Papal Visit, Sort Of

Cute Swiss Guard at the Vatican in full pajamas

Laocoon and his Sons
in the Vatican collection

Modern Art in the Vatican Gardens

Our eleven day Italian trip was coming to an end. Our tour mates had become buddies, and , in some cases, friends. We had bonded through our shared experiences of climbing treacherous mountain trails, learning how to taste olive oil, eating plates of amazing Italian cuisine, and drinking slightly more than our share of wonderful Italian wine. It was fitting, then, with all these experiences together, that our last full day in Italy was spent making a spiritual pilgrimage of sorts.
Our penultimate day in Roma was spent touring the Vatican, the home of Pope Benedict as well as one of the largest collections of art in the world. That was part of the payoff of being Pope back in the day—all the best artists wanted to have their work in your house.
We took one of Rome’s two subway lines to get to Vatican City. Yeah, get this. The big city of Rome has two, count ‘em, two subway lines. One goes north-south, the other east-west. The problem with digging more lines is that every time you dig a hole in Rome, you find some kind of archeological artifact! That stops the digging in a quick hurry, while the government sends in the archeologists with their teaspoons and toothbrushes to unearth more historic treasures, which is definitely going to put a crimp in the subway digging schedule.
Our guide Karin told us that you see some pretty weird stuff in some Roman homes. A family might decide to renovate their basement and do some digging, which unearths some Roman detritus from an earlier century. If you tell the government, your home is overrun by you-know-who, those teaspoon and toothbrush people. So you keep your mouth shut, renovate your basement and put that ancient bust of Plutarch on a pedestal in your living room. Finders, keepers, and all that.

Clean, TV equipped Roman subway

So we took the beautiful, clean, television-equipped Roman subway to Vatican City, where we got in the long line (even for tour groups) for the Vatican.
Karin took us into the Vatican Gardens, where they have cleverly set up a series of large posters with the highlights of the Sistine Chapel paintings by Michelangelo. There she could explain the work to us, since speaking in the Sistine Chapel is forbidden ( a rule that is ignored by most of the tourists there, which necessitates the loud “Silencio” at regular intervals).

Karin shows us the Sistine treasures

Then she wound us through the maze of rooms that make up the papal palace, stopping at certain spots to show us particular works, than plowing ahead to reach the Sistine Chapel.
It was at once bigger and more intimate than I expected. And involves a lot of neck craning. But it is breathtaking and moving and it is hard to believe that this was painted by someone who considered himself more of a sculptor than a painter, for it is masterful. That Michelangelo had serious skills.
Our last evening together was spent at a restaurant near the Spanish Steps. We each had a chance to tell what we loved about the trip and the folks we had met. There were a lot of laughs and even some tears.
Ciao, ciao, Italia!