‘Lo and on the fourth day they left the property. Who would have thought when we arrived in Italy for a mild Mediterranean winter that we’d end up snowed in, unable to get the trusty (but automotively, fairly pathetic) Yaris up the snow and ice covered goat track to the main road. Fortunately we had a trip to the supermarket on the Saturday for a few bits and pieces - though not a stock up by any means. Seeing snow was forecast on the Sunday night I even brought in a couple of heads of broccoli and a cabbage. We sat them in the covered outdoor terrace area so they would be ‘refrigerated’. As it turned out the snow blew directly into the covered area and covered the table, chairs, veges and a bit even landed on the dog beds. Wow. Apocalyptic snow or not, it thawed almost as fast as it encompassed us.

On Thursday we zoomed off to the railway station for a final day in Rome... ended up having to wait two hours for the train as Trenitalia had activated their Snow & Ice plan. Rather than having the morning to explore we arrived in Rome at lunch time - so figured ‘might as well’. It was bitterly cold and gray and a cosy restaurant was just the ticket. We missed visiting one particular church - Saint Clemente’s - so that’s gone to the top of our ‘Next Time in Rome’ list. We did however finally catch our white whale, our Moby d*** - we were on the doorstep of Santa Prassede at 3.00 pm when it opened... Our initial thoughts were ‘oh no... they’ve not paid the electricity bill’ - as it was dark, gloomy and exceedingly atmospheric... but somebody flicked the light switch when we half way around and that improved it no end! Why, pray tell, after trying to visit this place at least 3 times and always being foiled by the opening hours were we now in a rush? Well, getting back to Trenitalia’s Snow & Ice Plan... we knew we’d be lucky if trains were running every two hours and we really didn’t want to miss the 4.07 pm... which was a bit of a guestimate anyway as the timetables were so far up the wazoo. As it turns out, screeching around Santa Prassede (The Basilica of Saint Praxedes) was a good call... as our train was scheduled for 3.52 pm! Still - a cracking visit and much enjoyed.

The basilica was built between 780 and 822 AD. Whilst that sounds old (even for Rome), it was actually built on the ruins of a 5th century structure. It was designed to hold the bones of Saint Praxedes and Saint Pudentiana - two saints we’d not heard of before. They were (apparently) the virgin daughters of Saint Pudens who was (apparently) St Peter’s first Christian convert in Rome. They were (apparently) murdered for providing Christian burials for early martyrs in defiance of Roman law. At least that’s one story. The current scholarly thought on the subject, due to very little evidence of the girls’ actual existence, is that Praxedes was a lady who donated land and/or money for the building of the church. (Sigh... Yawn...Boring.)

The basilica contains stunning Byzantine mosaics which were created between 817 and 824. (Goes to show you don’t have to visit Turkey to see some of the best Byzantine art in the world as the empire that was centred in Istanbul and existed from the 4th to 15th centuries stretched even as far as Italy). One of the other highlights - from a historical perspective for us as we’re not particularly religious - was a portion of the pillar or scourging post where Christ was flogged and tortured before his crucifixion in Jerusalem. This was allegedly taken by Saint Helena, the mother of Emperor Constantine, when she undertook a pilgrimage to Jerusalem in the early 4th century at the age of 80 (during which she recovered several relics related the crucifixion on Calvary). (Or as we say after a bit of research... that’s one story anyway.) The stone used and the quality of carving is now considered to be of too high a quality for use just to punish criminals and there is, apparently, a much more likely candidate in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. The pillar has been damaged over the years and there is a painting in the basilica of how it looked when it had a vertical iron ring attached to its top. It’s likely original function seems to have been as a bollard in a very high status assembly area where areas needed to be roped off. The stone used is otherwise unknown in Rome, and looks like a white marble with dark crimson inclusions. The base and top have had chunks knocked off to form separate relics including in 1585 when Pope Sixtus V generously gave a bit to the city of Padua. The original iron ring was given to King Louis IX of France in exchange for three thorns (allegedly) from the Crown of Thorns. Whether any relics anywhere are actually genuine is often highly disputed due to lack of evidence and the many fakes that were around even in Saint Helena’s day - the wild west of early Christian relic-hunting.

We will certainly miss the history-onion that is Rome and can’t wait for our next opportunity to visit. Meanwhile, when we finally made it back to the ranch, we finished most of our packing and had a quiet ‘last night’ dinner. Friday, believe it or not, less than a week after the Sunday night snow dump, dawned sunny with blue skies and it was 18 degrees by the time we reached the airport... just managed to stuff the fur coat into my cabin bag and we enjoyed a look around the shops and a good read before our first ever flight on Alitalia... it’s a shame they’re constantly on the brink of going out of business as it was a super comfortable flight. Rather lucky that as we sat on the tarmac for an hour waiting for our turn on the only functioning runway (due to high winds). See - even Rome didn’t really want us to go! Sofia, Bulgaria - here we come (and so will emerge the furcoat once more.)