My Around the World Adventure: Photos of la dolce vita (Rome, IT)

I am attaching to this posting the remaining photos I took on my walk-about of last Saturday. The photo above is of the American Embassy on the Via Veneto.

It is now early Monday afternoon. We just returned from a private tour of the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore. The tour was conducted by Monsignor Paul McInerney of the Archdiocese of Boston, who is now a Canon of the basilica in addition to being the Secretary of Cardinal Law, both of whom now reside at the apartments attached to the basilica. We began the day with a Mass at the basilica in the chapel of the Madonna, at which we were all vested concelebrants. It is that chapel which Pope Francis I visited after he was elected Pope. The tour also included entrance to the Sistine Chapel of the basilica and the altar at which St. Ignatius of Loyola celebrated Mass when he arrived in Rome. Yes, it is also called the Sistine Chapel because it was built by Pope Sixtus [a different Pope Sixtus than the one who built the Sistine Chapel of St. Peter's Basilica]. We also visited the crypt of the basilica where the Borghese family, including two Boghese popes, Paul V and Clement VIII, are buried. Ordinarily, the crypt is not open to the public, nor is the Sistine Chapel of the basilica. There was an obvious advantage to having one of the Canons of the basilica as our tour guide.

Now back to the photos. They were taken at the end of the day on Saturday. There are a couple of interesting ones. I was at the Piazza della Repubblica because I wanted to visit the Basilica of Santa Maria Angeli and the Roman ruins of Diocletian. I was unable to get into the area because of what I thought was a state funeral of some notable Italian politician or member of the military. It turned out to be the funeral of an Italian soccer star. There was a military band, a phalanx of police and members of the military, a brigade of media, and tons of funeral wreaths which you will see in the background of one of the photos. It seems that soccer stars are revered in Italy as national heroes. Whoever this was, he received full military honors at his death.

The other photos which are attached were taken as I approached the end of my walk, including a pass by of the American Embassy, and yes, another church.