Since it’s only six sleeps before I leave for Italy, I’ve been spending some time looking through photos and notes from my trip last year.  One of the highlights of the trip was a visit to the Vatican Museum and grounds.  I’m excited just thinking about it.
The nice people at Detroit Public Television were kind enough to offer me a review set of Secrets of the Vatican Collection, a 5-disc DVD documentary that is a wonderful profile of the Vatican, it’s history, art, life, and day-to-day workings.  This small city state, located a stone’s throw from Rome, has a rich …read more

Location:  A vacant hallway at the Vatican.  The artwork on the ceiling was as intricate and detailed as that on the walls.  And the floor was so shiny that it might as well have been a mirror.
 
Image credit:  Personal collection
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The imposing cylindrical Castel Sant’Angelo, situated along the Tiber River in Rome, was built between 123 and 129 AD.  It was first known as the Mausoleum of Hadrian, serving as the resting grounds for the ashes of the Roman emperor.  Ashes of Hadrian’s family, as well as subsequent emperors, joined him there.
The tomb was ransacked during one of Rome’s less civilized periods, and the Castel Sant’angelo was later used as a fortress (Popes hid out here), castle (connected to St. Peter’s Basilica by a covered corridor), and prison (executions were held in the interior square). 
Today it is the …read more

I’m bringing you another photo from my trip to Italy, this one of Saint Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican.
I’m in Tuscany now, and hope to share some additional photos from my week here at a farmhouse.