Last day in Rome - so sad

I can't believe a month has gone by - today I took myself by public transport (to save foot from the cobblestones as much as possible) to my last 3 must-see churches. The first - Santo Stefano Rotundo is the oldest circular plan church in Rome about 5th century and is in a lovely tranquil area near the Celian hill - one of the seven hills of Rome. The Church is famous for its (fortunately much faded) scenes of how early christian martyrs met their deaths - quite disturbing! It is hard to believe it is circular from the picture - just take my word for it. I then walked to the nearby church of Santi Quattro Coronati to see if I could see the chapel of St Silvester which has wonderful 13th century frescoes of the life of Constantine.

This chapel has a history of failed visits so I was surprised to see in the gloomy church a buzzer if you wanted to see the cloister. I didn't really but thought that's where the chapel might be. It wasn't but the cloister was very tranquil and and nice so I bought some postcards and tried to ask the nun who let me in where the chapel was exactly- she nodded and told me how to get there in Italian! Not so helpful but I caught the word "left" so I ventured back and walked into this empty hallway with lots of locked doors and no signs. A man just stared at me unhelpfully and I was about to give up when I spotted a small buzzer on the wall - I pressed it and to my surprise a grill popped open in the wall behind me and a nun asked if I wanted to see the Oratorio again in Italian. I didn't think I did but it turns out that it is the Chapel of St Silvester and I had finally found it after 3 previous abortive efforts. This is the reward for persistence! I had the cute little chapel all to myself and loved the byzantine style frescos - I was unaware that Constantine had leprosy but according to the pictures he was cured when baptised - again I thought he was only baptised on his death-bed so he could go on sinning for as long as possible but let's not let historical accuracy get in the way of a good painting.

My last church was San Martino ai Monti which had a very creepy 3rd century crypt underneath which made my day- I love a good crypt! Tomorrow we head off to Tuscany - I am so sad to leave my favourite place in the world but I'll be back.