ROME

It was hot and steamy in Rome, the red wine twinkling in glasses on shaded café tables and the smell of dark coffee, expensive cologne and the exhaust fumes of scooters heavy in the air. The Pope had opened The Vatican for exclusive prosecco evenings on four Friday evening that summer, and of course Marlene Friis-Hecht was number one on his VIP Gregorian Guest List…

Having soaked up the very welcome brilliant scorching sunshine, and after a five star guided tour of Rome by renowned Italian City expert Friis Hecht, who trained at the exclusive BAGBAWAFAD* Academy of Tourism cum laude, I wandered with Friis-Hecht and our charming co-host for the evening Signor DJ El Camino through the cobbled, colourful evening streets of Rome, arriving at the Pope’s residence at sunset. We were welcomed with papal proficiency by a handsome Italian Vatican-Guard from Switzerland, locally referred to as the “Guardia Svizzera Pontificia/ Pontificia Cohors Helvetica”. Recruits to the guards must be unmarried Swiss Catholic males between 19 and 30 years of age who have completed basic training with the Swiss Armed Forces, and are trained locally by the iconic Italian Military Leader General Von T Steak.

A brief stroll through the fragrant bay trees and ornamental vases, simmering in the evening heat as if they had been blessed by the holy father himself, led us to the “buffet table and bar”, known locally to the Italians as the “tavolo da buffet e bar” where we were issued with our consecrated “meal and drink token”: “gettone per cibo e bevande” as as these self same local might say. Our charming co-host Signore DJ El Camino negotiated additional glasses of consecrated Prosecco by befriending the overworked waiters on duty, who, as Italians, were quietly and calmly

It Was Hot and Steamy in Rome

rather irritated at having to work a 14 hour day just because the Pope wanted a Prosecco party - a “Festa del Prosecco” as we can imagine the 14th Century Vaticananians might have called it.

But imagine our awe and wonder as, after the consecrated Prosecco, we were escorted into the Magnificent Sistine Chapel, brooding and imposing in the late evening gloom. Yet, to this visitor, also somehow simultaneously iridescent and humble - irridecente e umile. “Probably the most famous chapel in the world because of its incredible artwork” (Tripadvisor 2020), The Sistine Chapel (/ /; Latin: Sacellum Sixtinum; Italian: Cappella Sistina is a chapel in the Apostolic Palace, the official residence of the pope, in Vatican City. Originally known as the Cappella Magna (‘Great Chapel’), the chapel takes its name from Pope Sixtus IV, who restored it between 1473 and 1481. Today, it is the site of the papal conclave, the process by which a new pope is selected. Between 1508 and 1512, under the patronage of Pope Julius II, Michelangelo painted the chapel’s ceiling, a project which changed the course of Western art and is regarded as one of the major artistic accomplishments of human civilization. Somehow it seemed to speak to all of us in our small and inebriated party.

As I wander several years later through the grey and chilly London streets, when not in Lockdown due to Covid19, I remember the wonderful trip to Rome in all its beauty and heat, and the magical and unique presence of the irreplaceable Marlene, a dear and much cherished friend.

R Hayes Laughton, International Traveller 24/09/2020 *bought a guide book and wandered around for a day

–REBECCA HAYES LAUGHTON, LONDON