Via Francigena: Final leg to Rome! St Peter's Basilica on Good Friday

Описание: “And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church.” -Jesus
(Matthew 16:18)

Easter is nigh. Today is Good Friday. We chose this day to reach our holy goal, and here it is. We pray as we walk. We unite ourselves with our Savior. Jesus said, “It is finished” twenty centuries ago today as he hung from the Cross. And so we are thankful, we are subdued. At the same time we are joyful. We are near the end…

Monte Mario is the Way today. This is the highest hill of the modern Eternal City at 456 feet. Interestingly, it is not one of the “seven hills of Rome”, as it was outside the city borders in ancient days. At the mountain top is the Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma. We are walking through the large, lush and shady nature reserve. (Tree varieties include: holm oak, cork oak, rock rose, linden, maple, ash, hazel, and dogwood.) The park is popular with early morning dog walkers (and stealth campers!) despite a warning about wild boar roaming about. (This stems from trash overflow “problems” in Rome, of which we saw plenty of evidence, but that is another story.) Thankfully, we did not encounter any boar.

We did encounter our first sighting of St. Peter’s, however! What a thrill to walk past some foliage on the south side and look out over Roma to that unmistakable majestic dome! This is why pilgrims have long-called Monte Mario “Mons Gaudii” or Mountain of Joy. Yes! We stop to drink it in. Our journey’s end is in view!

A wide path of large mossy cobblestones takes us down the shadowy mountainside. Zig-zag, zig-zag. Careful! Don’t want to slip now on this last steep section!

Out of the quiet canopied sanctuary and on to the street we go and make our way to the aptly named “Viale Angelico” (Angel Avenue). Just a little over a mile left. No dome in sight now, but we are steady on course.

Arriving at the “Porta Angelica”, we thread our way through throngs of people and suddenly burst into the famous Square. The Basilica is before us, surreal…glorious…sublime. Upon this rock of St. Peter the Church was built. We are here! We are finally here!!! And Easter is nigh…

Deo gratias!

#viafrancigena #pilgrimage #rome #vatican #camino