Recommendations for Rome
  • Michael O'Connor
    Posts: 1,637
    Hi everyone,

    Sorry for hijacking the forum for such a mundane question, but it is related in a way. I will be in Rome in May to do some research on a Marian antiphon at the Conservatorio library. This will be my first time in there, so I was wondering if anyone could recommend some must-see places related to chant. I know what to look for in regards to later musical styles, but what's your experience there?
  • janetgorbitzjanetgorbitz
    Posts: 968
    can't recommend chant stuff, but you have to take the "Scavi" Tour. It is a very limited tour, only a few people can go each day with a specially guided group run through the excavations office. You go down below St. Peter's, where the old Roman mausoleums have been excavated... and even to the spot where St.Peter's bones are thought to be... this is not the catacombs... don't miss it. email me if you need specifics...
  • bjerabek
    Posts: 63
    Michael: be sure to stop in at the church of Santa Trinità dei Monti (the church at the top of the Spanish Steps), where there is a French religious community that very uniquely chants vespers each day. They might chant other hours as well, I am not sure. I seem to recall going there around 5pm. It is very unique. Honestly it strikes me a little off -- like one of these new "religious movements" which is trying to recapture the sacred by importing Eastern stuff. But I think it's definitely worth seeing. And I could be betraying my ignorance with regard to what they are trying to accomplish.

    Also, I believe it is either Santa Cecilia in Trastevere or Santa Maria in Trastevere where each night there are several hundred people in attendance for the chanting of vespers -- I think it is the Focolare movement that does it (again, not completely sure). Now, this might be completely ordinary chant, nothing special, not sure. Hopefully some others here can fill in the details.
  • David AndrewDavid Andrew
    Posts: 1,206
    Isn't there an FSSP parish in Rome that has been featured over at NLM? Sorry, it's after midnight where I am and I'm coming down with a head cold, so not all the cylinders are firing.

    BTW I concur with the "Scavi" recommendation, although I'm told it's nearly impossible to get on a tour unless it's been booked well in advance, or you "know somebody".

    One thing not to miss (my opinion, of course) is the church (Santa Maria degli Angeli) converted by Michelangelo from the Roman Baths of Diocletian. Unfortunately I only got to see it in very dim light after hours, so it was hard to get a really good sense of the space.

    Oh, and take a tip from Eleanor Lavish . . . NO Baedeker!
  • janetgorbitzjanetgorbitz
    Posts: 968
    Scavi tour: we did have tickets ordered in advance by a local... but we also witnessed cases where folks with no tickets at all went right up to the Scavi office and asked if there were any cancellations for that day and were able to get on a tour. The Scavi office is behind barricades on the left side of St. Peter's (facing the basilica). You have to tell the Swiss guard that you need to get to the Scavi office about tickets... there is also a website that describes the tour... google it.
  • mjballoumjballou
    Posts: 994
    Yes to the Scavi tour. The folks at the top of the Spanish Steps are members of the Fraternites de Jerusalem, founded in Paris in the 1970s. Their music is mostly composed by Pere Andre Gouzes, a Dominican greatly influenced by Russian chant. I'm very devoted to it - but everyone knows what a weirdo I am.
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