalem. You can see it in the gold reliquary up on the wall. The bronze columns are said to be made of the bronze of the prows of Cleopatra's ships, melted down by Augustus.


Here's the magnificent tabernacle, perhaps my favorite in the world.


In the right transept is the tomb of Leo XIII.


Here's a shot of the coffered ceiling.


Above the high altar, are two reliquaries containing the heads of Sts. Peter and Paul.

Trip to Charlotte

Hello Everyone! To explain my long absence from updating this blog, I have to say that we took an emergency trip back to North Carolina. My grandfather (dad's dad) had two strokes back to back that left him semi-lucid, with the thought of surgery looming, and in grave condition. We decided to hop a plane back to see him at least while he was conscious, so two Thursdays ago we left Rome.

The flight back was very long (12 hours)...due in part to the fact that we were delayed two hours on the ground here in Rome with a missing seal on the aircraft. Here's Philomena peeking out midflight....


When we got to our hotel, even though it was midnight, Theodore came over to say hello and goodbye before he headed up to Indiana the next day to visit his family.


At the hospital, this older man named Neal Zarrelli came to pay Pappap a visit. Neal is quite a character and has known Pappap for some time.


In any case, he brought two gifts, a quart of ice cream and a bottle of wine. What do you want, he's from Naples? In any case, the bottle of wine broke in the hospital room, and gave a nice wine smell to the hospital.


My dad's brother Vince came down with his son Steven. Here is a shot of those three.


Luckily, my grandfather regained lucidity quite rapidly and only has minor paralysis in his right arm which physical therapy is projected to fix. However he still has quite a bit of cholesterol placque in his aorta which could cause another stroke at any time, so your continued thoughts and prayers are appreciated.

The making of an Italian pizza

For this entry, I've decided to show you step by step how a good, wood-fired Italian pizza is made. For starters, you must have a brick oven, and of course, wood.

Next you take a fresh doughball, flatten it out extremely thin, and shape it. This is best done on a marble or granite counter top, to keep the dough cool and prevent it from sticking.


Next fresh tomato sauce and mozzarella cheese are added.


And then the whole pizza is shoveled into the oven.


As you can see, the fire is burning on the right hand side of the oven. The pizza has just been slipped in.


After only about 2-3 minutes the intense heat of the stone oven has caused the pizza crust to blister and rise and the cheese to melt. The pizza is now done.


Then you either eat your pizza at the pizzeria, or take your pizza home and enjoy it with either beer, or a glass of musky peaches in good Italian wine.

Bottom of St. Lawrence's, top of St. Peter's

On Saturday we spent some time touring Rome and seeing things we hadn't seen before. Our first stop was the church of St. Lawrence. Inside was this nice painting of the Saint, surrounded by the poor, the "treasures of the church".


This church was built over the spot where St. Lawrence was incarcerated, and where a spring gushed up out of the ground which he used to baptize his jailers.


Here's his prison cell, down in the crypt of what is now the church.


Next we went to the church of Santa Prassede. This church was comissioned by Pope Hadrian I in 780 and was built to house the relics of St. Prassede and St. Pudenziana. These two sisters were the daughters of St. Pudens, believed to have been St. Paul's first convert in Rome. The church has some of the best mosaics in Rome, including these in the little side chapel of San Zenone.


In the chapel is the column that Christ was chained to during the scourging.


Here's a shot of the interior of the church.


Next we went to the church of St. Alphonsus, where there is the original image of Our Lady of Perpetual Help.


Here's the interior of the church, looking at some of the neo-gothic work on the ceiling.


And here's a shot looking down the nave.


This would be St. Alphonsus de Liguori's alb.


And here is the icon of Our Lady of Perpetual Help. The icon was brought from Crete to Rome in the 1400's, and kept in the church of St. Matthew until St Matthew's was destroyed. The icon remained hidden until Pope Pius IX had it made available for public veneration in 1866.

Our next stop was the Basilica of St. Peter's, because it was the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul. On this day the statue of St. Peter is vested in the papal garb, complete with tiara.

Then we began the 551-step ascent to the top of the dome of St. Peter's. As you can see, once you're inside the dome, the walls begin to slant inwards. It was definitely a very tiring climb up the more than 450 feet to the top!

But once you get to the top, you get the view that in my opinion, is the best in Rome. This is looking down the main artery that leads to St. Peter's Square. You can see the Square, the obelisk, and the colonnade.

Here's a shot showing some Papal offices, along with the current Pope's coat of arms worked into the shrubbery.


In this picture of Rome I've added some colored dots so you can pick out a few landmarks. Red dot-Pantheon. Yellow dot-Victor Emmanuel Monument. Purple dot-Colosseum. White dot-Ara Coeli church. Green dot-Santa Maria in Cosmedin.

After we got down, Augustin got to have his picture taken with this nice Swiss Guard.

In the evening we went to the church of St. Paul outside the Walls where they were having a huge fair. We spent the evening wandering around the booths.....

And watching the fireworks.