Rome Revisited I

I spent the last couple days in Rome - sort of. As I told you, I passed several days last week scanning slides and I was surprised to find that I had more photographs of places I visited as a hard-drinking sailor than I had remembered. The recent couple of days in Rome were, in fact, spent in reverie as I cleaned up last week's scans and remembered my actual visits to Rome.


This first picture of St. Peter's was taken on the Via della Conciliazione, three or four blocks from the Vatican. I believe it was taken in 1973 on my second visit to Rome because, though it's been cropped out of this picture, the piazza had only a handful of visitors. When I visited the city in 1972 with my friend Harry, it was All Saints Day and the piazza was full of pilgrims waiting for the benediction of Pope Paul VI.


These next two pictures were taken from the roof of the North American College where Harry was in school. The College is located on the Janiculum, one of the famous Seven Hills of Rome. In the picture above, looking northeast over the city, the Castel San Angelo is in the center with Ponte San Angelo crossing the Tiber River in front of it. The castle at various times served as the refuge of the Pope, and is/was connected by tunnels to the Vatican. The large white building a block or so to the right is the Palace of Justice.


This view from the Janiculum, looking east-southeast shows the monument to Victor Emmanuel nearly on the horizon to the right. Victor Emmanuel, the King of Piedmont-Sardinia, became King of a united Italy in 1861. The large, white marble building - often referred to as "the Wedding Cake of Rome" or "the Typewriter" - houses the Museum of Reunification. The king's tomb, however, is in the Pantheon. There are two domes in the foreground; the smaller one, centered, is the Church of the Holy Name of Jesus, and the other, slightly right, is the Basilica of St. Andrew of the Valley.


The church above is Trinita Dei Monti, located at the top of the Spanish Steps and near the Borghese Gardens. It's exterior is often seen in movies because the Spanish Steps seem to be a favorite location of filmmakers.


The last picture in this post looks across the Tiber and Ponte San Angelo (note the Angels on the bridge). The large white building to the left with the bronze chariot is the Palace of Justice. The dome above the second angel is part of the Basilica of Sts. Ambrose and Charles. And, if you look closely, directly above the central arch of the bridge is the pink Trinita Dei Monti - in situ.

My next post will be a few more pictures from Rome; then, who knows?