We ventured to Rome on the 16th for one reason only - the weather. It’s been rainy or drizzly or showers or forecast as such for the last couple of weeks and today was supposed to be brilliantly sunny all day. Plans were made, train tickets bought and the alarm was set ridiculously early. We aimed for the earliest train possible (for us at least), leaving the countryside at 7.26 am. Even had the car defrosted by 7.05 and there well in time for the train (this time, on time - yay!) In fact, we were stepping off the metro at the Spanish Steps by around 8.40 am. We’ve been eying off a couple of cafes just near the entrance to the metro that seemed to cater mainly to locals. We could tell this by a) looking at the clientele and b) they weren’t prohibitively expensive - one had a special of €1.90 for a croissant or pastry with a cappucino. Which is only 5c dearer than our cafe bar in the village - that is very special indeed in Rome. We enjoyed our Italian breakfast immensely, warmed up, availed of facilities then headed off on our pre-planned Google Maps route (a trick I’ve just figured out how to do and which has already proved hugely helpful - saving navigating on the fly and ensuring we see things we might otherwise miss just walking around).

Our first church was an accidental one - simply on the way to our first official stop. San Lorenzo in Lucina was an unusual church by Rome standards, with a flat roof structure vs. an ornate dome. The highlight for us was a sculptural portrait by Bernini - the best funeral bust ever and one of the favoured pieces for the day. Our second church was also an accidental one... but the doors were there and we popped in to enjoy the immensity of Sts Ambrose & Charles. The highpoint of this large church was the precious holy relic - the heart of St Charles. Despite not being particularly (at all) religious folks, the immensity of the art, history and opulence of Romes churches is mindblowing and so easily accessible. We finally made it to Stop A on our Google Maps tour - The Church of St Louis of the French, designed to show the prestige of the Kings of France and the national church of France, in Rome. Wow. I say again, Wow. This put the two previous churches in the shade... the gold! the ornamentation! the three Caravaggios! That’s right - just sitting in a chapel, albeit with all sorts of security no doubt - but really, just sitting there to be enjoyed. They portrayed the life cycle of St Matthew and were superb. The church must do quite well with the ‘Put a €1 in’ box to turn the lights on... but why not when you have masterpieces on display. We followed our map and continued on to the Pantheon. We visited a few years ago but it is such a stunning building and we love that it was a pagan temple before getting churched up - the ultimate in Re-Use & Recycle. We’ve had so much fun between us researching places to see this time around and are much more aware of all the sights that abound in the Pantheon and surrounds - Raphael’s tomb just being one (yet another spot for fans of the Dan Brown movie Angels & Demons). Around the back of the Pantheon we finally got to see Bernini’s elephant sculpture and one of Rome’s smallest obelisks. We followed the elephant with a visit to Santa Maria Sopra Minerva which stands next to it. St Mary’s over Minerva is the translation of this church’s name, though the ruins weren’t actually a temple to the Greco-Roman goddess Minerva - they were from a temple dedicated to the Egyptian deity Isis. This was a truly stunning church (and our standards of stunning are getting higher with every visit to Rome. It was also the place where Galileo was convicted of heresy when he started blethering on about the earth orbiting the sun... instead of the universe revolving around the earth... fancy!

Next stop wasn’t on the agenda either... but we were just walking past and came across St Marta’s church - though was deconsecrated in 1910 (Rome has around 900 churches - one more or less is simply not noticed). Aside from being a church it’s been a convent, a freemasons lodge, a police headquarters then a police gym. Now it’s used for concerts and a chance for students of art restoration to perfect their skills. We’re becoming very good at just trundling up and saying can we come for a look... photos? si. Excellent!

We meandered along our pre-planned route and checked out the small but interesting Fountain of the Labourer (Il Facchino - ‘The Porter’). Sculpted in 1580 it is relatively modern (and in Rome, it’s all relative). It is one of Rome’s five ‘talking’ statues where irreverent satires were posted poking fun at public figures during the 14th and 15th centuries. From that corner it was up (too) many steps to the Palazzo Quirinale. Set on top of the tallest of Rome’s 7 hills, this is one of the three official residences of the President of Italy.

The day was significantly warmer by this point (or it might have been all those steps) but the sun was shining brightly and it got very warm for a good half an hour. Via the Quattro Fontane, an intersection with a fountain incorporated into a building on each corner we finally made it to one of our major destinations: Santa Maria della Vittoria. In itself this church from 1620 is stunningly beautiful, but it’s highlight (go on - put another Euro in!) is Bernini’s marble sculpture - the Ecstasy of St Teresa (featured in Dan Brown’s movie Angels & Demons). Movie locations and stunning art all aside, our feet were falling off by this point and it was coming up to 1 pm (and we left the countryside at 7.30 am!) We took a quick look at the Fountain of Moses then headed down to Piazza Repubblica where we tripped over a massive ceremonial march that ended in front of the Baths of Diocletian - the traffic was semi-stopped by the march with made it 100% easier to nip across the Piazza and down into the depths of the metro for the few stations to our traditional Roman lunch - you guessed it - the ‘all you can order’ at Ristorante Xinghai near Manzoni. We seriously considered doing some more sightseeing after lunch... for all of about a minute... but instead started the journey home to watch the dogs and cats light up at our arrival. Can’t think why, but they really seem highly suspicious that we’re not coming back sometimes - As if!