The Oratorio del Santissimo Crocifisso (Oratory of the Most Holy Crucifix) in Rome is a beautiful and but not well known large chapel which was built in memory of a miraculous event. On the night of 23 May 1519, the church of San Marcello al Corso was destroyed in...
During excavation work in the mid-19th century, some rooms were discovered from the Roman period about 8 metres underneath the current street level of Via della Settima Coorte. The building was identified as housing a detachment from the seventh cohort of the city’s guards, or firemen, thanks to the...
Located just a short distance from the Termini train station in Rome and squeezed in between the tracks of old and new railway lines, the small Church of Santa Bibiana goes laregly unnoticed due to its unfortunate position, hidden by train pylons, by its own enclosure, and by the...
On the left, just behind Bernini’s Baldachin in the central space of the Basilica you will find the Statue of Veronica by Francesco Mochi, whose extraordinary history is almost unknown. Above the statue is preserved what is said to be her original veil. So who was Veronica and...
The remarkable fountain in Rome known as the Botticella (little barrel) between Via di Ripetta and Piazza Augusto Imperatore was erected in 1774 by the guild of innkeepers and boatmen of the former port of Ripetta, where ships loaded with merchandise used to dock. Opposite San Rocco, the innkeepers...
In the Piazza della Minerva, Rome, you will find Bernini’s famous but curious elephant-obelisk. What is much less well-known however, is the symbolism behind the obelisk, which may answer the question as to why Bernini created such an unusual sculpture. Bernini’s design for the base of the obelisk,...
In Via Sant’Ignazio, Rome you will find a spectacularly beautiful library – the Biblioteca Casanatense – which was founded by the Dominican friars of the Monastery of Santa Maria sopra Minerva in Rome at the request of Cardinal Girolamo Casanate, and then inaugurated in 1701 in a structure...
Santa Sabina Basilica, on the Aventine Hill, dates from the 5th century, and it is one of the oldest churches in Rome, although it has frequently undergone major conversions since it was built. In the atrium, by virtue of a small oval window opening into the courtyard of a neighbouring convent,...
In a chapel of the church of Saints Boniface and Alexius, on the Aventine Hill, part of the wooden staircase under which Saint Alexius lived for seventeen years has been preserved. Before the 10th century, there is no record of Saint Alexius in the West, but from then...
Once a week in Chiesa Nuova (Church of Santa Maria in Vallicella), after Saturday evening mass, worshippers can take part in a very strange spectacle – the sexton lets down a Ruben’s painting by remote control to reveal a miraculous icon of the Virgin Mary behind it....
Welcome to my love affair with the food, wine, history and culture of the Mediterranean, past and present. Here you will find not only recipes, drinks and fabulous products, but the history of the food and culture of the Mediterranean.
My purpose is to get you to explore and experience new tastes and along the way to immerse yourself in the wonderful history of this diverse and wonderful region – from Venice to Istanbul, Rome to Dubrovnik, Athens to Crete and all places in between and in the surrounds. Be prepared to be surprised, delighted and enthralled as you take this trip with me.
