Rome - Trevi fountain & many churches

After eating lunch and checking into our hotel we were energized and hit the streets. We decided to head to the Trevi fountain. It was a long walk but it was a great way to get out and see the town.



Our camera decided to take a "break" there and, while I was trying to figure things out, Jennifer and the kids were tossing coin after coin into the fountain.The camera started working again!

The crowd at the Trevi fountain was huge. The fountain itself is pretty easy to miss: It is in a little out of the way area. It was great just sitting there and watching people for a while.

Afterwards I wanted to visit a few churches that were in the area: Santa Maria in Trivio, San Marcello al Corso, and Santi Apostoli. The English churches can generally be described as subdued. The Austrian churches are bright. The churches in Rome are awe-inspiring: the age, the art work, the size, the organs, etc. Also there are churches everywhere! In the crypt of Santi Apostoli, below the altar, are the remains of two Apostles: St James and St Phillip.




In our later days in Rome we also visited Sanra Maria della Vitoria, Santa Susanna, Santo Maria degli Angeli, and Santa Maria Maggiore.

Santa Susanna was designed by the Vatican in the early 1900's as the American church in Rome. We attended Palm Sunday mass there. The walls of the church, from floor to ceiling, are paintings.




Santa Maria degli Angeli is unique for a couple of reasons. The church was designed by Michelangelo and is built in the remains of the tepidarium of the Baths of Diocletian. Unfortunately, the church was updated in the past and the only remains of Michelanglo's work is the main entrance.



Santa Maria Maggiore was the last church that we visited in Rome. A church was first constructed on this site in the year 360. Every August 5, a special mass in Santa Maria Maggiore's Cappella Sistina commemorates the miracle that led to the founding of the basilica: the Virgin Mary appeared in a dream to Pope Liberio and ordered him to build a church in her honor on the spot where snow would fall on the night of August 5 (an event about as likely in a Roman August as snow in the Sahara). The Madonna of the Snows is celebrated with a shower of white rose petals from the ceiling.