San Marino has been flying the flag of liberty for over 1,700 years

San Marino claims it is the world’s oldest, continuous democracy (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

It is always interesting when a one-country holiday becomes a two-country holiday. When two of us were in Rome last year, we crossed in and out of the Vatican City, which is recognised internationally as a sovereign independent state, despite in its size and population.

San Marino, officially the Republic of San Marino (Repubblica di San Marino), or the Most Serene Republic of San Marino (Serenissima Repubblica di San Marino), is a microstate that is an enclave, and it too is totally surrounded by Italy.

Late last year, two of us caught an early morning train from Bologna to Rimini, and by mid-morning we were on the side of the Apennine Mountains, on top of Monte Titano in San Marino.

The other microstates in Europe – Andorra, Liechtenstein, Monaco and the Vatican – are monarchies of one sort or another, and are dependent on their nearest, biggest and most powerful neighbours for their survival. Like them, San Marino is not a member of the European Union. On the other hand, San Marino, claims to be the oldest surviving sovereign state in Europe and the oldest constitutional republic in the world.

San Marino stands on rocky outcrops on the side of the Apennine Mountains (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today, San Marino is the only surviving Italian microstate. Like Andorra, Liechtenstein and Monaco, it is an anachronism and a reminder of the time when Europe – particularly Germany, Italy and the Pyrenees – was made up of tiny political units, sometimes extending no further than a cannon could fire from a city’s walls.

San Marino’s territory is about 61 sq km (24 sq miles), and it has a population of 33,562, including 4,800 foreign residents, mostly Italian citizens. It has the smallest population in Europe, and in size it is the third smallest country in Europe – only the Vatican City and Monaco are smaller. It is the world’s smallest republic and fifth smallest country.

Founding saint

Saint Marinus, San Marino’s founding saint, depicted in a bronze statue on a street corner (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

San Marino takes its name from Saint Marinus, who left the Dalmatian island of Arba in present-day Croatia with his lifelong friend Leo. They settled in Rimini, where he worked as a stonemason and was ordained a deacon.

During the persecutions in the reign of the Emperor Diocletian, Saint Marinus fled from Rimini to the slopes of Monte Titano. There he built a small church and is said to have founded the ‘Titanic Republic’ or San Marino on 3 September 301.

The independence of San Marino was recognised by the Papacy in 1631. Napoleon’s advance in 1797 presented a brief threat to the independence, but Napoleon eventually promised to guarantee and protect the independence of the Republic, even offering to extend its territory. After the Napoleonic Wars, the independence of San Marino was recognised in international law at the Congress of Vienna in 1815.

The Palazzo Pubblico or Palazzo del Governo is the seat of government in San Marino (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

When San Marino offered Abraham Lincoln honorary citizenship in 1861, he replied that the republic proved that ‘government founded on republican principles is capable of being so administered as to be secure and enduring.’

During the Italian War of Unification, San Marino became a place of refuge, and Garibaldi accepted its wish not to be incorporated into the new Italian state in 1862.

A statue of Garibaldi, who guaranteed San Marino’s independence from the modern Italian state (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

During World War I, when Italy declared war on Habsburg Austria in 1915, San Marino’s neutrality gave rise to hostile Italian suspicions that it could harbour Austrian spies, while the presence of volunteers from San Marino in an Italian medical corps running a Red Cross field hospital led Austria to suspend diplomatic relations.

San Marino had a fascist government in 1923-1943, but it remained neutral in World War II and provided a safe harbour for more than 100,000 Italians, including many Jews, fleeing Nazi and Italian persecution. The fascist government collapsed three days after the fall of Mussolini, but when it regained power in 1944 it maintained neutrality intact. In September 1944, it was briefly occupied by German forces, but they were soon defeated by Allied forces.

European integration

A border crossing … the mountain republic is totally surrounded by Italian territory (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Although San Marino is not an EU member state, an arrangement with the EU allows it to use the Euro as its currency and to use its own designs on the national side of Euro coins. But the small number of these coins means they are primarily of interest to coin collectors.

As a schoolboy, I thought San Marino existed mainly on the revenue from selling collectable postage stamps. But, in reality, the economy of San Marino relies mainly on finance, industry, services and tourism, making it one of the wealthiest countries in the world in terms of GDP per capita, with a figure comparable to the most developed European regions.

In the narrow streets of San Marino (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The capital is the City of San Marino and the largest urban area is Serravalle. San Marino has a highly stable economy, with one of the lowest unemployment rates in Europe, no national debt and a budget surplus. It is said to be the only country where there are more vehicles than people.

The Basilica di San Marino is on the site of the mediaeval parish church (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Although San Marino has a basilica on the Piazza Domus Plebis, this is not a cathedral, and there is no episcopal see in San Marino. The whole country is a small part of the Italian Diocese of Montefeltro-San Marino, and the bishop lives in Pennabilli. The Church of Saint Francis, founded in 1361 by the Conventual Franciscans, is the oldest church in San Marino. The church has a wooden crucifix dating from the 14th century and frescoes by Antonio Alberti da Ferrara dating from the early 15th century.

The Chiesa di San Francesco, was built by the Franciscans in I351-1400 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today, it is said, more than 97 per cent of the people are Roman Catholic, but there is no state religion and there is a tiny Waldensian and Jewish presence.

The Burial of Christ … a 15th century painting in the Chiesa di San Francesco (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

A model democracy

The Palazzo Pubblico or Palazzo del Governo is the seat of government in San Marino (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

San Marino is a multiparty democracy, and the Captains Regent are both heads of state and heads of governments. The 60-member elected parliament is known as the Grand and General Council, and there is an independent judiciary.

In the past, San Marino was ruled by the Arengo, chosen from among the heads of each family. In the 13th century, power was handed over to the Grand and General Council, and the first two Captains Regent were nominated by the council in 1243.

The Statue of Liberty by Galletti outside the Palazzo Pubblico, donated by Countess Otilia Heyroth Wagener (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

San Marino claims to have had more female heads of state than any other country. Twice a year, on 1 April and 1 October, the council elects two Captains Regent as the heads of state, holding office for a six-month term. This system of two heads of state is said to be modelled on the Roman consuls in the Roman Republic, and the Council is the equivalent of the Roman Senate. The present Captains Regent are Enrico Carattoni and Matteo Fiorini.

San Marino’s military forces are among the smallest in the world. National defence is, by arrangement, the responsibility of Italy’s armed forces. Different branches have varied functions, including performing ceremonial duties, patrolling borders; mounting guard at government buildings, and assisting police in major criminal cases.

They include the exotically-named Crossbow Corps, the Guard of the Rock, the Guard of the Grand and General Council, known locally as the Guard of the Nobles, the Company of Unformed Militia, the Military Ensemble, which is a ceremonial military band of about 50 musicians, and the Gendarmerie. In addition, there is a modern police force.

The Guita Tower is the earliest of San Marino’s three castellated towers (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

San Marino has been a member of the United Nations, since 1992, it has its own university, postal systems, banks and car registration numbers, and its own national football team. However, the San Marino Grand Prix never took place there: it was staged at Imola, about 100 km north of San Marino, but was removed from the international calendar in 2007.

San Marino has its own national university (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

San Marino has 220 km of roads, but public transport facilities are limited. There is no airport and no rail links to nearby Italian towns and cities. But there is a regular bus service between Rimini and the city of San Marino that is popular with both tourists and workers commuting to San Marino from surrounding Italy. The bus stops at about 20 places in Rimini and inside San Marino on the journey between the train station in Rimini and the bus station in San Marino.

A 1.5 km cable car also connects Borgo Maggiore at the bottom of Monte Titano and the City of San Marino at the top of the rocky mountain. But the cable car was not running this when I visited San Marino. Perhaps because the tourist season was over, it was a good opportunity for an overhaul.

Another passport stamp

Did I need another visa stamp on my passport? (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The tourist office beside the cable car terminal offers €5 tourist visas. A visa costs as much as the bus journey from Rimini, and it is not necessary. Should I have got my passport stamped?

I certainly did not need a visa. San Marino has an open border with Italy, there were no checkpoints as the bus crosses the border, not just once but twice on each leg of the journey, and before I even reached the tourist office I had travelled along most of the roads through this tiny republic, and walked most of the streets of the old town.

But did I want a visa?

I had brought my passport, but ought I pay for a visa I did not need?

Very few countries these days bother to stamp my passport, even when they demand to see it. Switzerland is outside the EU but has never stamped my passport. I have walked in and out of the Vatican City and through Saint Peter’s Square on many occasions … but no-one ever asked for my passport as I stepped in from Italy, let alone offer to stamp it.

Britain may soon leave the EU, so I may be confused about which queue to join at an airport; but are they are going to reintroduce passport stamps for EU citizens queuing at airports? The only European country that bothers to stamp my passport these days is Turkey, and that is probably because it earns a hefty amount of foreign currency by charging tourists for visas.

A heavily-stamped passport is a rarity for EU citizens these days, even those of us who think we are well-travelled. The only other stamps on my present passport are from a visit to the US many years ago.

Of course, it could be costly filling a passport too quickly. At one stage in the 1990s, while I was working as a journalist, I had to apply for – and pay for – a second passport. My latest stamp in San Marino says goodbye to another visa page in my passport – five gone, 23 to go. I am sure, however, this one is going to last until it’s due for renewal later this year.

Afterwards, we had lunch at La Capanna, a restaurant looking over the rocks of San Marino and out to the Adriatic coast of Italy. The view was worth it, whatever about the visa.

Tables for two in a café in the streets of San Marino (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

This feature was first published in the ‘Church Review’ (Dublin and Glendalough) and the ‘Diocesan Magazine’ (Cashel, Ferns and Ossory) in March 2018.

San Marino’s independent banking system is an important part of the thriving economy (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The Byzantine mosaics of Ravenna have inspired scholars and poets

The apse in San Vitale … a ‘most exciting introduction to Byzantine art’ (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2017)

Patrick Comerford

Professor Judith Herrin of King’s College, London, is one of the greatest Byzantine scholars today. In one of her books, Byzantium: the Surprising Life of a Medieval Empire, she recalls how the mosaics in Ravenna were her ‘first and most exciting introduction to Byzantine art.’

Her mother had seen an exhibition on the Ravenna mosaics and was keen to see the originals, while she was learning Italian at school. They both agreed that Ravenna should be the focus of a summer holiday. They rented a Fiat Cinquecento in Milan, and off they headed to Ravenna to see the mosaic panels that commemorate Justinian and Theodora.

The Court of Justinian in a mosaic in San Vitale (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2017)

It was only later that Judith Herrin wondered why portraits of rulers of Byzantium who never visited Ravenna flank the approach to the altar in the Church of San Vitale. For her, that journey from Milan to Ravenna was the beginning of the path that led her to stand alongside John Julius Norwich and the late Steven Runciman as one of the finest Byzantine scholars of our day.

I have taught a module on Byzantine studies and have visited Byzantine sites throughout Greece, Turkey, Sicily, Cyprus and Egypt. Perhaps, in all those visits, I was building up my anticipations for the joys awaiting me on an eventual visit to Ravenna.

A train from Bologna

The fifth century mosaic of the Baptism of Christ in the Neonian Baptistry (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2017)

A few weeks before Christmas, two of us set off, not by car but by train, and not from Milan but from Bologna, to see Ravenna, those Byzantine mosaics and some of its eight Unesco World Heritage Sites.

The Romans ignored Ravenna during their conquest of the Po Delta, and it was not until 89 BC that it was incorporated into the Roman political system. It was there that Julius Caesar gathered his forces in 49 BC before crossing the Rubicon.

Today the city is landlocked, but Ravenna was an important Adriatic seaport until the early Middle Ages, and prospered under Roman rule. In the year 402, Emperor Honorius transferred the capital of the Western Roman Empire from Milan to Ravenna, which was easy to defend because it was surrounded by swamps and marshes yet had good connections by sea to the Eastern Roman Empire.

Alaric and the Visigoths bypassed Ravenna in 409 and went on to sack Rome in 410, taking Galla Placidia, the daughter of Emperor Theodosius I, as a hostage. When Galla Placidia eventually returned to Ravenna with her son, Emperor Valentinian III, and with the support of her nephew Theodosius II, Ravenna enjoyed a period of peace.

The Baptismal Font in the Neonian Baptistry (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2017)

In that time, Ravenna gained some of its most famous monuments, including the Baptistry, the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia – although she is not actually buried there – and the Church of Saint John the Evangelist.

Ravenna remained the capital of the Western Roman Empire until that empire collapsed in 476. The Eastern Emperor Zeno then sent the Theodoric the Great to retake the Italian peninsula. Theoderic took Ravenna in 493 and it became the capital of the Ostrogothic Kingdom of Italy until 540.

While Theoderic was in power, he built splendid buildings in and around Ravenna, including his palace church, Sant’Apollinare Nuovo, an Arian cathedral, now Santo Spirito, a Baptistry, and his own mausoleum outside the city walls.

The Basilica of Sant’Apollinare Nuovo was built in the sixth century (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2017)

Theodoric was an Arian, but he co-existed peacefully with the largely Orthodox people of Ravenna, and their bishops built more splendid church buildings, including the Capella Arcivescovile. When a mob burned down the synagogues of Ravenna in 519, Theoderic ordered the city to rebuild them at its own expense.

Theodoric died in 526, and in 540 the Byzantine Empire recaptured Ravenna, which became the seat of Byzantine government in Italy. Ravenna’s bishops embarked on a new building programme that included the Basilica of San Vitale and the Basilica of Sant’Apollinare in Classe.

Inside the Cathedral, beside the Neonian Baptistry, on the Piazza Duomo (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2017)

Under Byzantine rule, the Archbishop of Ravenna enjoyed autonomy from Rome, and held second place in Italy after the Pope. Later, the city was the centre of the Byzantine Exarchate of Ravenna until the invasion of the Lombards in 751, and it then became the seat of the Kingdom of the Lombards.

Byzantine rule came to an end when Ravenna was captured by the Lombards, and gradually the city and the church in Ravenna came under the direct authority of the Popes. In a bewildering act of singular vandalism, Pope Adrian I allowed Charlemagne to take away from Ravenna anything that he liked, and an unknown number of columns, mosaics, statues and other items were pillaged and taken to Aachen.

World Heritage sites

A mosaic in Sant’Apollinare Nuovo shows Christ long-haired and bearded in Byzantine fashion (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2017)

Ravenna is a pleasant town in the Emilian-Romagna region of Italy, with pleasant narrow streets, cobbled piazza, and fine buildings and shops. But most visitors arrive to see the mosaics, which date from the years of Roman and Byzantine rule. In all, eight early Christian monuments and buildings in Ravenna are listed by Unesco as World Heritage sites.

The Orthodox Baptistry, also known as the Neonian Baptistry, is Ravenna’s oldest monument, and was built in the fifth century near the remains of a Roman bathhouse and. It is named after the bishop who commissioned its decoration, which includes a beautiful mosaic depicting the Baptism of Christ.

Beside it, on the Piazza Duomo, stand the cathedral, Archiepiscopal Museum, and the tiny Chapel of Saint Andrew, often missed by visitors.

The fifth century Arian Baptistry has a cupola with a mosaic showing the Apostles ringed around a centrepiece depicting the Baptism of Christ.

The White-Robed Army of Martyrs on the walls of Sant’Apollinare Nuovo (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2017)

The Basilica of Sant’Apollinare Nuovo, built in the sixth century, is named after Ravenna’s first bishop. The walls of the church have two rows showing processions of martyrs and virgins bearing gifts for the Christ Child and the Virgin Mary. They include the Magi, with an early example of them being shown as three in number and named as Caspar, Melchior and Balthasar.

The mosaics in the apse of the Basilica of San Vitale date from 526-547, and show Christ, San Vitale receiving a martyr’s crown, two angels and Bishop Ecclesius, who started building this octagonal church, and priests and members of the Imperial Court of the Emperor Justinian, who reigned in 527-565. He was an important lawgiver and one of the most powerful Byzantine emperors. The courtiers depicted in this mosaic include Belisarius, the general who won back much of Italy from the Goths, but the only courtier or cleric named is Archbishop Maximian of Ravenna.

Virgins and Martyrs on the walls of Sant’Apollinare Nuovo (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2017)

Beside the Basilica of San Vitale, the earlier Mausoleum of Galla Placidia was begun in 430. But this exquisite, cross-shaped building was never the burial place of the wife of the barbarian emperor. One of the best-known mosaics adorning the tiny mausoleum shows Christ as the Good Shepherd.

It was a short visit and I did not get to the Basilica of Sant’Apollinare south of Ravenna, in Classe. This basilica was built in the early sixth century by Bishop Ursicinus and funded and adorned the Greek banker Julianus Argentarius. It was built beside a Christian cemetery, and possibly on top of a previous pagan one, as some of the ancient tombstones were reused in its building.

The basilica was consecrated in 549 by Archbishop Maximian and dedicated to Saint Apollinaris, the first bishop of Ravenna and Classe. It is a contemporary of the Basilica of San Vitale in Ravenna. In 856, the saint’s relics were moved from the Basilica of Sant’Apollinare in Classe to the Basilica of Sant’Apollinare Nuovo in Ravenna.

The Visit of the Magi in the Basilica of Sant’Apollinare Nuovo (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2017)

I also missed the Mausoleum of Theoderic, just outside Ravenna, and built by the emperor in 520 as his future tomb. However, the significance of the mausoleum lies in its Gothic style and decoration, which owe nothing to Roman or Byzantine art.

But I visited other sites in Ravenna, including the Church of Saint John the Evangelist, built in the fifth century by Galla Placidia after she survived a storm at sea, and restored after the World War II bombings; and the Palace of Theoderic, which was, in fact, the entrance to the former church of San Salvatore, although it has mosaics from the actual palace of the Ostrogoth king.

Dante in exile

The Tomb of Dante, who died in 1321 on his way back to Ravenna from Venice (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2017)

In the 14th century, Dante’s wanderings around Italy after his exile from Florence eventually brought him to Ravenna. He lived there from 1318, and the city is mentioned in Canto V in Dante’s Inferno.

When Dante died in 1321, on his way back to Ravenna from a diplomatic mission in Venice, he was buried in Ravenna at the Church of San Pier Maggiore, now known as San Francesco.

His sepulchre was rebuilt in 1780, and a lamp there is kept alight with oil given by the city of Florence.

Byron and Yeats in Ravenna

The Mausoleum of Galla Placidia … she was never buried there (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2017)

Lord Byron lived in Ravenna in 1819-1821, when he worked on Don Juan and wrote his Ravenna Diary. Oscar Wilde visited Ravenna in 1878, but does not refer to the mosaics in his poem Ravenna. When WB Yeats spent Christmas with Wilde in 1888, Wilde shared his experiences. It is not surprising, then, that Ravenna, and not Istanbul (Constantinople), inspired Yeats and his vision of Byzantium.

When Yeats visited Ravenna with Lady Gregory in 1907, he was taken aback by the beauty of the Byzantine mosaics. Later in Sicily, the Irish poet visited the mosaics in Monreale and Palermo in 1924, and in 1928 he published his poem ‘Sailing to Byzantium’:

That is no country for old men. The young
In one another’s arms, birds in the trees
– Those dying generations – at their song,
The salmon-falls, the mackerel-crowded seas,
Fish, flesh, or fowl, commend all summer long
Whatever is begotten, born, and dies.
Caught in that sensual music all neglect
Monuments of unageing intellect …

And therefore I have sailed the seas and come
To the holy city of Byzantium.

O sages standing in God’s holy fire
As in the gold mosaic of a wall,
Come from the holy fire, perne in a gyre,
And be the singing-masters of my soul.
Consume my heart away; sick with desire
And fastened to a dying animal
It knows not what it is; and gather me
Into the artifice of eternity.

Christ as the Good Shepherd … a mosaic in the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2017)

The American literary critic Professor Helen Vendler of Harvard suggests the ‘gold mosaic of a wall’ and later references in the poem to ‘Grecian goldsmiths’ who ‘make of hammered gold and gold enamelling to keep a drowsy Emperor awake’ were inspired by his memories of his visit to Ravenna over two decades earlier.

The Church of Saint John the Evangelist, built by Galla Placidia, was restored after World War II (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2017)

Apart from short occupation by Venice (1527-1529), Ravenna was part of the Papal States until 1796, when it was annexed by France. It returned to the Papal States in 1814. Ravenna had become part of the modern state of Italy in 1861. Surprisingly, the city suffered very little damage during World War II, and today has a population of almost 160,000.

The Piazza del Popolo, the main square in Ravenna, dates from the 13th century (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2017)

This essay was first published in February 2018 in the ‘Church Review’ (Dublin and Glendalough) and the ‘Diocesan Magazine’ (Cashel, Ferns and Ossory).

The ‘Palace of Theoderic’ is the entrance to the former church of San Salvatore (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2017)

A taste of Italy is the reward for being patient and a patient

The bandstand on the seafront in Bray, Co Wicklow, in the fading light of dusk this afternoon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2017)

Patrick Comerford

It is some months since I have written about or commented on the theme of ‘Living with Sarcoidosis.’ Like many people living with this condition, I have learned to adapt to understand what is happening to me when the symptoms flare up.

In recent months, however, I noticed an occasional dizzy spell, when it took a few seconds (and no longer) to regain my balance.

I am not too perturbed or bothered about very minor incidents like these – although it is at times like these that I am pleased that I never learned to drive. I wondered, without foundation whether these had anything to do with my Sarcoidosis or my Vitamin B12 deficiency.

Thankfully, I have a GP who pays careful attention to every little detail. And so I have spent these two days in Dublin, visiting Tallaght Hospital each morning, and having a heart monitor attached to my chest for 24 hours.

Watching other postings on social media by people with pulmonary Sarcoidosis, I notice how many of them need regular heart check-ups and monitoring. My experience over a 24-hour period was a very painless, unobtrusive procedure, with cheerful, attentive professional staff in the hospital.

For anyone, hospital visits like this are times of anxiety and stress. Travelling to Dublin late on Monday in order to make an early Tuesday morning appointment involved a 5½-hour journey from Askeaton on public transport.

But the stress was compounded on Tuesday morning by three frustrating efforts to book a taxi – the first two simply failed on the app on my phone, without any explanation; on the third occasion, the taxi driver decided to cancel his acceptance of the booking when his own app failed, although the message would only reach my phone late in the afternoon.

A fourth call eventually resulted in the taxi driver who had cancelled his booking turning up. By then, after half an hour delay, we were straight into the morning rush-hour traffic that builds up at this time of the year.

It all goes to test the real meaning of being patient and being a patient at one and the same time.

But, to be honest, the only unpleasant parts of this experience are seeing other people’s distress, eased only by the care and attention they receive from hospital staff and the love and tender affection that is obvious in the family members who stay patiently with them.

A real taste of Italy in Carpe Diem in Bray, Co Wicklow, this afternoon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2017)

Later this afternoon, after returning to Tallaght Hospital to have the heart monitor removed, two of us went to Bray for a walk on the seafront and a late lunch in Carpe Diem on Albert Walk.

After last month’s visit to Bologna, with visits to Ravenna, Rimini and San Marino, the sight of real Italian food was welcome once again, but was also a comforting way to bring these two days to a close with little less than a celebratory hint.

One of us had handmade Tagliatelle tossed with sundried tomatoes and Taggiasche olives in a smooth garden peas sauce, topped with creamy stracciatella; while the other dish was oven-baked Foglie d’Ulivo pasta with cod and potato bites in a velvety béchamel sauce. These were accompanied by breads, a glass of Refosco and an iced coffee, and followed by double espressos.

A reminder of Italy at Campo De’ Fiori on Albert Avenue (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2017)

This corner of Bray is like a little corner of Italy. On the other side of Albert Walk, on the corner with the seafront, Campo De’ Fiori on Albert Avenue, is another taste of Italy – both inside and outside.

Pizzas ’n’ Cream on Albert Walk claims to be ‘the oldest pizzeria in Ireland’ – it was established in 1986. Nearby, also on Albert Walk, is the Caffé Letterario Gatta Nera – the Black Cat Literary Café, which offers authentic tastes of Sicily.

Forno Ragazzi opened on Albert Walk last April (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2017)

A new addition to these Italian delights in this area of Bray is Forno Ragazzi, which opened on Albert Walk last April.

At the counter, I bought from their selection of breads, which include wheat flour and wholegrain baguettes, loaves and wheat flour small rolls or cazzotti. Their focaccia is made following a traditional recipe of wheat flour, olive oil and sea salt, and their sliced pizza include Margherita and potatoes and rosemary, all freshly baked in-house.

After a walk through the Victorian and Edwardian streets of Bray, and browsing in some bookshops, as well as photocopying the order of service for the Service of Nine Lessons and Carols in Saint Mary’s Church, Askeaton, next Sunday afternoon, there was another walk along the seafront in the late afternoon disk before heading back to Knocklyon.

A freshly-painted shelter on the seafront in Bray, Co Wicklow, in the fading light of dusk this afternoon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2017)

The Seven Churches that make up Bologna’s own Little Jerusalem

The ‘Sette Chiese’ or Seven Churches is an ecclesiastical complex that is known as Bologna’s Holy Jerusalem (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2017)

Patrick Comerford

There is a little Zion in a quiet piazza in the heart of Bologna. For more than 1,000 years, the Basilica of San Stefano (Basilica di Santo Stefano) has been known as the Sancta Jerusalem Boloniensis, or Bologna’s Holy Jerusalem.

San Stefano is not just one church or basilica, but a complex of church buildings known locally as Sette Chiese (‘Seven Churches’) and also as Santa Gerusalemme (‘Holy Jerusalem’).

Santo Stefano faces onto Piazza Santo Stefano, a long isosceles triangle rather than a square, and one of the most beautiful of Bologna’s many piazze. San Stefano and its precincts stand at the far end of this piazza, at the shortest edge of the triangle.

The architectural ensemble of San Stefano is sometimes called le Sette Chiese or the Seven Churches. The number seven has a mystical significance, but in fact there are now four churches, fused together in this complex maze or ecclesiastical labyrinth.

The Church of the Crucifix with its elevated altar, crucifixes and crypt (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2017)

The entrance to Santo Stefano is through the largest and most prominent building, the Church of the Crucifix, an austere space dedicated to the Passion of Christ.

This is the Church of Saint Stephen or of the Holy Crucifix, built in the eighth century and reshaped in the 17th century, with a crypt.

The altar stands on a mezzanine at the top of a double flight of stairs. Suspended above is a Byzantine-style crucifix, with a grey and skeletal Christ close to death. He is watched by his mother, the Virgin Mary, and Saint John the Evangelist. This is the work of the artist who became known as Simone de’ Crocifissi, or Simon of the Crucifixions.

A similar crucifix, but Baroque in style, hangs at a distance behind the first crucifix, in the apse of the church. These two works are separated by about 10 metres and 200 years. The Abbot Martino was buried in the crypt below in 1019.

The Holy Sepulchre is a tall, cylindrical building (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2017)

A low door on the left leads into the second church in the complex, the Holy Sepulchre. This tall, cylindrical building stands on the site of a Roman temple of Isis, the first sacred building on the site. According to tradition, Saint Petronio built the basilica over the temple of the goddess Isis, replacing it with a building that recalled the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, although the building seen today is more likely to have been modelled on the later Crusader Church than the earlier Constantinian church.

One of the Roman columns still stands, a slim marble rod jammed up against a stouter brick-built neighbour.

In the middle stands a 1,000-year-old mausoleum – a building within a building. It was planned as a replica of the tomb of Christ in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, but has been altered and amended down the centuries. This was the burial-place of Saint Petronio, the fifth century Bishop of Bologna and patron of the city. At the bottom of the structure, like a grate in a fireplace, is a barred window, through which the grave of Saint Petronio could be seen. His body was moved in 2000 to the Basilica of Saint Petronio in Bologna’s Piazza Maggiore, where his head was already enshrined.

The decorative work includes winged griffins, stylised lions, and three dozing soldiers who slept through the Resurrection.

The Basilica of Saint Vitale and Saint Agricola was built in the fourth century and rebuilt in the 12th century (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2017)

The Sepulchre leads to the next building, the Basilica of Saint Vitale and Saint Agricola, built in the fourth century, and rebuilt in the 12th century.

These two Romans, master and servant, were the first citizens of Bologna to become Christian martyrs when they were killed in the year 305 during the persecutions of the Emperor Diocletian. Their bodies were unearthed in 392 and reburied by Saint Ambrose of Milan. The church is bare but has some warm decorative touches, such as the low-relief peacocks and deer on the stone sarcophagus the saints.

The Courtyard of Pilate and the ‘Catino di Pilato’ (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2017)

Outside the Holy Sepulchre, the Courtyard of Pilate (Santo Giardino, the Holy Garden), dates from the 13th century and recalls the Roman paving in Jerusalem where Christ was condemned at his Passion.

In the centre, a marble basin known as the Catino di Pilato is a Lombard work from 737-744, recalling how Pilate washed his hands of any responsibility of what happened to Christ. The marble basin was the gift of the Lombard kings, Liutprando and Ilprando, who regarded Saint Stefano as their main religious centre.

Under the portico at the centre of a window on a column, a 14th-century sculpted rooster, known as the Rooster of Saint Peter, recalls the biblical story of Saint Peter’s denial.

The Benedictine cloisters date from 10th-13th century (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2017)

The Benedictine cloisters, dating from 10th-13th century, are particularly appealing for the double open gallery, one of the most splendid works of architecture in the Romanesque style in this region of Italy.

The capitals of some of the columns take the form of unhappy, naked little men, hunched or crouching or, in one case, clinging to the top of the column like a monkey on a palm trunk. These naked homunculi are the work of the Lombards, who are also responsible for the magnificent brickwork patterns, like a patchwork quilt in shades of terracotta, that make up the walls of Pilate’s Courtyard.

The Visit of the Magi in the Church of the Holy Cross or ‘Martyrium’ (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2017)

The fourth church, the Church of the Holy Cross or the Martyrium, is also known as the Church of the Trinity and dates from the 13th century. Its width is greater than its length, and it features a series of niches along the back wall. One niche contains a colourful and joyful group of wooden figures representing the three kings presenting their gifts to the Christ Child. These too are the work of Simone de’ Crocifissi.

A horizontal wooden statue depicts the dead Christ, his feet foremost, his pierced hands crossed over his abdomen, his head lost in shadow.

In addition, this complex includes the Chapel of the Bandage (Cappella della Benda), dedicated to the strip of cloth worn around the head by the Virgin Mary as a sign of mourning, and a museum.

This Jerusalem of Bologna has evolved over the centuries to present a symbolic pilgrimage.

The Piazza Santo Stefano in front of the ‘Sette Chiese’ or Seven Churches in Bologna (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2017; click on image for full-screen view)

Seeing a Roman arch instead of walking on the beach in Rimini

The Arch of Augustus, dating from 268 BC, is the most important Roman site in Rimini (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2017)

Patrick Comerford

Because Bologna is so far inland, I thought I might get a walk on the beach in Rimini last week, either on my way to San Marino, or the way back.

Rimini, a city of about 225,000 146,000 people on the Adriatic coast, is one of the best-known seaside resorts in Europe. The sandy beach stretches for 15 km and there are more than 1,000 hotels, and thousands of bars, restaurants and discos.

The story of Rimini as a resort dates back to the 1840s, but this also a city with important Roman and Renaissance monuments, and the hometown of the Italian movie director Federico Fellini.

This part of the Italian peninsula was a part of Etruscan civilisation until the arrival of the Celts, who held it from the 6th century BC until their defeat by the Umbri in 283 BC. But the city of Rimini dates from 268 BC when the Romans founded Ariminum. After Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon, he made his legendary appeal to the legions in the Forum of Rimini.

The Arch of Augustus, built in 27 BC, is the most important Roman site in the city. The arch was dedicated to the Emperor Augustus by the Roman Senate in 27 BC and is the oldest surviving Roman arch.

The arch marked the end of the via Flaminia, which connected the cities of Romagna to Rome, and spans the modern Corso d’Augusto – the ancient decumanus maximus, which led to the beginning of another road, the via Emilia, which ran north-west to Piacenza.

The Arch of Augustus has a single gateway that is 9.92 metres high and 8.45 metres wide, and its style is simple but solemn.

The large central arch is flanked by two engaged columns with fluted shafts and Corinthian capitals. The four clipei or shields next to the capitals each depict Roman divinities, with Jupiter and Apollo on the Roman side and Neptune and Roma facing the city of Rimini.

The gate acted as a city gate, but also supported a lavish bronze statue of Augustus, depicted driving a quadriga.

The arch is also noteworthy because it is especially large for a gate of the time. This may be explanation because the peaceful policy of Augustus, the so-called Pax Romana, made a civic gate that could be closed seem unnecessary as there was no danger of attack.

The battlements on the upper part of the arch date from the tenth century, when Rimini was held by the Ghibellines. The arch was restored in the 18th century by Tommaso Temanza, and it remained one of the city gates until the Fascist period, when the city wall was demolished and the arch was left as an isolated monument.

When the Ostrogoths conquered Rimini in 493, Odoacer, who was under siege in Ravenna, was forced to capitulate. During the Gothic War (535–554), Rimini was taken and retaken many times. Later, under the Byzantine rule, Rimini belonged to the Pentapolis and was part of the Exarchate of Ravenna. During the later wars of the Popes and the Italian cities against the emperors, Rimini sided with the emperors.

Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta was the most famous mediaeval ruler of Rimini. In 1463.

Rimini fell to the Borgias, and then to Venice (1503-1509), but it was later taken by Pope Julius II, and the rule of the Malatesta family finally came to an end in 1528.

As a secondary town in the Papal States, Rimini was ruled by an Apostolic Legate.

Napoleon’s invading army passed through Rimini in 1797, Rimini became part of the Cisalpine Republic, and the ancient cathedral of Santa Colomba and many other mediaeval churches and monasteries were demolished.

Rimini was incorporated into the modern Italian state in 1860. By then, the city was being transformed. The first bathing establishment was founded in 1843 Rimini was on the path to becoming a tourist resort. The seafront developed rapidly, and the Grand Hotel was built near the beach at the beginning of the 20th century.

Rimini suffered during the two World Wars, but after its liberation in 1944 rebuilding began, and Rimini became one of the most popular tourist centres in Europe. In the 1960s, Federico Fellini, who was born and raised in Rimini, set many of his moves in his home town.

I never managed to get to walk along the sandy shores of Rimini last week, but I did get to see the Arch of Augustus. Today it is one of the symbols of Rimini today, along with the Bridge of Augustus and Tiberius, and it appears on the coat of arms of the city.

The Basilica of San Domenico holds the saint’s shrine and 800 years of Dominican history

The Basilica of San Domenico, seen from the cloisters, is one of the major churches in Bologna (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2017)

Patrick Comerford

Bologna has a rich collection of churches and basilicas, and one of the major churches in the city is the Basilica of San Domenico, which dates back to the arrival of Saint Dominic 800 years ago in the year 1218.

The basilica is visited regularly by pilgrims and tourists who come to visit this church because Saint Dominic is buried inside the church in the exquisite shrine of the Arca di San Domenico. As I walked around the church last week, there was a constant stream of schoolchildren being brought around by teachers and Dominican friars, and a stream of pilgrims constantly flowed in to see the shrine of Saint Dominic.

The shrine is the work of Nicola Pisano and his workshop and of Arnolfo di Cambio, and there are later additions by Niccolò dell’Arca and the young Michelangelo.

When Saint Dominic, Dominic Guzman, first arrived in Bologna in January 1218, he was impressed by the vitality of the city and recognised the importance of the university city.

The first house for Dominicans was established at the Mascarella church by Reginald of Orleans. But this house soon became too small for the growing number of friars, and in 1219 the brothers of Dominic’s Order of Preachers moved to the small church of San Nicolò of the Vineyards at the outskirts of Bologna.

Saint Dominic also moved to this church and the first two General Chapters of the Order of Preachers or Dominicans were held here in 1220 and 1221. Saint Dominic died in that church on 6 August 1221, and was buried behind the altar of San Nicolò.

Between 1219 and 1243, the Dominicans bought all the plots of land surrounding the church. After the death of Saint Dominic, the church of San Nicolò was expanded and a new monastic complex was built between 1228 and 1240.

The church was then extended and grew into the Basilica of Saint Dominic, which would become the prototype of many other Dominican churches throughout the world.

The basilica was divided in two parts divided by a ramp: the front part, or ‘internal church,’ was the church of the brothers, and the church for the faithful, or the ‘external church.’ The church was consecrated by Pope Innocent IV in 1251.

The shrine of Saint Dominic in Saint Dominic’s chapel (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2017)

The remains of Saint Dominic were moved in 1233 from a place behind the altar to a simple marble sarcophagus. But most of the pilgrims could not see the new shrine, which was hidden by many people standing in front of it.

The need for a new shrine was identified, and in 1267 the remains of Saint Dominic were moved from the simple sarcophagus into a new shrine, decorated with episodes from the life of the saint by Nicola Pisano.

Saint Dominic’s chapel is the main chapel of the church. It has a square plan and a semi-circular apse, where the remains of the saint rest in the splendid Arca di San Domenico under the cupola which contains three sculptures by Michelangelo: Angel, Saint Proclus and Saint Petronius.

The chapel was built by the Bolognese architect Floriano Ambrosini, replacing the old gothic chapel from 1413, to match the splendour of the other existing chapels. It was decorated between 1614 and 1616 by important painters of the Bolognese school.

The relics of Saint Dominic in the richly-decorated shrine (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2017)

In the course of the next centuries, the church was enlarged, modified and rebuilt. New side chapels were built, a bell tower was added, the dividing wall between the two churches was demolished, and the choir was moved behind the altar. Then, in 1728-1732, the interior of the church was completely rebuilt in the Baroque style by the architect Carlo Francesco Dotti (1678–1759) under the patronage of Pope Benedict XIII, who was a Dominican.

The square in front of the church, now paved with pebbles, was also the original cemetery. In the middle of the square, a bronze statue of Saint Dominic (1627) stands on the top of a brickwork column.

Close-by are two unique Byzantine-Venetian-style tombs of the celebrated jurists of Rolandino de’ Passeggeri and Egidio Foscarari.

Inside the Basilica of Saint Dominic (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2017)