Gabe's Trip To Italy

Walt says:

Hey Gabe! Tell me about your trip to Italy!

Gabe replies:

Gosh, where to start?

Well, strictly speaking (or writing), I spent most of the week in Rome, with one day in Assisi.

I enjoyed both places, but would only visit Assisi again for the visit to a particular church that I missed. It was a place of pilgrimage for me, even though the place was beautiful, there are probably other places to visit in Italy before I would go back for a long visit.

I loved Rome. Let me say that again. I loved Rome.

It is a beautiful place, filled with wonderful people, many of them are tourists, but many more are residents who are pleasant, kind, and forgiving of one’s lack of knowledge of Italian.

I loved walking along the Tevere River (as we call it the Tiber). It is beautiful, and the Romans have constructed a marvelous levee and bridge system to contain it (though it seems like it seldom needs containing.

The churches are generally beautiful. Even the most remote and unused have exquisite side altars in addition to the main altar. I loved the Gesú; the Jesuit world headquarters most of all (even though I also fell in love with the Churches of St. Paul Outside the Walls).

You can find pictures of the Gesú here. Among the many paintings is one of the Sacred Heart that I find most moving (left).

St. Paul Outside the Walls is a wonderful Church, probably even better than the Gesú. This church is notable for many things, among them being one of the four major basilicas in Rome and the series of Papal medallions on the inside upper ridges of the church. This site has better pictures.

The reason I include these two is that I did not take pictures of either site. I did not have my camera for St. Paul OTW, and I was too enthralled by the Gesú.

Another wonderful church was St. Gregory the Builder. This church is wider than it is long! Again, no pictures, as I attended during Mass. It is run by the FSSP, a fraternity of priests whose charism is to perform the extraordinary form of the Roman Rite (the old Latin Mass). Take a look here.

I loved that place. More later.

Gabe