Rome, Days 3 and 4

Day 3 in Rome brought visits to three churches, the Scala Santa (Holy Stairs), and two substantially more tourist-ridden places. Our first stop was at Saint-Peter-In-Chains. This church features two cool things, one of which is verifiable. The verifiable thing is Michelangelo's Moses statue, which is awesome. The other thing is the namesake(s) of the church. The church was built in 440 specifically to house Peter's chains (no, the chains aren't that big). The altar contains a case with two sets of chains linked together -- one set that supposedly was used on Peter when he and Paul were being held in the Mamertine Prison (near the Roman Forum of yesterday's entry) and one set that supposedly was used on Peter when he was jailed by Herod in Jerusalem. True or not -- one does have to admire the Catholic sense of tradition.

Next on the list was the Church of San Giovanni in Laterno and the right-next-door Scala Santa. The Church of SGL is famous for being the first Christian Church in Rome, having opened its doors in 318. It was the home of the popes until St. Peter's was finished and the Vatican was renovated. The three coolest things about the Church of SGL are (1) the bronze columns that they swiped from the Temple of Jupiter (ironically, pagan Rome's holiest spot); (2) the gigantic bronze front doors, also swiped from pagan Rome (see Paige in the picture below for a perspective on size); and (3) the Bishop's Chair. To this day, new popes have to sit in the Bishop's Chair to make their election / papacy official. Paige suggested, with acknowledged sacrilege, that I jump the ropes, take a seat, and get a quick picture, but we thought better of it.

As for the Scala Santa, during her pilgrimage to Jerusalem in 326, Constantine's mom pulled some strings and sent back 28 marble steps from Pilate's house that Jesus climbed on the day of his sentencing. (Insert joke about Constantine's fundraising advisors recommending that he sell "My Mom Went To Jerusalem and All I Got Were These Lousy ... " t-shirts.) Anyway, many devout Catholics come to the Scala Santa every day to both see the stairs and climb them on their knees while simultaneously reciting the proper prayer for each step. We were just spectators, of course, but the place definitely has a thought-provoking vibe to it. Baptists just don't have things like this.

Our last church stop for the day was Santa Maria Maggiore. SMM was built in 432, between the time that Rome had been sacked by the Visigoths and the time that the popes started replacing the emperors as the powers-that-be. This church feels older than all of the others, probably because it has some Byzantine-type mosaics mixed in with the other art. It also has a very nice stained glass window. I hadn't thought about this much, but I don't recall seeing many of those here at all. Maybe that was more of a Gothic-and-beyond thing.

Other cool stuff we saw today included a cigarette vending machine (which I think we actually had in the States before the Surgeon General started minding people's business), a place where you can buy priest / bishop / cardinal clothes and accoutrements (presumably with the addition of some sort of secret handshake or union card), and a Metro station example of true government cost-cutting ingenuity. I mean, why actually go to the trouble of fixing a mechanism when you can rig a taped plastic bag with rocks to keep should-be-automatic doors from closing? I also made the mistake of actually going into a men's store instead of just window shopping for lightweight sport coats. I'm not sure my carry-on is going to be accommodating enough, but we will hope for the best. 

After dinner, we spent a bit more time walking around and managed to make it to both the Spanish Steps and Trevi Fountain -- two gigantically popular destinations near the center of the city. I don't entirely get the mass appeal of either place, but nobody asked me. Actually, I do I sort of get the appeal of the Spanish Steps since Audrey Hepburn sat on them in Roman Holiday. But there are countless fountains in Rome (fountains are a good way to show off the fact that you invented the aqueduct). Anyway, as many of you know, legend has it that facing away from the fountain and throwing a coin over one's shoulder into the fountain ensures one's return to Rome. Of course one still has to have sufficient vacation time and enough money to buy a plane ticket, etc., so it seems like a routine of questionable value. But again, nobody asked me. 

On Day 4, we went to the Borghese Museum. Borghese was a cardinal purely because he was nephew of one of the popes. He wasn't religious but he did use his station to set up some fabulous digs and buy an extensive assortment of art and sculpture (some of which would've been viewed as rather scandalous at the time). There is an entire room of Caravaggios. I'm not much of an art guy but I've always liked Caravaggio. The palace also has Bernini sculptures scattered all over the place. I think Paige and I are at the point now where we've seen enough art, sculptures, and churches for a while, though, so tomorrow is mainly going to be walking around and looking at stuff / people in different neighborhoods.

In closing, I have noticed in Rome the same thing I have noticed across Europe. People talk about income disparity in the States, but all one has to do is look at clothing and cars in Italy to notice the effective absence of what Americans would view as a "middle class." For example, of the cars in Rome (I noticed this in Florence and across the Tuscan countryside a couple years ago as well), maybe 5% are mid-level. In other words, virtually no one drives the European equivalent of a Honda Accord. Then you have 10% Mercedes / Porsche (below) /  high-end BMW and 85% cheap, tiny cars with lawn mower engines (below x 2).

So the rich are rich and the "working class" are legion. I guess that shouldn't come as too much of a surprise, given the extent to which most European countries dis-incentivize productivity. If you make less than $40,000 a year in the States, your average tax rate is about 11%. In Italy, it's north of 30%. In Italy, if you make $70,000, your tax rate is over 40%. That's double the rate for the same income level in the States. Never mind the additional 20% Value-Added-Tax on all goods and services you purchase when you're lucky enough to be born in Europe and the added benefit of paying $8/gallon for gas. "Free health care," indeed. And yet -- puzzlingly -- the Italian government is massively in debt (around 140% of GDP) and unemployment is double-digits. Waaaaaaaaiiiiiiit ... you mean that if you tax the life out of John and Jane Doe, they decide there isn't much upside to working hard / innovating and your economy goes down the toilet? Hooray for Democratic Socialism!!

(Ends discussion of basic economics.)

Almost forgot ... here's the grown-up version of the red Little Tykes car that literally everyone with kids knows well.

Peace,
Mike