This past week I went to Enoteca Trastevere to hear the Ambrit Women's Choir. It was a wonderful evening with friends and we enjoyed great wine and nibbles in the wine bar as the choir gathered around a piano and gave a wonderful performance of songs that included madrigals and jazz.
While walking along Borgo Santo Spirito I noticed an interesting alms box attached to the complex of Santo Spirito in Sassia. Today the Hospital of Santo Spirito continues a work of caring for the sick that began in 727 as a place for Saxon pilgrims (from where the word "Sassia" originates) to receive medical care while visiting the nearby tomb of St. Peter's. The original buildings were destroyed by fire and rebuilt in the 12th century and given a papal directive to help the sick, the poor and the "proietti" (abandoned and illegitimate babies).
On the left side of St. Peter's Basilica there is currently an exposition corresponding to the reopening of the Vatican Library (BAV: Bibliotheca Apostolica Vaticana) after a three year renovation project.
Through wall graphics, projections, facimile and actual artifacts from the Vatican Library, the visitor is presented with the history of the library and exposed to the scope of the collection, moving from room to room with an audio guide.
This is a page from a facimile of Dante's Divine Comedy originally made in the 15th century for Federico da Montefeltro, the Duke of Urbino.
The other night we had calamaretti with a zucca sauce. It was delicious! The pasta was cut like pieces of calamari and the sauce was made from pumpkin (zucca), ricotta salata and pumpkin seeds.
