Faith · Cinema · Society · People · Rome
Today the Rome Film Festival premiered "Francesco", a documentary about Pope Francis I. And in this film words of papal support for same-sex unions were heard. "Homosexuals are children of God and have a right to a family. We must create a civil union law [for
Archaeology · Observations · Rome · Humour
How should one speak of one's good deeds? A fellow a couple of thousand years ago, for instance, had his name cut into stone on the main square of the resort town of Terracina, on the approaches to Rome along the Appian Way, in huge bronze letters. Made
Faith · The East · Society · Rome
Pope Francis's first public audience in six months was devoted not only to the challenges of the pandemic but also to words of sympathy for the victims of the tragedy in Beirut, with a special place in his address given to solidarity. The Pope recalled the Babel syndrome:
Faith · Society · Rome
Today Pope Francis held his first public audience in six months and spoke some very important words: that all of us need the immediacy of personal contact, which does our souls great good, and that we should pray that the pandemic does not become a pretext for dividing humanity but
Architecture · Heritage · Society · Rome
A trace of the brief days of the Roman Republic in 1849: a cannonball lodged in the staircase of the Great Salon of Cardinal Girolamo Colonna's Baroque palace. The shots were fired at random from the Janiculum Hill into the centre of Rome, which the republicans had held
Art · Books · Museums · Rome
Pliny the Elder waxes enthusiastic about a dog licking its wound in the temple of Juno on the Capitol:. "This art attained a perfection incredible in a man, and with it a boldness to match. … Our generation saw on the Capitol, before it burned down so recently, … a dog
NB! · Architecture · Faith · Heritage · Rome
Another ancient door of Rome, more than 1,500 years old. The wooden doors of the Basilica of Santa Sabina on the Aventine have preserved 18 of their original carved panels; the only thing that has changed is the doorway in which they are set.
Archaeology · Architecture · Heritage · Rome
Another set of ancient Roman doors has kept its original position and stands to this day in the Forum, in the Temple of Romulus, which is, first and foremost, remarkable precisely for these most ancient doors. True, the doorways are partly bricked up, and the doors themselves are not usually
Architecture · Faith · Observations · Heritage · Rome
I confess I became curious as to which doors in Rome might be called the oldest. Among the contenders are the doors of the Curia Julia, made in the 1st century BC and preserved even though the curia itself was destroyed. These doors now stand in the treasury of the
Archaeology · Architecture · Rome
The ancient history of cities lives on in their layout. One of the most beautiful squares in Rome, Piazza Navona, owes its rounded northern end to the fact that in 46 BC Julius Caesar built a stadium here, which the Emperor Domitian later considerably enlarged, giving it the shape of
NB! · Faith · Observations · Reportage · Rome
Archaeology · Architecture · Faith · Rome
According to legend, during the war with the Sabines the Roman king Tarquinius Priscus vowed to build in Rome a temple in honour of Jupiter, Juno and Minerva: by ancient Etruscan tradition, the sanctuary of the principal divine triad was raised on the dominant height of the city. Of course,