Mass

Mass

If you plan on sleeping in Perugia don't book a room anyplace near the main duomo church where the bells ring every quarter hour throughout the night. The street directly below my room must have been the vortex of hyenas meeting to yelp and bark all night. Perugia never slept in the 2 days I was there.

One night was quite enough of the dirty room and its noise factor; I set out in the morning to find solitude in the form of another accommodation, no matter what the cost. I found that I had been taken for a ride... because everywhere I looked the rooms were comfortable and cheaper. I just happen to pick the one, online and site unseen, that wasn't representative of the norm. I packed up and moved to Eden, another 2-star hotel but a paradise in comparison – clean, stylish, sweet smelling, non smoking, free cappuccino and internet. Heaven. And 10 euro cheaper.

Apparently the population in Perugia doesn't like to have photos taken of them or their merchandise, either because it's stolen or they don't want their business ideas copied. If you walk into a shop with a camera they immediately approach and demand no pictures. This happened in every shop I entered. The town doesn't have the style or interest that Roma has, although it is certainly architecturally worth a visit. The food is geared for specific tourists... possibly Germans and British since it was bland in comparison to Tuscan or Roman dishes. What Perugia does have that excels is chocolate. Indulging in a ciocolatti caldo (hot chocolate but nothing like you've ever had... thick and more like pudding) is like sipping the life fantastic.

With so little time left, 2 full days in Perugia was plenty and I took an earlier train back to get in the maximum shopping time possible. Back in Roma the public lovers are asphyxiating each other with carp-like sounding kisses. There are so many of them I begin to suspect that the tourism board hires them as props to enhance the romantic ambiance of the city. I walk along the Tiber River to Trastevere, probably the most hip area of Italy. It's Sunday evening and all the churches are open so I sit in every one I can to soak up the art and magnificence.

The Jesus and Mary theme is prominent in the paintings and frescoes, but Joseph is not portrayed in most. The man who really stepped up to do the right thing – marry some young girl who says she's been visited by angels and God made her pregnant with the savior of mankind – that's worthy of more than just being named the patron saint of carpentry, isn't it? Consider Joseph next time you don't think you've gotten the glory for doing something...

Choir practice begins in the Basilica di Santa Maria with sweet harmonies reverberating through the arches and domes that reach to heaven themselves. Angels and saints look down from lofty heights and smaller chapels that line the length of the Basilica. The aroma of frankincense entwines around the pillars and the senses.

Caught up in a timeless moment, I hadn't noticed that the other pews were filling with Sunday faithful and mass begins. I know my mother must somehow be behind my inability to escape as the priest floats down the aisle holding an ornate bible above his head, flanked by 4 very old altar boys holding tall candles, an ancient gold crucifix and swinging more incense. Women kiss their fingers and cross themselves at the sight of this.

The priest is singing, although nasal and without feeling in between the readings and mass. Since it's all in Italian, it all sounds like a song. Finally, after about half an hour, the crowd stands and I slip out. On the streets, evening dark has fallen, the shops are open, church bells are ringing and flocks of Roman birds hidden in the spreading tree limbs are making their own night song louder than the traffic.
Photos of church: Chiesa di Ercolano, Perugia