Scala Sancti, Or, Holy Stairs, Batman!

Among the sights in Rome I had wanted to see, but never quite made it to, were the Scala Sancti, the Holy Stairs, brought back from Jerusalem by St. Helen, Constantine's mom, during one of her Mediterranean cruises. In 326 AD, to be precise. These are the stairs leading up to Pontius Pilate's palace, which Jesus ascended in order to be judged. And then descended. This is Golden Legend stuff, one assumes, but still one of those things one has to see.... Anyhow, they are just across the piazza from SS Johns Lateran, and despite the ongoing deluge, I was determined to see them.

Ever since we walked past them in the darkness
of our last evening in Rome, November, 2013,
I had thought these were the Holy Stairs;
wrong! they are just some stairs leading up
to some sort of papal palace of yore; the true
Scala Sancti are on the other side of the
building, which we discovered only toward
the end of our outing

In the Holy Stairs building, pondering an
assortment of stairs

Ascendant selfie

The true official story of the Sancta Scala; like all the rest of
the relics, saints, demi-gods, etc., they are walking it back
a bit...

Looking down the upstairs

Pilgrims crawling up the substitute Holy Stairs

For extra credit, climb on your hands only

The rest of the story

Save the Stairs!

Photo of a photo of the real Holy Stairs, now
being renovated; good enough for me

Still in the Lateran area, across from our bus stop, a great old
octagonal building, reminiscent of baptistries we've seen in
other cities

Sure enough, in which more confirmations are going on

Maybe next time

And just up the street, a quadruple arch building...Rome's
wonders are limitless