A:

"What did you buy for yourself in Rome, Anne?" "A beautiful leather wallet."

"And Mick, what about you?" "I got a second hand jumper for five Euros at a street market!" More of this later!

On Sunday we went to 10 am Mass at the Baroque church of Santa Maria del Popolo which is in the Piazza del Popolo. We went to that particular church of the thousands in Rome, partly because it has a Raphael sculpture - Chigi- and two Caravaggio paintings inside. We respectfully kept the sightseeing part till Mass was finished, unlike others who wandered up and down taking photos in the middle of it, and went searching. Unfortunately, the Chigi was completely covered over and under repair and one of the paintings had been removed for an exhibition in Russia, but we did see the other Caravaggio which is "The Crucifixion of St Peter". (M: even in the "2-euro-for-a-few-minutes light" it is a wonderfullly muscular and evocative piece.)

M and A:

During our explorations on Saturday we had discovered that there would be a children's puppet show in the small theatre in the Pincio Gardens, just above the church at 11.30 on Sunday. We thought it would be interesting to compare with our Catanian experience, so despite our advanced years and the absence of any small childen in tow, we climbed up to the Pincio and bought tickets. The Pincio is a beautifully laid out set of gardens that are a wonderful oasis away from the madhouse below (although it must be said that it is quite delightful to walk the city early on a Sunday morning. Like most cities it is much nicer without the traffic!). While we were waiting for the show to start we walked through the park with the families who were also out enjoying a stroll or a run or a turn on the bikes you can hire in this huge park. We listened to a fantastic trumpeteer who was busking, and bought his CD which turns out to have "Strangers in the Night" on it. It seems that after Woody Allen, Frank Sinatra is the American Italians love to love. At least Frank had the name for it!

We got ourselves back to the theatre, and sat with a lively group of children and their parents for an hour watching "Il Ratto del Serraglio di Pulcinella"- "The Rescue from the Harem" - freely adapted from Mozart, starring Pulcinella as the servant Pedrillo. The puppetry was accompanied by a pianist dressed to look like Mozart and playing music from the opera. Audience participation was encouraged by the engaging "Pulcinella' who came out to talk to us between scenes. It was great fun.

M:

At one point during the warm up, when an actor dressed as Pulcinella was talking to the kids, she had to say, if you keep on chatting, we won't get started for two and a half hours! The puppets were quite different from "I pupi" in Catania. These burratini had no strings. Three of the four characters (Belmonte, Pedrillo and Kostanza) were simply glove puppets, while the fourth, was like a muppet - a combination of glove and rods to move hands.

A:

We couldn't resist another of the delicious pizzas at Dar Poeta in Trastevere so walked the 20 or so minutes right past our flat and another 15 on to this fabulous restaurant which didn't disappoint once again. The pizza dough they create here is out of this world.

Later in the evening we enjoyed a band outside the Feltrinelli book shop who were very energetic, jumpong up and down and playing Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass - among other things.(M: Clearly no one had told them they had to play Strangers in the Night! Might be too hard to jump to?)

On Monday we made our way on the bus (30) to the Catacombs of San Callisto. We knew from the website that the Salesians of John Bosco run this catacomb. We had to walk 1350 metres from the bus stop (M: Anne counted! :-)) . On arrival you buy a ticket and then wait for a guide. They then determine what language you want to do it in and so we went off with a priest in a group of six. As he introduced himself I thought, this name and accent sounded familar- Father Owen Mason - a Salesian priest who worked at Boystown Engadine up till 1979 ie two years before I started my six year stint there as a social worker! What are the chances? There were four or five tours that started around the same time as we did, each in a different language, but what a coincidence! I don't think I'd actually met him but staff at Boystown spoke about him in such glowing terms that I felt I knew him. We had a chat after the tour finished and were saddened to find that Pete Monaghan's mother had died that very day. Pete was the school principal and senior dorm master for most of my time there. Chris Riley, who has just been named NSW Australian of the Year for 2012 was the senior dorm master in my final year at Boystown. It was great to catch up on some of the people from my old workplace. But I digress- the catacombs were very interesting.

M and A:

They came into general use at the end of the second century when wealthy families who owned the land made it possible for others to be buried there, because at the time it was not permitted to bury the dead within the city walls.They eventually became the official cemetery of the Catholic church in Rome. It is estimated that there are 20 kilometres of tunnels and that around half a million people may have been buried in these catacombs alone - and there are others nearby. These particular tombs have been the burial place of seven popes and eight bishops. St Cecila was also buried there but her body was later moved to the church we have already seen in Trastavere. The early Christians, who buried their dead, as happened to Jesus, needed this space unlike the pagans who cremated their dead. From about 5 or 6 hundred AD, the tombs fell into disuse, and became prey to a succession of vandals and looters, from within and beyond Rome. When the site was eventually rediscovered in the mid 1800s, it was in very poor condition, and ninety percent of the bodies had decayed or been removed in the process of mindless destruction, or recycling the marble for other buidings in Rome - including churches!

M:

At the time of the rediscovery of the catacombs, the remaining remains (I couldn't help it!) were removed to a secure site within the catcombs where they could rest in peace (pieces?). The tour was a great way to see this incredible complex and dispel a few myths- such as the fact that it is unlikely that the Christians actually lived in them. When you consider the fact that everyone knew where they were, that they were damp and smelly, and that they had already developed a reputation as a place of worship, it would not have been the first choice in a game of hide and seek where you lost if they found you!

A:

After lunch we set off again, by bus and Metro, this time for Cinecitta', Italy's answer to Hollywood. Cinecitta' was set up by Mussolini, who recognised the power of film in shaping the ideas of the people. It had a bit of a decline after the war, with a resurgence in the 50s and 60s. One artifact just in the gardens is the statue from the opening scene of La Dolce Vita. (M: The other item from this film on display is Anita Ekberg's gown. Suffice it to say that the dummy fails to do it justice!) The Italian film industry at Cinecitta' burbled along on spaghetti westerns and soft porn for a while in the 70s and 80s, and has more recently been busy in major international film and television work such as The Gangs of New York, and the series Rome.

There happens to be an exhibition of film making processes from script to post production in two of the major buildings at the front of the lot. The standout for us, though, was the backlot where Rome - the TV series - was filmed from 2002 - 2004. It was one of the most expensive productions ever made for television, and while this is obvious on screen (we happen to be watching it at present thanks to Beth and Elias), to see the Roman forum recreated at full scale is an incredible experience - complete with the coloured paint and the grafitti. You have to go right up to the walls and knock on them to convince yourself of the trickery, so skilfully done in fibreglass and polystyrene.

We got off the metro at Termini on the way back to buy our tickets for Frascati - possibly Tuesday. We got onto a bus from Termini in time to grab a seat, which is much better than grabbing someone else's seat, or their grabbing yours in the mayhem of the crowd that materialised before we took off!

M: Oh - nearly forgot. Lovely gold coloured jumper. Probably a tad small even after all these weeks of walking, so it may become Anne's after all.