Italy - From Our Perspective: Day 12

We woke today planning to go sit in on a service at the Vatican. The ceremonies began at 10am, we figured that getting there by 9am would be fine. Well, we were wrong. Very wrong actually, but not for fault of our own. We were basing our schedule on a normal Vatican service. What we hadn't anticipated were the floods of pilgrims and locals being there much earlier for the sake of a special service. They were celebrating the lives of about five very important Catholic figures from the last 100 years. I think it was tied to something larger as well, but we didn't feel like waiting around to find out. By the time we arrived, the plaza was nearly half full, with nothing but crammed standing room to spare. Having already seen Sarina's reactions to extremely packed Italian occasions in Marino, we decided to pass on the Pope's message and find our way to the rest of our day.

From Italy Honeymoon

With it being Sunday, it was considerably safer to be pedestrians on the Appian Way. So, going back for round two, we tried again to see the Catecombs di San Callisto. Of the sixty catacombs in Rome, and three of them being on the Appian Way, Callisto is the most famous. This is one of the most ancient and largest catacombs that Rome has to offer. During to 300 years of persecution after Christ's death, this would be the place where Christians and Jews would come to bury their loved ones. The first level we descend to is the holiest of the levels, being closest to the surface. Here is where popes and saints would be burred. During the persecution, there were no churches or basilicas, so these underground labyrinths were the only available option.

Here we also get our first introduction to Saint Cecillia. Not much remains of her crypt here but a space where her sarcophagus once was and a replica of the reclining statue depicting her with her tomb. Head wrapped in flowing cloth, three fingers point (two on one hand and one on the other) displaying her devotion to the Trinity, and the cuts on her neck from her execution. Her execution is a remarkable story. Having been sentenced to decapitation by axe (or sword, depending on who's telling the story), the executioner attempted three times to remove her head. By some Divine intervention, none of the cuts were successful in removing her head. Some versions of the story tell of the executioner running away in fear seeing his blade being misguided by some ethereal hand. Either way, she lay there dying from cuts to her neck. It would take about three days for her to succumb to her wounds.

Deeper down, we walk through the twisting crypts of the labyrinthine catacombs. With most of the bodies in the walls removed for archeological purposes, little remains of what once was here. Horizontal spaces array across all the surfaces of the walls. Some of the crypt still maintained their marble face stones that marked the individual. Interrupting the hollow tombs, there were small holes in the walls about the size of a softball. These spaces were used to leave offerings of terracotta oil lamps (using olive oil as fuel) and small dishes of perfumes.

There were small alcove rooms that would form collective burial spaces for wealthy families that could afford to purchase more private housing. However, with over 500,000 people buried in the Catacombs of Callisto, you can imagine that space was a premium. Also, with so many people, creating new passages was a never ending part of the job of the catacomb custodians. Digging architecture from the volcanic rock, they would have to dabble in engineering to create sound subterranean structures that would stand the test of time and the pressure of the earth above.

Finishing our tour through the cold passages, we were reintroduced to the wet heat of the Roman afternoon. This was enough to convince us that we should visit one last gellato shop for our trip. Upon the enthusiastic advise of my mom, we went back to the Pantheon where we would find her favorite gellato shop: Della Palma. This was indeed the most complete gellato bar we had seen to date. Just about every flavor gellato and mouse that Rome had to offer. We sat outside wiping melted colors from the corners of eachother's mouths. Examining out Rome "to-do-list", we decided on what our final day would have in store.