St John Lateran - 4 April

My neighbourhood market in Via Cesare Balbo.

 Awoken this morning about 6.30 by a thunderstorm that banged back the shutters. At first I thought someone was taking flash photographs but it proved to be lightening. The merchants in the market all scurried for cover. They start setting up in the street below about 5.30, so they were delayed in finishing this morning.

This fountain on the corner runs all day and night with good drinkable water. The vegetable sellers wash their vegetables and fruit in it too. 

  Today I went to San Giovanni Laterano, Saint John Lateran, the Pope's "home" church and his seat as Bishop of Rome. Went slightly off track, took Via Carlo Alberto instead of Via Merulana, and ended up at Santa Croce in Gerusalemme, west through Piazza Vittorio Emanuele. My old Lonely Planet says that this is a 'boisterous ethnic food market" but not now it seems. The area is run down and seedy, but was probably a fashionable area at the end of the nineteenth century, when many of the buildings were built.

    Santa Croce in Gerusalemme is the church built by St. Helena to house her collection of relics of the Cross that she had found in Jerusalem. It's rather a neglected church, publicity-wise; only the hard-core faithful here, it's well off the tourist track. Most notable for me was the presence of three young, sexy priests! Very fetching they were, tall, slim, swishing around in their long black robes. I can see why some women get the hots for such as they, and of course, their priestly vows of celibacy would only pose a challenge. There's a calendar now of handsome priests - none of them are identified by name or location, and of course it may be a put-on, all posed by models.  The no.1 pin-up at the moment is, of course, Papa Francesco. He is already immensely popular, and appears on bookmarks (got one!), calendars and fridge-magnets. Poor old Benedict is well and truly trounced; it's only a matter of time before his merchandise is marked 'reduced to clear'.
   Finally found St John Lateran. Another huge basilica, the oldest church foundation in Rome, but sadly fires, a couple of earthquakes and a massive Baroque-era makeover have destroyed most of the medieval church. The only original part left is the cloister, which has lovely twirly columns with marble inlay, similar to the Cathedral in Palermo. It's hard to photograph these places; they are just so huge.

Don't know this guy, he was just convenient for giving an idea of the scale of the place. This is the main door, only opened on ceremonial occasions.

This was odd. The chapel is dedicated to St Francis receiving the stigmata, a fairly serious subject, but look at the giggling Rococo angels and perky cupids flitting around, a little incongruous I thought.

  Leaving for Florence early tomorrow morning on the train. Be nice to take the weight of my feet for a while.