Quadraro, Church of San Clemente, EUROMA2, and Vatican Mass

Just wanted to give a quick recap of my weekend thus far: 

Friday – It was a rather gloomy and rainy day, but that did not stop one of my friends and I from heading over to Quadraro.  Quadraro is a periphery neighborhood in Rome that was started in the 1930s and was really built up after World War II.  We actually went to explore the neighborhood for a paper for our Culture and Identity in Modern Italy class, and it was interesting to see a neighborhood in Rome I otherwise never would have seen.

 

{Not exactly the nicest of neighborhoods, if you didn’t notice}

Now getting to Quadraro was quite an adventure—the road that our bus was supposed to take to get us to the Metro was blocked by a huge protest.  We tried asking what the protest was about, but no one we asked seemed to know.  But I did get a tape recorder shoved into my face by a man asking me questions rather quickly in Italian so that was fun.

 

{The protesters along Viale di Trastevere}

Saturday – Saturday morning began with another site visit for my Catholicism class.  We headed to the Church of San Clemente and its underground levels.  The church is composed of three levels: 

1.  The present day basilica that was built around 1100 AD

2. The 4^th century basilica that was created out of a rich Roman noble’s home

3. The home of the Roman nobleman from the 1^st century AD that also served as a milthraeum

Our teacher made a point to stress that each level would have been the ground level at the time it was used.  It was truly fascinating to see just how much the ground level of Rome has changed over time.

 

{Outside the Church of San Clemente}

Later that afternoon, a couple of my friends and I made a short trek out to the periphery of Rome once again.  This time, we headed to EUROMA2—an Italian shopping mall located in the neighborhood of EUR. 

The main point of our visit was to go back to Pull and Bear (a store we had found and loved while in Naples), but we definitely shopped around. 

{In front of my favorite new store, Pull and Bear}

The mall was much bigger than I was expecting it to be and surprisingly quite similar to American malls.  I learned recently that shopping malls are really the place to be on weekends—and boy, oh boy, is that true.  I have never seen such a crowded mall, and the lines for the dressing rooms in many of the stores were an absolute mad scene.  Totally worth waiting for though!

 

{A view of the mall from the second floor}

Sunday – Bright and early this morning, a few of my friends and I headed to the Vatican for mass. 

The mass was held inside St. Peter’s Basilica, and it was an absolutely stunning place to attend mass.  I definitely had the “is this real life?” thoughts while we were there—I really just could not get over how amazing it was to be at mass at the Vatican.  While the mass was held in Italian and I only understood some of the mass, I still plan on going again while I am here!

{In front of the altar at mass}

{A Swiss Guard at the Vatican}