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Travel tips, Food, Lifestyle, Street Art, Events and Exhibitions in Rome and all around Italy.

Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI died, funeral on January 5th

The Pope Ratzinger was 95 years old and in the last few days his condition had worsened. Pope Francis had asked the world to pray for him. With pain I inform you that the Pope Emeritus, Benedict XVI, passed away today at 9:34 am, in the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery in the Vatican”. With this press release, the Director of the Press Office of the Holy See, Matteo Bruni, announced the death of the pontiff who preceded Pope Bergoglio. Pope Ratzinger was 95 years old and in the last few days his conditions had worsened. Pope Francis had asked the faithful to pray for him. Benedict XVI, the first Pope emeritus after his historic resignation from the pontificate in February 2013, ended his earthly journey this morning. “It is with pain that I inform you that the Pope Emeritus, Benedict XVI, passed away today at 9.34 am, in the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery in the Vatican”, reported the director of the Press Office of the Holy See, Matteo Bruni, also announcing that from the morning of Monday 2 January , the body

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December 31, 2022 3:13 pm
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St. Peter’s Dome made from a drawing by Michelangelo

Did you know? The Dome of St. Peter’s Square was made from a drawing by Michelangelo. The most famous “Er cupolone” in the world has dominated the skyline of the Roman panorama for centuries, surprising every time with its majesty. Without a doubt, the dome of St. Peter’s Square is one of the symbols of Rome. It forms the cover of the cruise of St. Peter’s basilica in the Vatican. It is one of the largest masonry roofs ever built; it has an internal diameter of about 42 meters and brings the overall height of the basilica, from the base to the top of the lantern, to over 130 meters. The dome of St. Peter’s is the symbol of the Vatican basilica. It stands at the intersection of the main nave with the transept, vertically above Bernini’s colossal Baldacchino and the access to Peter’s Tomb. The structure is supported by four colossal pillars. Its shapes, an expression of the transition from Renaissance to Baroque architecture, largely reflect the design of Michelangelo Buonarroti, who worked on it until the year of

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December 29, 2022 4:40 pm
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In 1972 a mad man hammered Michelangelo’s Pietà

On May 21st 1972, the day of Pentecost, a 34 years old Australian geologist of Hungarian origin named László Tóth, evading surveillance, managed to hit Michelangelo’s work with a hammer fifteen times, kept in St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. This is what happened that day, which forever changed the methods of surveillance of the masterpieces of art. The Pietà suffered very serious damage, especially on the Virgin: the blows of the hammer had detached about fifty fragments, breaking the left arm and shattering the elbow, while on the face the nose had been almost destroyed, as well as the eyelids. The restoration was started almost immediately, after a study phase, and was carried out by reusing as much as possible the original fragments, as well as a mixture based on glue and marble dust. The author of the scar was recognized as mentally ill. Since then, the Pietà has been protected by a special bulletproof crystal wall. On July 22nd 1971 Tóth arrived in Italy, in Rome, where he first found accommodation at the youth hostel in the Foro Italico

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February 17, 2022 8:00 am
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Michelangelo’s Pietà Vaticana, between history and curiosity

Roman monuments: Michelangelo’s Pietà Vaticana, between history and curiosity. The Pietà di San Pietro (or Vaticana), made by Michelangelo Buonarroti when he was 20 years old, is now located in the basilica of San Pietro in the Vatican, and was sculpted between 1497 and 1499. It is one of the great masterpieces of art. world. The Pietà is now located in St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican, protected by a special bulletproof crystal wall. This is the only work of art that bears the author’s signature. During Michelangelo’s first stay in Rome, from 1496 to 1501, the artist forged a relationship of friendship and collaboration with the banker Jacopo Galli, who acted as an intermediary and guarantor in various commissions linked to a group of cardinals. One of the most prestigious was the one for the marble Pieta for the French cardinal Jean de Bilhères, ambassador of Charles VIII to the Vatican. In 1497 Michelangelo received a third of the five hundred ducats agreed as an advance to start the work. He left for Carrara to choose a piece of

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January 31, 2022 8:18 am
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The obelisk of St. Peter’s Square

Did you know the obelisk of St. Peter’s Square arrived from Egypt on a ship loaded with lentils. Because? The obelisk of St. Peter’s Square (also called the Vatican obelisk), undoubtedly one of the most famous in the world, is much older than the square itself. It is the only ancient obelisk in Rome that has never fallen and has been the protagonist of many curious historical anecdotes. Let’s find out together. It was transported to the times of Emperor Caligula from Heliopolis in Egypt to then be placed in the center of Nero’s circus, which previously was exactly where St. Peter’s Square now stands. On his journey from Africa, to prevent it from breaking, he was transported to Rome on a ship loaded with lentils. The Vatican Obelisk is one of the thirteen ancient obelisks of the Eternal City. Made of red granite, it stands out to a height of 25.3 meters and with the base (made up of four bronze lions, works by Prospero Antichi) and the cross reaches almost 40 meters. The inscription reads: ECCE CRUX DOMINI

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January 29, 2022 10:42 am
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Why are so many acorns represented in the frescoes of the Sistine Chapel?

The Sistine Chapel is one of the most famous cultural and artistic treasures of the Vatican City, included in the itinerary of the Vatican Museums in Rome. It was built between 1475… Why are so many acorns represented in the frescoes of the Sistine Chapel? …and around 1481, at the time of Pope Sixtus IV della Rovere, from whom it took its name. Why do so many acorns appear more or less hidden in the frescoes? Let’s find out together. The Sistine Chapel is known throughout the world both for being the place where the conclave and other official ceremonies of the pope are held (in the past also some papal coronations), and for being decorated with the most famous works of art and celebrated of Western artistic civilization, among which stand out the famous frescoes by Michelangelo, which cover the vault (about 1508-1512) and the back wall (of the Last Judgment) above the altar (about 1535-1541). The walls are decorated with a series of frescoes by some of the greatest Italian artists of the second half of the fifteenth

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December 14, 2021 6:10 pm
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Popes John XXIII and John Paul II canonization: April 27, 2014

Popes John XXIII and John Paul II will be declared saints The whole world is looking forward to this epochal event.The church indeed announced in July that Pope John Paul II and Pope John XXIII will be declared saints on 27 April 2014. Polish John Paul, the first non-Italian pope for more than 400 years, led the Catholic Church from 1978-2005 and has entered the path to sainthood since his death, when crowds in St Peter’s Square chanted “santo subito” (sainthood now). Pope John XXIII was pontiff from 1958-1963, calling the Second Vatican Council that transformed the Church and introducing the vernacular to replace Latin in church functions. He has a big following in Italy, where he is also known as Il Papa Buono (the good pope.) Pope John could be compared to Pope Francis, because he as well was a modest, realist figure with a marked sense of humour.The decision to canonise the two at the same time seems aimed to unify Catholics and will be twofold important because it will be the first in the history. The canonisation

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February 4, 2014 11:34 am
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The Pope has decided to stay in Santa Marta

The papal apartment on the third floor of the Apostolic Palace is ready, after the rapid maintenance work needed to put it back in again after eight years of the pontificate of Benedict XVI. But Francis Pope will move there, at least for now and for the foreseeable future, as early this morning by the Argentine newspaper La Nacion. “Until further notice,” announced the Vatican spokesman, Father Federico Lombardi, the Pope will remain up in the Argentine Domus Sancta Marthae, the residence housed the Vatican where the cardinals during the conclave and where normally inhabit a few dozen priests and bishops in service within the Vatican. Another half of the rooms is available instead of bishops and cardinals passing through Rome for hearings and meetings.

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March 27, 2013 6:48 am

The historical meeting of the two popes, We are brothers

Walk together after dinner crossing their impressions on the priority of the Church. Both excited, they give the “you” feel to be the protagonists of an event unprecedented in history. Then the images of the Vatican Television Center show Francis and Benedict in conversation, sitting in a living room. On the low table that divides them lean a white box with documents and within this there is a sealed envelope. Knelt before the image of Our Lady and prayed together.

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March 23, 2013 8:31 pm
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The real power of the Pope is to serve the most vulnerable

Explosions of popular joy alternating with silences of intense prayer. Francis has spoken out this morning in St. Peter’s Square for the inaugural mass, which officially began his pontificate. Before receiving from the hands of Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran and Angelo Sodano respectively the pallium and the ring of the fisherman, the Pope chose the coat of arms and the motto of his pontificate. “Miserable atque eligendo” is the cliche insert in his papal coat of arms. The Pope at one point he did stop the jeep to go down into the crowd and kiss a paraplegic. More than 130 delegations from around the world are: 31 heads of state, six reigning monarchs, hereditary 3 Principles, 11 heads of government. Thirty-three delegations from churches and Christian denominations, including the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, Bartholomew I. Also present were the delegation Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, sick, Jain. 180 concelebrants. The Pope fell in procession with the Patriarchs of the Eastern Churches at the Tomb of St. Peter.

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March 19, 2013 4:27 pm