And the Birds of the Air

Ron, Gord and I visited the Scavi under St. Peter's last week - one of the best kept secrets in Roma. It's an incredible opportunity to walk through the 1st century Necropolis that was built on the Vatican Hill before Constantine filled it in to serve as the foundations of the first St. Peter's Basilica. Though this was my second visit, thanks to an exceptionally talented guide - Carla, an archaeologist, it was as fascinating as it had been on the first visit. It is amazing to see tombs, monuments, sarcophagi, frescoes and mosaics not in a museum but in their original setting. George Weigel gives a brief history of its discovery and restoration here.

While waiting to go into the Scavi and trying to avoid the downpour that would eventually turn into a horrendous storm, we popped into the Vatican bookstore and amongst the wise words of Big Ben translated into every known language found a few treasures including Robert Hupka's brilliant photo essay on Michelangelo's Pieta and this card: A simple design but I found it beautiful in its simplicity.

02 novembre - La Commemorazione dei defunti