OMG - literally.
Today we toured both St. Peter's Cathedral and the Vatican.
St. Peter's Basilica - what can you say? This church was intended on being the biggest (it measures all of the World's churches on its floor) and the best (masterpieces in oil were relocated to the only church large enough to hold them S. Maria Delgli Angeli and replaced by exact replicas in mosaic to (unlike oil painting) last forever. The piazza S. Peter is gigantic. It was originally designed to 'surprise' the visitor who stumbled upon it after walking through the area's narrow streets. Thanks to Mussolini and his Via della Concilizaione - the approach is grandeur but the surprise is lost.
The Vatican is its own country - and I believe the smallest in the World. I'd guess it is probably the richest. Wealth and power has been seated here since the the Pope's abandoned their original home at the Papal Archbasilica of St. John Lateran (S. Giovanni in Laterano). The Archbacilica is (still) the cathedral of the Church of Rome, the seat of the Bishop of Rome and papal throne. It may be the smallest country but it makes for a huge museum - impossible to see in a short period of time.
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