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The Winged Lion of San Marco

In Italian, it’s ‘San Marco’, and in English, it’s Saint Mark. As today’s article deals with the lion that is associated with the Republic of Venice, I will use the more appropriate Italian ‘San Marco’.

Venice is just full of paintings, drawings, sculptures, and other artworks depicting a winged lion with it’s paw propping up a book. So, what’s that about? It’s the long-used symbol for Venice, whether referring to the Republic of Venice of old, or the City of Venice today. Oh, and not just in Venice, but in the Italian region of Veneto. And well, even in the US…hmm, that’s interesting…why’s that? And what does a winged lion have to do with our Biblical Gianni-Marco (John Mark) of Apostle fame?

[I’ll sprinkle in a few photos I’ve taken in Venice over the years, each featuring the winged lion of San Marco…just click on them for a larger view]

San Marco and the Venetian Republic

The ubiquitous wall plaque depicting the winged lion of San Marco

Let’s start with San Marco’s relationship to Venice and the Venetian empire. It’s roots are a bit tenuous, as it is a Venetian ‘tradition’, and may be nothing more than that…but on the other hand….

The story is that when San Marco traveled to Europe (which is well documented Biblically), he went through the lagoon which was to become the Venetian lagoon a few centuries later. While there in the lagoon, an angel appeared to him and said, "Pax tibi Marce, evangelista meus. Hic requiescet corpus tuum." So, there you have it.

Now, why does the lion have wings? OK. Sorry, that wasn’t nice of me just to leave you hanging…I’ll now get right back to the lagoon thingie to finish up that explanation.

The translation of that Latin phrase above boils down to, "Peace be with thee, O Mark, my evangelist. Here thy body will rest." So, according to this tradition, San Marco was destined to rest in what was to become, the Venetian lagoon. Which is where it does rest today. So, how did his body get to Venice?

Statue found in Campo Manin…Judy’s favorite

San Marco’s remains came back to the lagoon through a bit of skullduggery. In 828, Rustico da Torcello and Bon da Malamocco, who were merchants of Venice (not to be confused with THE merchant of Venice), traveled to Alexandria, Egypt to steal San Marco’s body. San Marco was there because he had established the Church of Alexandria around the year 48AD.

Painting by Très Riches Heures du duc de Berry — Painting by *Très Riches Heures du duc de Berry*

A few years later, San Marco was martyred by angry Alexandrians who objected to his leading the locals away from the worship of their traditional gods. San Marco was dragged through the streets of Alexandria with a rope around his neck until dead.

Here we see a 14th-century painting depicting this event.

So, our two merchants developed a plan to purloin the body of San Marco. After excavating his body, they packed it in a barrel and covered it with pork. The pork was to keep curious Muslim officials from examining the contents of the barrel. After our merchants arrived back in Venice, San Marco’s bones eventually made their way to a crypt in the Basilica San Marco, where his remains rest to this day.

The actions of these two merchants brought both religious and political clout to the Venetian republic

Here is a painting of our two merchants, along with their two Greek-monk co-conspirators.

“St Mark's Body Brought to Venice” by Tintoretto

In the Tintoretto painting, Marco’s body is in pretty decent shape for having been exhumed after 800 years, don’t you think?

So, that’s why San Marco is so important to the former Republic of Venice and the modern-day City of Venice. Now, what about that lion?

The front of the beautifully decorated Basilica San Marco, on Piazza San Marco — The front of the beautifully adorned Basilica San Marco, on Piazza San Marco

The Lion, and How He Gets His Wings

The origin of the relationship of the lion and San Marco is a bit loose, so bear with me.

According to Steve Burkett, in his blog article titled, “Transforming the Cathedral of San Andreas” [2015], he says, “…you will note [in a mosaic fronting the church] three animals and one man, all winged and haloed. These are the traditional symbols of the Apostles. To Christ’s extreme right is Mark, who is always shown as a lion (and as he is the Patron Saint of Venice, it is called ‘The Lion City’)…”. We are lucky that these words have lasted for…well, not centuries…but about 5 years, at least. The point is that it has long been a tradition to associate San Marco with a winged lion.

At the base of a Piazza San Marco flag pole

Here is another recent source that (in a rather poor translation) suggests that, “The lion, that is well-known as symbol of power, pride, magnificence, nobility and courage, was associated to Mark because it emphasizes the Resurrection power, the majesty and the regality of Christ and the characteristics of his Gospel…and in order to describe Giovanni Battista [John the Baptizer] who announces to the men the arrival of Jesus, began his book with the citation ‘the voice of one that shouts in the desert’ that makes people imagine to the roar of a lion.” This, according to the company "‘Arte 2000’, which is a handcrafted Italian workshop that works with marble. ‘Nough said, right?

So, now we have two somewhat questionable authorities explaining why the winged lion is associated with San Marco. Want something more credible? OK, read on.

As seen from your romantic gondola ride, the winged lion on the pedestal, and on the top of the campanile. Previous Venetian patron saint, Theodore, on the other pedestal.

The next source is the Holy Bible, in the book of Ezekiel. He says that he had a vision from God and in Ezekiel 1:10-11, he states, “The form of their faces was that of a man, …a lion on the right side…an ox on the left side, and…an eagle. Such were their faces. Their wings were spread upward; each had two wings touching the wings of the creature on either side…”.

This is reportedly the inspiration for the winged lion that became associated with San Marco, and became of interest to the Venetian empire after his relic remains were brought there. The three other creatures (the man, ox and eagle) became associated with the other three apostle gospel writers (Matthew, Luke, and John, respectively).

Well preserved winged lion located within The Frari

So, now we have San Marco associated with Venice because his relic bones came to rest there, and we have a lion associated with San Marco, and we have wings on that lion. The picture of the winged lion of San Marco is now complete. But, what about that book upon which the lion’s paw has rested for centuries?

This book has the inscription “Pax tibi Marce, evangelista meus”, or ‘Peace be with thee, O Mark, my evangelist’. The first three words are on the left page, and the last two words are on the right page. You will often see it abbreviated a good bit to fit the size of the page.

The Winged Lion of San Marco & Venice in Art

So, I now give you several artistic interpretations of the Winged Lion of San Marco, handed down through antiquity. The first is the coat of arms of the Republic of Venice. The others are art works showing San Marco, each with his accompanying lion…some fierce, and some whimsical. The first is the coat of arms of the Republic of Venice. The second painting is a bit strange, don’t you think? I mean, Marco with a quill pen (is he checking to see if there is ink in there?), bound books, Renaissance-styled clothes…almost as strange as the goofy looking lion by his side. Click on the coat of arms to see larger versions.

Judging by these paintings, it’s pretty obvious that no one knew exactly what San Marco looked like!

In Connection with the USA

Earlier, way up above, I mentioned a winged-lion-of-San-Marco connection to the USA. Here is that explanation…actually, a couple of them.

Sleeve insignia of the US 332nd Infantry Regiment from WWI

First, here is a World War I connection. This uniform from WWI shows the sleeve insignia of the US 332nd Infantry Regiment (United States), which served alongside Italian troops…remember in WWI, we were on the same side.

US Army Africa insignia of Caserma Ederle

Second is a connection to our current military. It’s the United States ‘Army Africa’ insignia for our base in Caserma Ederle, which is in Vicenza, Italy. We have troops stationed at Caserma Ederle (Camp Ederle), should they be needed by Italian authorities.

The Flag of the Venetian Republic

I’ll leave you with the absolutely beautiful 17th century flag of the Venetian Republic. If their national anthem was related to this flag, as ours in the US is, it must have been a very complicated anthem.

Now you have an idea why San Marco is associated with the Venetian Republic. And, you have some idea why a lion is related to Venice and its history. And you have some idea why there are wings on the feline animal of interest. And finally, you know how to read a bit of Latin. Yes, you now know it all. Go tell your friends…impress them with your knowledge.

And, I hope to gaze at the winged lions of San Marco along with you on some trip to Venice. Until then…

Ciao for now,

Steve

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New Article Category: Italian Wines

Index of Articles

I’ve started a new category for my blog articles. It’s about wine and it’s about time, right?!

Yep, it’s the category that captures all of the blog articles that I’ve created over the years that are concerned with Italian wines. I count 8 articles in that category.

If you click on the heading to the top right of this article titled ‘Index of Articles’, you will be taken to the ‘Index of Articles’ page…strange how that works, huh? If you scroll down a bit in the right-hand column of said index, you will find the new ‘Italian Wines’ category near the top…right where it ought to be.

To simplify things for today, I’ve summarized those 8 articles just below.

So, grab a bottle of your favorite Italian wine, open it, pour yourself a glass (if you need permission, you’ve got a standing approval from me), and read on. I list the articles beginning with the oldest, along with just a hint of what you find in the complete article.

Castello Brolio

08/25/2015

This article titled, “Beautiful Places Castello Brolio”, was written because of the importance of Castello Brolio to Tuscan wines. You’ve most likely enjoyed Chianti and Chianti Classico wines in the past…right? Well, they started right here at Castello Brolio. It was the castle’s owner, Baron Ricosoli, who created the formula for Chianti. After more than thirty years of research and experiments, he divulged his formula for Chianti in a letter in 1872.

As a reminder, the word “Classico” in Chianti Classico is not necessarily a designation of the quality of a wine, but is related to its geographic origin. It is a designation for wines grown in a certain place within the official Chianti region…it’s like the hole (Chianti Classico) in a donut (the overall Chianti region)…kind of. On the other hand, if you find the words “Riserva” after the words Chianti or Chianti Classico, you can assume that the extra aging has improved the taste of the wine.

Banfi Wines

05/24/2016

Castello Banfi sits proud south of Montalcio

Most of you know of my love for all things Banfi…be it the food, the castello, the borgo, the people, or the wine…they are all magnificent! In the article titled, “Stay Here, Eat Here, Drink Here: Banfi” you will get the full extent of what Banfi has to offer.

In the mid ‘70s, with earnings from their very successful importation of Riunite wines (remember, ‘Riunite on ice, that’s nice!’ commercials?), Brothers John and Harry Mariani went to Italy in search of the perfect place to start their own winery business…a business which has become an empire in the wine world.

A wine tasting is the best way to decide on your wine purchase

The prominent grape of the estate is Sangiovese, the same grape (among others) that is made into Chianti wine. But here, the wine of fame is Banfi’s Brunello. And then, Brunello isn’t the only wine made by the Mariani family, and you will find a good many of them available in the enoteca of the castello…like these that we tasted whilst there.

I don’t use the word ‘castello’ (i.e. castle) lightly. Yes, the estate is centered around a castello sitting atop a scenic hilltop, as seen in the painting, above. And within that castello, you will find Il Borgo Banfi (the hotel). I can’t recommend a stay at this lovely, peaceful place enough. We have such great memories of our time there. And, who wouldn’t appreciate just a wee bit of time away from wine tasting, sitting poolside in the Tuscan countryside? We certainly did…and to prove it, I’m sure you recognize Ellen’s toes in this photo.

Enjoying Your Italy-Bought Wine

02/02/2017

This article isn’t about a specific winery or wine type, though one does play heavily into the article. It is about spending a day being just a bit naughty, not doing anything other than relaxing and enjoying a bottle of wine that you purchased during one of your trips to Italy.

In this article titled, “Enjoying Your Italy-Bought Wine”, before we get to the wine that we sipped before a fire on a cold, winter day, you get the back story in the purchase of the wine.

There is the story of lunch at a fabulous restaurant in Radda in Chianti.

Then there’s the post-lunch drive on a Google-assured road that wasn’t much of a road after all.

And finally, we arrive for a wine tasting that turned to wine buying.

Ahhh, it was such a great day of enjoyment…both the day in Italy, and then the day at home, lounging away the day in our jammies. Give it a try…you’ll like it.

In addition to some of our favorite memories, this day’s activities led me to taking probably my favorite of all Italy photos, shown just below. The Tuscan countryside, just after an afternoon shower. Magnifico!

By the way, that same day in Italy led to these articles, also: Get Lost!, and Wild-Goose Chase. I hope you enjoy these two articles, too…it was a fun, frustrating, and then an interesting day.

Taking a Guided Winery Tour

09/03/2019

OK, first of all, who wouldn’t want to take a guided winery tour with Matteo? Right, ladies?

Beyond that, I can assure both male and female alike that getting around to the wineries of an area of Italy with a local, knowledgeable guide, is the way to go.

Our wine-travelling day with Matteo was spent in the Langhe area of Piemonte, in the heart of the Barolo wine area. If you plan to do a bit of wine tasting in Italy, you will find guides like Matteo (well, maybe not exactly like Matteo) throughout the Italian wine area.

Our first stop of the day was at the Aurelio Settimo winery. Here, Laura showed us both the traditional oak casks, as well as our first sighting of a glass-lined, concrete casks. Usage depends on the wine you are making, and the flavor you want to impart in that wine.

Next up was the DaMilano winery. Well, we didn’t actually tour the winery, but we spent a good bit of time, and money, at the DaMilano enoteca, where Alicia helped us sip and purchase. And, we were very pleased to find that DaMilano also produces the white wine called Arneis, which we had fallen in love with in the town of Nieve.

Next up was the Schiavenza winery. Here, Matteo’s buddy Waldo produces great wine in small quantiles. And, what’s Leslie measuring in the photo? Waldo had just told us how the casks were cleaned after being emptied. He says that he climbs through that little arched opening and brushes and hoses out the casks…and he wasn’t kidding.

And finally, we ended our day at the Giovanni Rosso winery. Here we had another new experience in wine tasting. Not only did we taste wine from the Giovanni Rosso bottles in their tasting room, but Francesca also tapped right into one of the wine casks for our tasting enjoyment…enjoyment you can see here on the faces of Matteo and Craig.

I neglected to tell you that we had a mid-day lunch at Trattoria Schiavenza. Sitting on the terrazza, we spent a bit of time with watercolors, painting the beautiful Piemonte-Langhe countryside.

Going to Italy? Going to taste a bit of wine? Check out Taking a Guided Winery Tour.

Renato Ratti Winery

09/17/2019

If you want to visit a winery that is state of the art…both in design and in presentation, then you definitely need to visit the Renato Ratti Winery.

Your entrance to the green-roofed Renato Ratti winery

First of all, the winery has been placed carefully into a hillside below the town of La Mora, where an environmentally-friendly green roof and gravity-fed winery have been expertly accomplished.

Next, you will find one of the most creative of winery introductions in a video developed by Pietro Ratti that is both fun and informative.

Christine takes us deep in the cellars of Renato Ratti winery

Then, take the tour of the wine making facility below you, deep down in the hillside.

Next, let Christine lead you through a series of vintage Barolo wines, where you can stick your nose in a glass and taste great wines. This way, you get to see how the ‘nose’, tannins, taste, and color change over time as a wine ages in-bottle. By the way, it changes in a good way! At least for Barolo wines.

And, note the view from the tasting room…probably the most magnificent in all of Italy as it frames the vines of the Nebbiolo grapes.

Finally, snap a photo with your hostess Christine, and engaging owner, Pietro Ratti.

Allegrini Winery

01/07/2020

It’s time to learn about appassimento! And where better than at the Allegrini Winery? That’s a rhetorical question, by the way, as there is no better answer than at Allegrini.

The Villa della Allegrini sits just north of Verona, in the heart of the Valpolicella area…known for both Valpolicella and Amarone wines. And, then there’s their own Palazzo della Torre wine.

Palazzo della Torre is made using the appassimento process. Appassimento means ‘withering’, and that’s what happens to some of the grapes as they are raisinated, or dried for about 3 months.

Here you can see Olmo as he describes the crappy (sorry, pardon the language) soil in which Allegrini’s grapes are grown. Mineral, rather than organics desired by most farmers, are the key to a healthy wine-making grape.

Wondering what a grape looks like during the appassimento process? Check out this photo.

Amarone wine is also made with the appassimento process. And, unlike the marvelous Brunello of Tuscany, which uses just the one Sangiovese grape, the production of Allegrini’s famous Amarone wine uses a blend of four different grapes.

Finally, I’ll leave you with a view of what I would call, ‘The King of the North’…a bottle of Amarone, lying comfortably upon a pillow of withering grapes, ready for you to gently lift it up and then savor it.

Michele Chiarlo Winery

01/21/2020

Our last winery visit will be to the Michele Chiarlo winery. Here, not only did we visit the winery, but also the vineyards.

We started at the La Court vineyard pictured above in the eastern portion of Piemonte. Beautiful, isn’t it?

We met Alberto at the vineyards, where he explains the layout of the vineyard, and the importance of south- vs north-facing vines, and the compass points in between.

Then, it was on to the winery and tasting room. Leslie listens closely to find out more about their Arneis white wine. And seeing the bottling room was fascinating.

DOCG, DOC, IGT & DOG

11/17/2020

The most recent article concerning Italian wines dealt with government-issued geographic and quality guarantees.

The importance of these designations is one of quality control…Italy doesn’t want inferior wines being produced that would lower the already very-high bar of Italian wines. Thus, the governments involvement in the wines produced in Italy.

As this was recently published in November, I will assume that you read DOCG, DOC, IGT & DOG in the very serious state of mind in which government decrees should be carefully examined…so I won’t dwell on it here.

That’s it for today. Is that bottle empty, yet? No? Then get back to work on it! Meanwhile, I’ll cover the multitude of wine-producing grapes of Italy soon.

In closing, here is a toast of San Angelo Pinot Grigio from Banfi. This toast is to your continued health in 2021, and to your successful exit from 2020. Until next time…

Ciao for now,

Steve

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Two Quick Transformations

Index of Articles

Ellen and I certainly hope that you had a great Christmas…and that Santa brought you just what you wanted!

I had asked for…and actually received…telepathic powers for Christmas…very convenient, I must say. So, I will go through the transformations of these two snapshots with just telepathic explanations of what was done. Please close your eyes and just focus on the verbiage that I’m mentality sending your way. But hmmm, you won’t be able to see the photos that way. So, instead, open your eyes and focus.

Photo 1

Photo 2

Happy New Year! And…

Ciao for now,

Steve

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Transforming Double Windows

Index of Articles

“May God bless you and yours, as He has ours”

It’s the holiday season…I’m going to be busy with shopping, wrapping, and playing Santa Claus. Rather than regaling you with wordy articles concerning Italy, I thought that I’d just focus on photography, instead. To be specific, I’m going to spend the next couple of weeks presenting some transformation of blah snapshots into fine art photos.

So, grab your coffee, hot cider, or whatever you enjoy in the morning, and spend some time just looking, without having to give much thought to what you are seeing.

As we stroll through Italy, I often take photos like the one below, where there really isn’t much of interest…or is there? At the time, I thought I could do something with this snapshot. You be the judge.

With just a bit of cropping and distraction removing, here is where we find ourselves.

The shutters are just too blah for me…so I’m going to jazz them up just a bit.

Crop the top, please. And add a bit of patina.

Next it is time to straighten the stonework just below the tiles. And that’s it.

That’s all folks. I hope you enjoyed this short journey from blah to ahhh.

For me, 2020 will go down as a year with both tribulations (my serious battle with Covid) and blessings (my successful recovery from that Covid). All-in-all, blessings won out over the tribulations!

My hope for you this Christmas season is that you will focus on peace, relaxation, family, friends, and the Reason for the Season. May God bless you and yours, as He has ours.

Ciao for now and Merry Christmas,

Steve

Don’t miss out on even one exciting article from Italy, Our Italy

Your Vatican Visit - Part 2

Index of Articles

In last week’s exciting and informative article (well, I hope you read it, at least), we learned a bit about the Vatican City in general, and St Peter’s Basilica in particular.

Today, you get your ticket to the Vatican Museums.

The Vatican Museums

In this image, you can see the Vatican Museums, almost in their entirety. The art museum is to the left of that small dome in the distance, while the Sistine Chapel is under the roof at the extreme bottom right of the photo. In between those two are the vast Vatican Museums. What do you need to come away with in looking at this photo? The Vatican Museums are huge! There are three floors and two, long galleries that are a quarter-of-a-mile each…that’s about a mile-and-a-half of walking! So, don’t try to see it all…I’ll tell you below how to best view the tens-of-thousands of artifacts.

To see where the Vatican Museums fit within the whole of Vatican City, see the map included in last week’s article, here.

How to See the Museum’s Sights

I’ll cut to the chase and give you the answer on how to visit the Vatican Museum and St Peter’s Basilica: hire a guide.

On our first visit to the Vatican Museums in 2000, due to time constraints and not knowing about the whole guide thingie, we got off an overnight train to Rome, stored our luggage at the station, taxied to the Vatican Museum entrance, lined up two hours ahead of opening time (we were 8th in line), and then we raced non-stop to the Sistine Chapel all the way down at the end of the museum. The Sistine Chapel is all we saw (and we were happy with that). Next up was a very long walk back to the museum entrance, then around the Vatican City to Vatican Square and the entrance of St Peter’s. Phew! That was a lot of walking. The next time we went, because we set aside more time for our visit, we used a guide and had a much more leisurely and enjoyable time…including the use of the special door from the Sistine Chapel to St Peter’s. So, that’s the secret…hire a guide.

With a licensed guide, you can skip the line into the Vatican Museums, which we’ve seen snaking around for blocks on end, because on average, 20,000 people visit the Vatican Museums every day. With a licensed guide, you get priority access to the museums, at a time of your choosing. And of course, an added benefit is that you will have someone with you that knows what’s what, and where the secret doors are located.

How Long Does it Take?

A very long gallery filled with marble heads…and bodies, too

How much time do you want to spend exploring the Vatican Museum? Weeks? There’s plenty to see and a week wouldn’t be unreasonable. There are over 70,000 items and 54 galleries. However, I imagine your eyes would glaze over before even one day was over. A day? My feet hurt just thinking about it. How serious are you about spending a whole lot of time looking at marble heads, like those in this photo? I didn’t think so.

Do you like paintings? They got ‘em. Tapestries? Ditto. Marble heads? Well, you know they have those, right? Frescos? Un-huh. Collections? They abound…like hundreds of meteorites collected in Antarctica by Vatican scientist…go figure.

So, how do you narrow down all of this to fit your interest? Use your guides’ knowledge. And, how do you fit all of this into your Rome explorations, including your important visit to St Peter’s Basilica? Tell your guide how much time you have available so they can tailor your visit to fit it into your day’s itinerary. Finally, tell your guide ahead of time exactly what time you would like to start your explorations.

Finding Your Guide

So, where do you find these guides? You Google for them. Here are a few recent findings…but before you look at these offerings, be sure to look carefully at what they offer. For instance, is it just a timed, special entrance to the museums, and then you are on your own? Do they parla Inglese? Will they also be taking you on to St Peter’s Basilica? You get the picture, right?

ToursByLocals - plug ‘Vatican Museums’ into their ‘Search by Keyword’ bar and then choose a guide
Viator
GetYourGuide
Vatican Private Tour Guide
Vatican Guided Tour
etc.

Rick Steves - And then there’s Rick Steves’ suggestions…and his suggestions are based on his personal experiences. As he points out, there is a big difference with getting a guide from an international company like those above, and getting a private guide who works independently. So, give Rick Steves’ recommendations a look…and hope that he keeps that list up to date.

A Few Museum Photos

Even the staircases have art at the Vatican Museums!

Expect a lot of variety in the paintings of the museums.

There is even a very large, and very old, tapestry modeled on DaVinci’s ‘Last Supper’.

I think that this next one is a lot of fun. These little winged putti seem to be having a bit of fun as they march along a wall in the museum. That poor guy second-from-left is missing his face, or is that a pillowcase over his head. What’s that about? But, not to worry, his friends are guiding him, and there’s an extra face laying (or is it lying?) on the floor to the right.

This next one is really cool! Look at the sculptural relief…or is that a painting? Can’t be a painting, can it? Yep, it is, and it is an excellent representation of Trompe-l'œil. What’s that you ask? It’s an art technique that uses realistic imagery to create the optical illusion of three dimensionality. In other words, those shadows are very carefully calculated to create a three-dimension look.

Here’s a modern interpretation of Trompe-l'œil. It’s just chalk art on a concrete walkway, but it’s the perspective that makes it work. Looking from any other angle just won’t reveal the ‘look’.

And, let’s not forget painted ceilings. Not sure what that elevated scene is about, but she seems to be in complete control of the situation. You go, girl!

The Sistine Chapel

Speaking of painted ceilings, now to the penultimate…the Sistine Chapel. Michelangelo didn’t really want to take on this project, as he was working on a marble tomb at the time…and he considered himself a sculptor, not a painter. But, we can be glad he acquiesced and took on the job for Pope Julius.

And, we can also be glad that the ceiling underwent a complete restoration at the end of the last century…before that, it was covered with the soot of five centuries of candle use.

First, here is what you would have seen if you had been there in around…let’s say 1970. It was a rather mono-chromatic, obliterated, mess.

Now, let’s see the difference that 20 years of restoration makes.

It’s an astounding change, isn’t it? Wow! And here is a bit of detail as we see the God-Man attempt at connection.

OK, here’s the deal. They ask that you take no photos. They also tell you to be quiet…and not in a very nice way. You hear a loud ‘SHHHH!!!’ intermixed with ‘No Photos!’ whilst you gawk at the amazing ceiling.

The fact that they keep shushing the crowd is indicative that no one pays much attention. Treat the request for ‘no photos’ the same way. Go ahead and shoot away. Just don’t use flash. I think the whole ‘no photo’ thingie has to do with selling the books with photos in the gift shop. And, as we haven’t been in the Sistine Chapel for 8 years, they may have completely given up on the ‘no photos’ thing with the advent of cellphone photography.

That’s it for the Vatican sights that we are allowed to see…the Vatican Museums and St Peter’s Basilica. If you have not already seen these amazing sights, I hope that you are able to do so whenever we can begin to travel once more.

Ciao for now…and please stay safe,

Steve

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