All Roads Lead to Rome: Part 2

The purpose of our trip to Rome was to meet with Stefania Scorpio, whose Prime Time Productions produced the Pope's annual Christmas concert, and to visit the "Braccio di Carlo Magno" (the building to the left at the Basilica in St. Peter's Square) to discuss a potential exhibit of original Galileo artifacts -- and documents that the Vatican would make available for the first time in history.

Such an exhibit could possibly coincide with a "Stargazer" concert. In a stupor, we met Giorgio and went to the divine Cafe Antico Grecco near the Spanish Steps -- where I'd once seen Federico Fellini sweep in and survey the place -- for coffee. From there, it was on to a lunch at the Atlante Star roof garden, with its unbelievable views of Rome -- and St. Peter's in particular. Much wine. More jetlag delirium. Then, onto the Vatican. Craig, Stefania, Giorgio, Rabbi Irwin Kula (who'd arrived from Boston)  and I toured the Braccio di Carlo Magno with Professor Morello (same name as my friend Tom Morello, guitarist for Rage Against the Machine) and Eligio Ermeti, a former editor who worked with Stefania at Prime Time.

After a tour of this wing of the Museum, I think we went to the Theater down the block from St. Peter's with an eye out towards having a possible "Stargazer" concert there. Craig had already visited the Aola Nervi Hall -- the venue that housed the Pope's annual Christmas concert -- on a previous trip. I remember very little about the theater, except that it was under renovation and I clapped my hands inside the empty auditorium to hear the acoustics. They were good. (This theater also was on the block where, when Pope John Paul II  died less than a month later, was on TV constantly as reporters broadcast from the Vatican, waiting for that puff of smoke that would signal the selection of the man who became the new Pope -- Pope Benedict. To be continued.

-- Lisa Robinson