Italian Ways: Do this, not that!

1. Do not try it! I was not sure of what size I had to take for a shirt. I needed to try the 2 options I thought would fit. It was 7.55pm and the store closed at 8pm. A shop-assistant in exasperation told me when I asked him where the fitting rooms were: “Just take both, try them at home, and you come and return what you do not want tomorrow!” I thought: sure, you are putting ME in an inconvenience for your own convenience! I had no choice, unless I wanted to take the risk of losing either of them the following morning.

2. Put on your shoes! In Santa Maria Maggiore, I had gone into a lateral chapel to meditate in silence (those chapels are for meditation/prayer only, no flashes are allowed, and silence is enforced by a guardian). As one of the major basilicas of the country, it attracts people from all over the world. There was an Indian young man sitting behind me. And in the last row, a very humble woman- maybe homeless. I know that in some Eastern traditions, taking the shoes off is a sign of respect. He had taken off his sandals. When I listen from the woman in exasperation: “Metti le scarpi!!” (put on your shoes!). And not only once, but she repeated twice and three times, pointing her finger to his feet, until the guy (who knows if he understood Italian) finally put his sandals back on shyly. I do not know what was more shocking: the fact that she was issuing this order or the fact that he obeyed as soon as he got the message. As if she had some authority in that environment or over him!

             SMM - on the entrance side, tower.                         SMM - view from the back. What a 'back'!

SMM - inside overview.

3. Go! Sant’Andrea al Quirinalle. This church is beautiful outside and inside. I thought for the very few first seconds that they were celebrating mass, but it was mass within a wedding. Why it was not obvious that it was a wedding? Because the guests were 5 people –other than the parents. I stayed quietly observing the ceremony and taking pictures in the back of the small church. Suddenly a handful of tourists walked in and started chit-chatting. That was the end of my stay in church: an Italian man elegantly dressed rushed assertively towards us in the back of the church and gave us this ‘invite’: “You cannot stay here. This is a private ceremony, there is a wedding going on. You cannot stay.”

Sant'Andrea al Quirinale, just across the street from the Palazzo del Quirinale -lateral entrance.

Wedding at Sant'Andrea al Quirinale.