Casina of Pope Pius IV

It was a cold and rainy day. Josh drove me to the Vatican to meet Nancy & Co. at one of the entrance gates. Due to the rain and the traffic, I was 5 minutes late and had the whole group waiting for me. Clearly, no one in this group is Italian.

We presented our group to the guard (passports were not requested although we were told they would be), and were admitted inside where we walked through a tunnel and then through the Vatican gardens to reach the entrance of the Casina.

There have been modern additions to the original structure that was built here for Pope Pius IV. The building currently serves as the headquarters of the Pontifical Academy of the Social Sciences (Pontificia Academia Scientiarum). In fact, our visit today was only possible because a simultaneous translator friend of Nancy's works for the Academy, and was able to get us in. We first visited the meeting room - a small, UN -like auditorium with comfy leather chairs, behind rows of desks with microphones and an LCD screen in the corner. The current Pope is a member of this illustrious accademy which only has about 15 permanent members. All types of important meetings are held here with scientists and dignitaries from around the world -- the most recent was a discussion about nuclear disarmament.

Afterwards, we were permitted to descend the staircase into the eponymous villa -- Casina Pio IV. It was built in 1561 by Pirro Ligori for Pope Pius IV. (Ligori was also famous for building the water-works at the Villa d'Este which we visited last summer before school started) Porta Pia and Via Pia also are named after this Pope who's biggest claim to fame is presiding over the Council of Trent. He was Pope from 1559 to 1565.

The casina is still used by the Academy, during their meetings here. For instance, they often retreat to these rooms where they are served lunch. The ceilings of the casina's several rooms are heavily decorated, stuccoed and frescoed in the mannerist style -- primarily by Federico Barocci. We worked our way from the back of the casina (where we came down the staircase) to the front entrance which is comprised of two free standing portal arches, a loggia with a fountain and a beautiful oval cortile. Fifty Roman statues used to line the niches in the cortile -- but they were sold and carted off by the next Pope. Due to the inclement weather, we discussed the exterior as much as possible from the interior -- before going outside. When we did exit and brave the rain storm, it seemed to me that the temperature had dropped 10 degrees, and I wished I'd worn heavier socks in my "wellingtons." The Casina is situated just across from the Palazzo Belvedere where even today the Pope conducts official Vatican business.

In 1562, the Pope Pius IV's nephew, Cardinal Charles Borromeo, founded an Academy called Noctes Vaticanae -- to be a Academy of learned persons of the time -- which then held its meetings at the Casina. Borromeo, who was extremely dedicated to the Church, was later canonized -- one of only two cardinals that have become Saints. The Bernini-designed church I visited just last week on Via XX Settembre, San Carlo, is dedicated to Borromeo.

This concluded our tour and we all hurried through the rain storm as quickly as possible. I hopped into the first taxi I spotted. It turns out, the cabbie ripped me off by charging a 10euro supplement for a Vatican pick up. I questioned him, but should have insisted on seeing the rule in writing. Afterwards, I felt like a total dummy and I'm not even a "tourist" here.

What I needed was a hot lunch followed by a hot bath. The hot bath ended up being followed by a nap. Which is how Avery and Charlotte found me when they returned from school. Olivia, however, was taken straight from school to a birthday party. When I picked her up a couple of hours later, with Charlotte and Avery in tow, she was having a great time. When we first moved here, Olivia was reticent to accept any party invitations since, naturally, all the kids would be speaking in Italian. But now, I think she has found her groove and while certainly far less than fluent, Olivia can get by. On the way home she even taught me a new vocabulary word: merenda - which means snack. Needless to say there were grande merende on offer at the festa and no one was hungry for dinner. Again, I have to wonder why these Italians always schedule the parties right before dinner and then serve cookies, brioche, popcorn, nutella sandwiches, and let's not forget, the cake.

I rather liked the hosts of tonight's birthday party -- a very engaging couple. He immediately offered a glass of prosecco to go with the cake -- come' no? Still raining, I rushed Charlotte to swim practice before returning home to make the dinner that none of the kids ate. Later, while watching Letterman, Avery fell asleep on my lap.