2 1/2, Part The First

After the Amalfi trip and another administrative day in Pompei, we decided our stay on the Bay of Naples was complete for this year. We had already seen Capri twice and didn't need another boat ride. So we drove back to Rome, and, after greeting Alessandro and Giovanni, parked again at the Emerald Meadow, where we would prepare and pack for our upcoming vacation to Malta, to spend eight days there celebrating our 50th wedding anniversary. The packing went so quickly (8kg pp), we decided to spend another day in the Eternal City. Happily, Rome is so filled with things to see and do, we had no trouble picking out a couple more churches to visit. One was Santa Prassede, a ninth century minor basilica known for its Carolingian era mosaics. The other was the Basilica San Clemente, known for various things but attractive to us for its Masolino/Masaccio chapel frescoes and especially its sub-crypt Temple of Mithra. The visit to San Clemente was only half successful--no fotos, a ridiculous admission fee, plus a nasty-looking guard/bouncer prowling the place hoping to nail foto perps like me--so we looked at the nice Masolino.Masaccio, mostly Masolino, and moved on. Fortunately, St. Mary Maggiore was nearby, and we popped in there for a quick re-visit, bringing the total for the day to 2.5. Hopefully, Fellini would approve. Plus we had a very decent lunch at Ristorante Naumachia, near the San Clemente church. [NB: in 2019 we returned to San Clemente and had a great time...recounted here]

Entrance to San Prassede, which is fairly well embedded in
the city-scape

In English, too; click to enlarge

Apse mosaics, 9th century

With Divine Illumination Machine (DIM) on

Now in the Chapel of Zeno, looking up

And around

Shopping bags?

Major relic: the column of the flagellation of Jesus Christ;
really more of a stump than a column

As attested to in the painting; Vicki thinks Christians in Rome got really taken
on this relic and had the painting depicts their prize, rather than all the other
different depictions

Beautiful stuff, the mosaics

Baby J seems to be glowering at me...hmmmm...

The square white halo means (s)he is still living; ask me anything you want to
know about iconographics...

Nice paintings also in this very old 9th century church

Divine Illumination Machine (DIM)

Fiddling With Your Rosaries In Pompei*

Even on rest days, I try to get my 10,000+ steps and thus often go on walks from wherever we're camped. One day I headed north from Camping Spartacus--hoping to find the Leroy Merlin or a Decathlon or an Auchon--and was immediately engulfed by crowds of mostly older women, in black, chanting their Ave Marias and indeed fiddling with their rosaries; and also choking the vehicular traffic along the boulevard leading to the modern city of Pompei. Returning to the camper later I checked out the Days of Obligation and such but found little enlightenment. Some local observance, I surmised. However, on another walk, days later, after Amalfi, Vicki and I noticed a small crowd of well-dressed persons gathering outside the big church in Pompei, and, imagining we might witness another wedding, we ventured inside. We were stunned with the opulence and visual complexity of the interior of the church, just a parish church apparently, especially in view of is relative youth, having been built in the late 19th century.

Turns out it is a papal church of sorts, the Shrine of the Virgin of the Rosary of Pompei. Read the Wikipedia article on the church and shrine and you will be amply repaid for your efforts. But wait, there's more. Much more. Especially read the article on Bartolo Longo, the former Italian nationalist/Satanic priest (I swear I am not making this up) who converted to Catholicism and breathed new life into the Marian and Rosary cults--just when the Church needed some new life--for which he was eventually made a Knight of the Holy Sepulchre and even beatified, by the pope, in 1980, as the "Apostle of the Rosary." And built the church. All this with the "help" of a rich countess whom he later married but had a "continent" marital relationship. (Sure...). I triple-dog swear I am not making any of this up. Truth is so much stranger than fiction.... Anyhow, the church was impressive in its opulence.

*https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvhYqeGp_Do

 

Big Chair for Big Guy, just in case he shows up

Interesting colossal in-laid marble Rohschach slabs on
many of the piers

And mosaics everywhere

It was a very small wedding

Tower of the Shrine

Colossal ancient (?) fountain in a nearby park

Walking back along old Pompei's southern Necropolis

Amalfi Coast, 2018

We love sea coasts and have seen many of the great ones, including the Amalfi coast; three times, we think. In the past we have done the Amalfi by bus: great scenery plus the abundant thrills of traffic on a tiny mountain/coastal road, jammed with local as well as tourist traffic. A good place to leave the driving to them. This time, we thought, we'd take the bus from Sorrento to Amalfi and then the boat back to Sorrento, stopping in Positano. It worked; and should we return, hopefully, we'll probably just stick to the boat. Quicker and more scenic and not that expensive. We had an additional reason for revisiting Amalfi...a favorite dish and a favorite restaurant, Il Taro. It was in 2011 that we discovered Il Taro's paccheri, with veal and tomatoes and provalone (or, smoky mozzarella?) and pecorino romano. We returned later in 2011, got the rudiments of the recipe, and returned again in 2013, only to find the restaurant closed on Tuesdays. In 2018, checking the website, we were sure to visit on some day other than Tuesday. Veal Amalfi, as we call it, has become one of our standard dishes. But, as they say, you can't go back....

Previous visits to Amalfi and environs are:

https://roadeveron.blogspot.com/2011/03/amalfi-coast-road-not-driven.html
https://roadeveron.blogspot.com/2011/04/amalfi-again.html
http://roadeveron.blogspot.com/2011/04/ravello-and-klingsors-garden.html
http://roadeveron.blogspot.com/2011/03/amalfi-bus-ride-on-youtube.html
https://roadeveron.blogspot.com/2013/10/amalfi-2013.html
https://roadeveron.blogspot.com/2013/10/positano-2013.html

On the bus, the high cliffs

Over Positano

So all the little towns have now installed traffic directors to prevent the bus-on-
bus encounters that were such a thrill in the past

Watchtowers along the coast...sort of like Martello towers in Ireland except the
Irish were not fighting the Saracen pigs ("...Saracen pig! Spartan dog! Take this!
And this! Roman cowl! Russian snake! Spanish fly!")

So we get to Amalfi and shop our way to Il Tari, which is open, but...they no
longer do Veal Amalfi; they don't do veal; we decide to eat there nonetheless,
for old time's sake; the anchovies, above, with lemon/olive oil and red pepper
flakes, were the best I've had; and I've had a few from these waters; the
paccheri stuffed with cod and shrimp was not so great

Vicki had the bruschetta, which was great and picturesque; the cow-patty
lasagna above was a bit less inspiring; as they say, you can't go back

Amalfi cathedral

Defending Amalfi against the Saracen Pigs; maybe next time

Our ship comes in

On board

Arrivaderci, Amalfi

Cliffs and gigantic limestone caves along the way

And the road

Cleared for landing in Positano

Where we spent a few hours

Stimulating the local economy

One of the more beautiful outdoor shopping malls

Positano's tiny but popular beach

So long, Positano

The Nureyev Islands, as we know them

The big cliffs

Local traffic

The only drawback to taking the boat is that it returns you to Sorrento at sea
level, and you have to trudge back up-hill to the city and the Circumvesuviana
train station; but it's all worth it; even if you can't go back