Monday Holiday in Rome

Today is a Canadian holiday so I have the day off and a beautiful day it is. We visited with Nancy de Concilliis, who has lived in Rome for 40 yrs and has one of the best walking tours in Rome. All exclusive spots off the beaten track and quite different from what the crowds go to see. She is also a professional and has a sense of humour.
Today we went to the Aventive Hill which has 2 spurs with both ending in cliffs above the Tiber river. We took the metro to Circo Maximo ( the ancient roman chariot racetrack) and got off there. This is where the FAO ( food and agricultural agency) of the UN has its HQ. We then walked up the hill to Santa Sabina which is a 4th century church this was the first church we visited today with Nancy. We then visited San Alessio, who is believed to be an Eastern Saint next door and then San Prisca. All 3 buildings are of the same age about 1600 years old. But only Santa Sabina has kept the look inside and out of the old Roman basilica style. So when you walk in, it is as it was all those centuries ago, you are stepping back in time. This is also the church where Saint Dominic lived and worked all his life, today Dominican friars tend the place.

The 3 churches are also built on top of once private roman homes, once owned by the Saint after which they are now named. Sabina, we known little about her, except that she was a wealthy Roman lady and her house was a meeting place for early Christians. This church is amazing because the doors of the Church are carved wood and have miraculously survived to this day. In the top left panel of the door is one of the very first representation of the cruxificion. It is rare because the cruxificion only becomes a widespread symbol of Christianity in the 7th century. Seeing these doors alone is worth the visit. The inside is austere and offers a glimpse of imperial roman style for temples and other buildings. It was so peaceful and quiet.

San Alessio next door to Santa Sabina is another church built above a private house which legend says belonged to Alessio's parents. He was amongst the first hermites and left his wealthy parents and his bride on his own wedding night, only to return 17 yrs later. No one recognized him and he worked for his wife and parents incognito, living like Harry Potter under the stairs until the day he died. Only revealing who he was on his death bed, the Pope canonized him because Alessio symbolized humility.

Santa Prisca is a church which in the 1500 was modernized by Pope Sixtus, unfortunately today it looks like he vandalized the church removing magnificient early Christian mosaics for reasons that are not clear to us. Only one large panel remains today and it is magnificient.

We also visited the Rose Garden of Rome in what was once the Jewish cemetery of Rome (1546 to 1934). Mussolini had the cemetery moved out to make for a green park overlooking the Circo Maximo. Today it is a beautiful rose garden with thousands of different rose plants, all blooming now in the bright roman sun.