Climbing the Capitoline Hill

I spent most of our second full day in Rome in the Jesuit Archives.  The Jesuits are an order of priests that was founded in the sixteenth century by St. Ignatius of Loyola.  They have a long tradition of rigorous education and zealous missionary service, and they answer directly to the pope.  Not surprisingly, the headquarters of their order is in Rome, and their valuable collection of archival documents is practically a stone's throw from Bernini's colonnade at St. Peter's.  It was amazing to get to spend the morning and afternoon in the Vatican looking through old books and handwritten documents.  During my lunch break I walked across the Ponte Sant'Angelo to get some more gelato at that fabulous gelateria Diana and I had found.

While I was in the air-conditioned archive, Diana had spent the day walking around the Roman Forum in the blazing sun and mixing more and more ancient Roman dust into her multiple layers of sunscreen!  We were to meet that evening on the Capitoline Hill after she had finished in the Capitoline Museum.  I was early, and so I took a side trip to the Basilica of S. Giovanni in Laterano.

Many people mistakenly assume that St. Peter's Basilica is the cathedral of Rome, and not surprisingly--after all, the pope lives in an adjoining building, he often celebrates mass there, and the basilica is the biggest Christian church in the world.  In reality, though, the cathedral of the city is S. Giovanni in Laterano.  This is the church that possesses the pope's cathedra, or his episcopal throne--the symbol of his position as Bishop of Rome.  This is where he is crowned.

Until just a few centuries ago, the pope's primary residence was in the Lateran Palace, located right next to S. Giovanni.  Pilgrims still visit the palace because it contains important relics, including the scala santa, the staircase believed to have been ascended by Christ before his meeting with Pontius Pilate.  The faithful climb the scala santa on their knees.

This is the holy door of S. Giovanni in Laterano, a ceremonial entrance to the church used during jubilee years.  St. Peter's also has a holy door.  I thought this one was particularly nice.

The interior still looks a little like an Early Christian basilica, with its flat roof and long, rectangular nave.  It was originally built by command of Emperor Constantine and dedicated to the Holy Redeemer.  The carved wooden baldacchino over the altar is said to contain special relics, including the skulls of St. Peter and St. Paul.  In the Middle Ages, it was also believed that S. Giovanni housed the Old Testament Ark of the Covenant.

The flat ceiling has been considerably re-decorated since Early Christian times!  Over the years various popes have ornamented it with carving, paint, and gold leaf.

Beneath the glittering apse mosaic and flanked by two bands of white stone inlaid with colored marble is the papal throne for Rome's bishop.

Pope Clement VIII commissioned this majestic chapel for the Blessed Sacrament in the north transept arm of the basilica.  The gold was reflecting the early evening sunlight particularly brightly.

After leaving S. Giovanni in Laterano, I continued toward the Capitoline Hill, stopping first at another historic site, the Church of S. Pietro in Vincoli, or St. Peter in Chains.  S. Pietro in Vincoli stands on the grounds of the  Emperor Nero's luxurious "House of Gold," very close to the Coliseum.  It is not a very beautiful church, but it contains the elaborate tomb of Pope Julius II, sculpted by Michelangelo.  Julius II was a fairly egotistical, power-hungry pope who wielded a great deal of political power.  He had designed a grandiose tomb for himself, but Michelangelo worked so slowly that the constraints of time and money started to alter the plans, and the finished product ended up being a mere shadow of the monument Julius had envisioned.  The statue of Moses in the lower center is the most famous figure in the tomb, and it is supposed to be a kind of portrait of Julius II.

For pilgrims, S. Pietro in Vincoli is famous for its relics of St. Peter's chains.  At one time, the church possessed two chains from two separate imprisonments of the apostle, but legend says that they miraculously became one chain.

It was quite a long walk from S. Giovanni in Laterano to the Capitoline Hill, especially considering my detours, but finally I started to get close.  At the base of the Capitoline is this grand monument to Vittorio Emanuele II, the ruler who brought all of Italy's city states under one kingdom in 1870.

Diana and I met at the Piazza del Campidoglio, a space designed by Michelangelo where the ancient temple of Jupiter Capitolinus once stood.  At the center of the piazza is the famous equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius.  Actually it is now just a copy.  The original is inside the Capitoline Museum.  It was getting too damaged by the hazards of flocks of pigeons!  The statue just barely made it through the Middle Ages--the only reason it wasn't melted down was that some people thought it was an image of Constantine, the first Christian emperor.  After all that it would have been a shame to have it lost to the pigeons!

We spent the rest of the evening walking around--past fragments of ancient temples in the forum

and walking under cypress trees and beside piles of ancient rubble,

We saw the remains of the the Emperor Trajan's market.

 And we looked in wonder at the column inscribed with scenes of his war campaigns.  Some scholars believe that Trajan originally had a Greek and Latin library on either side of the column so that you could climb the stairs in the building and look at the reliefs carved on the column from the windows.

This is the dome of the Church of the SS. Nome di Maria against the blue sky.  I've never been inside this little church, but it is located right next to Trajan's Column.

Diana and I were both amazed at the deep golden quality to the light.  Rome is such a beautiful city with its ancient ruins and elegant church facades everywhere.  Even the broken stucco and weeds growing out of some of the buildings contribute to the wonderful character of the Eternal City.

We ate dinner in the Montesanto neighborhood, a part of town that Diana had just read a special article about in the New York Times.  We had pasta and also veal with sage, a typical Roman dish.