Italy: Rome, St. Peter's Square & Borghese Gallery

May 04, 2025

As I started my research on this segment of our astounding tour, I discovered that this frame (below), in music terms, has been "covered"... over and over and over. Same exact framing, different butts... OK maybe not everyone had a bald guy in the frame. But a humbling discovery:

But our target (Sistine Chapel) is beckoning, and we'll soon travel that hallway to the left (above).

Our target here was that hallway, the Vatican Museum, and the Sistine Chapel. There's a security checkpoint at the entrance, and my reconstructed knee merited a sidelining and wanding, just like an airport protocol.

So as with most things Roman, there's a line, but with Tauk, there's a way through the clutter. Time and time again, we were learning, it pays to have pros in charge. We weren't able to see everything we were slated to see due to the Pope's death, but we got to see a lot, and didn't suffer the oft-denounced wait times (sometimes three or four hours, we heard). So here's the view enroute, depicting Nero's golden home, Domus Aurea:

The unedited original frame was more golden, glowing as it were, but a little editing brought out the colors and definition. Stunning.

The passageway is filled with incredible works of art. One example, Artemus of Ephesus (Diana):

And since we're in the middle of some of the most precious art ever collected, why not have a lapis lazuli installation in the floor? (not for us to walk on, but...):

Moving closer to the Sistine, this would have been a wonderful painting... if one can say that of such a horrific event. But indeed, this is a shot of a tapestry depicting the Massacre of the Innocents:

And closer to the Chapel, this tapestry... huge. And incredible. And I was in such a rush the subject (Jesus emerging from the tomb) didn't dawn on me until back in the "darkroom":

And these are not even the Raphael tapestries, which are in the Sistine Chapel proper... for a limited time only, so it seems.

But let's move closer to the Chapel... via the Galleria of Maps:

Enroute, we saw this map, astonishingly accurate as it was completed in 1580:

And, at last, we entered the Sistine Chapel:

So, a little step back before we go outside with some thoughts from Linda's notes:

"Didn’t know Nero started the fire in Rome to blame the Christians and start prosecution.

St Peter’s square. Couldn’t get to walk on the square or get any closer to the Vatican. Structures already set up and more being constructed for the funeral and waiting for the conclave. Saw 2 Cardinals in different places being interviewed (or at least followed) by the press. Cameras all around (professionals). Soldiers in uniforms from several countries are seen with machine guns. Someone said the larger guns were for drones."

Steve adds: "I heard the larger guns were actually shockwave generators... in their trials, people were unable to move when hit, but had no long-term issues...thus perfect to take down drones."

To continue on with this most intellectually and artistically exhausting day, we went out to St. Peter's Square:

The Pope lives here... the three-story building perched on high - he waves from the third floor window, second from right on the facade facing the camera: