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Spectator's Journal
Roman Fever
A city like no other, maybe even more so this time of year.
What do you call a city with a jail named Regina Coeli (Queen of Heaven)? For the last 3,000 years, you call it Rome.
Forty years had passed since I had last visited Rome, broke and hitchhiking through Europe the summer after my college graduation. Quite frankly, at the time, I wanted to see a few sites and head north to what I thought were less crowded and expensive destinations such as Florence. In truth, I did not give it the time a city with so many layers of history, architecture, archaeology and theology deserves. It was a once-through, lightly, trip.
My wife and I had resolved to commemorate the tenth anniversary of my successful bone marrow transplant with a pilgrimage-cum-celebration, a trip to the Eternal City and, of course, Vatican City, which is embedded within it. We also planned to tack on a few nights in Madrid on the way home since I had never been to Spain and Mary had not been there since high school.
The measure of how wonderful this trip was can be gauged by our good luck in returning home on St. Patrick’s Day on Aer Lingus, which United employed as its carrier for the return flight out of Madrid. Call it the luck of the Irish-Germans.
Three things immediately strike the visitor coming into Rome from Leonardo da Vinci Airport: the beauty of the city, the way Romans drive and motor with abandon, and the graffiti — omnipresent to an extent I did not recall from my previous visit decades ago.
Coming into an intersection or traffic circle, one is swept up in a literal swarm of Smart Cars, Fiats, motorcycles, and other smallish vehicles for which traffic lanes are, well, optional. Riding along in the cab in the left lane, I would often get a start when a pair of motorcyclist appeared just out my left-hand window, heading in my direction but in the lane for the oncoming traffic. To adapt one of Bill Murray’s formulations in Ghostbusters, traffic laws are guidelines, not rules, for Romans.
This graffiti phenomenon seemed to me a kind of profanation, given the treasures the city offers on almost every block. If you Google up “graffiti in Rome,” you find 7,960,000 entries. So I am not alone in this feeling. I was informed that some theorize that this is an expression of a youth culture (I use the word reluctantly) spread by the Internet. I do not mean to dwell on this. After all, the Italians are master preservationists and restorers of great art and architecture. So I would not want to call this a dominant part of the Roman scene, but it was jarring nevertheless.
Our hosts were renting a very fine apartment right across the street from the walls of Vatican City. No graffiti here, just the papal coat of arms affixed at various places along its great length. Not only did our benefactors provide us with an ideal location from which to explore both cities, but they were excellent guides, generous with their time, and most informative on a range of topics ranging from art history to fine dining. Our tourism coefficient was improved immensely by their tireless attention to our needs.
Since we were grateful pilgrims, we offered thanks at the resting places of our favored saints whom we had often petitioned for intercessory prayers to God the Father and his only Son during my battle with cancer. And we prayed for that excellent institution and staff at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore who were instrumental in my recovery.
Like pilgrims dating back to at least the time of Chaucer, we spent too much money at the shops selling pricey rosaries, prayer cards, icons and the like so we could take them to St. Peter’s Square at noon on Sunday to pray the noontime Angelus with Pope Benedict XVIII, along with, oh, 25,000 of our closest friends and co-religionists from around the world. We were pleased to help the Roman economy in these difficult times.
The Holy Father blessed us and the entire throng of visitors along with our sacramental items which we planned to distribute back home to children, grandchildren, and friends. Like his predecessor, John Paul II, he displayed his linguistic abilities by addressing the assemblage in half a dozen languages to the enthusiastic applause of the Italians, French, German, Polish, Brazilian, and Spanish in attendance.
If any ghosts from the Roman Empire were in attendance, they would have been very pleased with his fluent Latin, too.
For the visitor who dedicates him- or herself to exploring Rome, the city presents an opportunity for time traveling back and forth over several millennia and epochs, pagan and Christian, ancient, medieval, Renaissance, Baroque, modern and contemporary.
The obvious case is St. Peter’s Basilica, starting with the Excavations, including a second century pagan necropolis, once at street level, now beneath the existing structure and culminating in the present towering dome. Today’s Basilica replaced an earlier church erected by Constantine after his conversion which resulted in burying over the pagan burial sites, the necropolis, in the process.
Paul Johnson in his slim, informative volume, The Renaissance: A Short History, captures the sweep and drama of the construction of this historic church:
About the Author
G. Tracy Mehan, III served at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in the administrations of both Presidents Bush. He is a consultant in Arlington, Virginia, and an adjunct professor at George Mason University School of Law.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (26) | Leave a comment
More Articles by G. Tracy Mehan, III
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Appleby| 4.4.12 @ 8:09AM
I was in Rome in 1969, on our way from Greece which had just been taken over by a Military Coup and given us our first lesson in keeping our mouths shut when people were speaking to us in front of cameras in a foreign land. Our trip to Israel had been cancelled by an impending war, so 4 of us elected to rent a Fiat and see some sights. (We did not realize that the Fiats in Italy were the size of clown cars and the drivers were all playing Mill Miglia.) What struck me most forcefully was that all the well known ruins were right downtown and crammed together with modern buildings and the ruins of World War II (pointed out to us by our guides, in case our fathers might have dropped the bombs. Some of them did.) I visited Pompeii and Naples, had Mr. Toad's Wild Ride along the Amalfi Drive in a boyfriend's Lamborghini, and of course threw coins in the fountain. They did not work; I have never been back. Probably they didn't work because they were Greek lepta, made of aluminum, worth "1/100th of Nothing" and floated. Rome is fascinating and beautiful. We went on from there to Gibraltar, and thence round South America and home to LA.
Kenny| 4.4.12 @ 8:17AM
Are illegal aliens allowed to take up residence in the Vatican like the Catholic bishops in think they should be permitted to do in America?
I'm just asking.
Clemmie| 4.4.12 @ 7:34PM
LOL!
Jacob| 4.6.12 @ 1:34PM
Are hillbillies still alive and well?
Thanks Kenny, we don't have to ask that question anymore! :-)
Jacob| 4.6.12 @ 1:35PM
Thanks also to Clemmie for proof from both the sexes!!
jd| 4.4.12 @ 10:32AM
Took the family to visit Rome in July of 2009. The last time I was there was in 1985 when I was a poor college student backpacking around Europe after studying a semester abroad. I was so poor that I washed in train station bathrooms, ate the best, juiciest, sweetest peaches in my life that to this day I still remember. Going back to this city with my husband and kids after all these years was magical. Rome by far is the best city in the world to visit. My love of Roman antiquity and love of Catholicism were both nurtured, and actually I would suggest for anybody wanting to nourish their spirituality to visit the catacombs of St. Calixtus, to really appreciate what the martyrs of early Catholicism went through.
PJ| 4.4.12 @ 10:44AM
Never go to Rome in the summertime. They're not into a/c or can't afford it & the water pressure is low. You need to take 2 to 3 showers/baths per day just to keep cool if the place of stay has no a/c. There's a reason why the city is closed up during the extreme heat of the day.
Vern Crisler| 4.4.12 @ 11:15AM
As a Protestant, I find no religious point in going to Rome (or Jerusalem for that matter).
However, as someone who's interested in history, an archaeological or historical tour of these cities would be a priceless experience.
Although, in reading Mark Twain's travels through Europe, there is a problem of being surfeited with art, a sort of ineffability-fatigue.
A Catholic friend told me that the biggest thing he remembers from going to Rome is climbing up the Vatican and finding a little snack bar at the top. It's interesting how these little things often stand out over the larger things.
Too bad about the graffiti; I guess Rome is in competition with Los Angeles to prove the theory true that if one doesn't clean it up right away it becomes a magnet for more.
Jacob| 4.6.12 @ 1:37PM
As a Protestant you probably also find no religious point in going to church very often either! (Unless your favorite guitar rock band, who also mentions Christ when it doesn't seem offensive to be sexy, is playing!)
I'm sorry but it doesn't feel good from other side when people belittle each other!
Jacob| 4.6.12 @ 1:40PM
By the way that was really cute how your observations of Rome kind of sum up your theological beliefs that Picasso and Michaelangelo were kind of Catholic a-holes, and you'd rather go to the snack bar at the football field and watch Sportscenter that night when you get home!
(I'm not really sure what your point was, but thanks.)
Ryan| 4.4.12 @ 11:24AM
Spent 6 weeks in Italy, with a couple in Rome, about 9 years ago this coming summer. Loved every minute of it.
The Colosseum was...creepy, to say the least. There seemed to be a dark spirit about the place.
The Vatican was both wonderful and sad at the same time - how amazing it was, yet was built on the backs of the wealth of the Europe, when that money could have better been contributed...then again, no Vatican, no Protestants, I suppose.
There is a point to be made, particularly in Italy, and Rome and Florence in particular, about so much old wonderful art in nooks and crannies that it can be a bit overwhelming at times, where you miss something. I think the most telling was a Donatello bronze statue in the back alley behind a church.
Patrick| 4.4.12 @ 3:44PM
What can be said? A few centuries of spikenard and you're up to your eyes in art.
Jacob| 4.6.12 @ 1:47PM
Dude, do some research into the history of Christianity. You're coming off as one of those ignorant youth group protestants who knows absolutely zero about history because all you've ever been taught is how Christians are better than everyone and Catholics aren't really Christians.
I'm just saying it makes you guys seem like lame hillbillies when your anti-Catholic nostalgia is so often and obvious.
Get over it, the Church will always be the biggest and strongest and you will always be broken shards at the stained glass window. Christ's promise doesn't die because you guys are so excited about your me-me-me way of interpreting the Bible. Why don't you guys ever mention how the Protestant "corrections" of Jerome's bible contain more errors than Jerome's bible itself (which was translated half a millennium earlier)?
KyMouse| 4.4.12 @ 12:00PM
If you use a treadmill or stationary bike, you might want to check out the DVDs at www.vitadigitalproductions.com . They have 30- and 60-minute DVDs that take you "walking" through Rome and lots of other places.
The DVD "Rome -- La Dolce Vita" starts at Harry's Bar, goes along the Via Veneto, past the Triton Fountain, and on.
The "Rome Walking Tour" goes at 3 m.p.h. past five (I think) famous ruins.
And there's a walk along the "Appian Way."
The DVDs are shot with professional television equipment, and there is NO music or narration. You hear people talking as the cameraman walks by them.
The web site has samples you can see. They also have virtual bike tours, and DVDs that take you through the English countryside, along coastlines, and other places.
No, I don't work for them; I just think their DVDs are neat.
RCV| 4.4.12 @ 12:35PM
I took my teenage son to Rome a few years ago during Easter week. We visited all the marvelous historic sites in the city, ate the finest meals either of us could remember. We went to the Coleseum on Good Friday, where the Pope recited the stations of the cross. The following day, we attended midnight Easter mass at the Vatican. It was marvelous! The Pope read the scripture excerpts in four different languages, facing the congregation in different directions each time, only a few feet from where we were sitting.
As we left St. Peters late in the morning, my son -- who as an Episcopalian is not given to excessive religious fervor, to put it mildly -- said to me, "Boy, the Pope sure gives good Mass! Thanks, Dad."
W| 4.4.12 @ 12:53PM
Roma is great, I could write at length. I spent a summer in school taking courses and had a room near the Spanish steps. I did the walking tours on my own, about five miles each day.
BarbS| 4.4.12 @ 2:34PM
Rome is a fascinating city. I agree that the graffiti is depressing, but it is a long-standing tradition, unfortunately. The current types of markings have degenerated significantly from sgraffito.
Two places we found to be of particular interest in Rome are the minor basilica San Pietro in Vincole and the Pantheon. San Pietro has the chains that bound Peter before his crucifixion and, as a bonus, has the Michelangelo statue of Moses carved for the tomb of Pope Julius II. The Pantheon is incredible - just sitting in the piazza and staring at this imposing building dating back to Emperor Hadrian (who dedicated the "new" Pantheon to Marcus Agrippa) puts you under the spell of the long history of Rome.
As a Lutheran who has worshipped in very plain churches, I personally find the ornate richness, relics and artworks of the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches to be refreshing.
Patrick| 4.4.12 @ 3:51PM
There was once a time when Lutheran churches were beautiful too. I guess that's how modernity is:
There is never enough gold for the toilet seats of lawyers, nor is there enough marble to house the churches of Caesar and Mammon, but the local church dedicated to the Lord Almighty makes due with brass and brick.
Penny| 4.4.12 @ 2:38PM
Lovely article Mr.Mehan, thank you. I'll be there at the end of April and can't wait - second trip but only for a week. Will be adding to the list of favourite churches and definitely going to San Luigi.
Here's a video that should evoke some memories for you or anyone who's been or contemplates a visit in Springtime:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkH7nForHsg
Penny| 4.4.12 @ 2:50PM
Good heavens - just found that Frederic Bastiat was buried at San Luigi. All the more reason to visit.
Clemmie| 4.4.12 @ 7:33PM
Can't wait to hear about Madrid!
vatvince37| 4.4.12 @ 9:44PM
While I cannot claim to be an expert on the attractions of Rome, I can say that I lived there for nearly four years (1988-92), and know the city resonably well. While it is correct to speak of the omnipresent graffiti (an Italian word) that now drowns the city, I insist that during my time, the scope of that "art form" was never as widespread as it is today. Still, one can never tire of Rome, and that nothing to do with the fact that my surname ends in a vowel.
As to Madrid, another city I very much like and where from 1978-82 I resided, the comparison with Rome is the apple/orange one. But that is a tale for another time.
Scontrone| 4.5.12 @ 9:17AM
I visited Rome in 1960 as a young man barely out of my teens. At that age I was more interested in the young women of Rome than its museums. I spent days on a Vespa on the prowl for good restaurants and bad women. One night, very late, I drove down a little used cobble stone road. After a time, the contemporary buildings and other signs of modernity thinned out and then disappeared and what appeared to be ancient mausoleums could be seen every now and then at roadside. I stopped my Vespa and just took in the silence and the setting. I felt transported, and imagined for a moment that I was on the Appian Way in Caesar's Rome. I felt connected with antiquity. It was a magical moment.
Several decades later, as a married man, I visited Rome again and was less interested in its women and its Vespas, and more interested in its art and architecture. The city was no less magical. It seemed as though all the beauty of antiquity and the last two thousand years had been gathered in Rome to be seen and appreciated. I began to understand what is meant by the term "The Eternal City".
As a young man and as an old man, Rome could not have been better.
Jacob| 4.6.12 @ 1:48PM
Weird because both of your experiences seem so shallow.
Andrea| 4.5.12 @ 10:24AM
What a wonderful Easter gift this article is! Grazie.
Lin-Dai Kendall | 4.15.12 @ 6:07PM
Hi Tracy!
What a delightful and vivid account of your trip to Rome. As an architect I have to say you did a superb job in your descriptions of the works of art of the Italian Masters. These guys are "the bomb"! I have so much respect for their creativity, ingenuity, and finesse! Thanks for sharing your experience and thank the Lord for your blessed recovery! Warm regards to you and your lovely bride,
L.Y.Kendall