Girls' (Choir) Night Out

I have been fortunate enough while here in Rome to have some truly extraordinary experiences, including the chance to enjoy the charming hospitality of our Australian Ambassador (or, as the term apparently more correctly is, "Head of Mission") to the Holy See http://tinyurl.com/y7ou3v ), Ms Anne Plunkett.

I liked her (from a distance, because all I did was say 'hello' while she spoke to someone else!). She was very animated and interesting to listen to, obviously having some knowledge of and enthusiasm for the Choir.

And she calls herself Ms, even though her bio clearly states she is married with kids. Good for her - I admire that she sticks to her ideas in these conservative times, and it's a good lesson to everyone that you can be who you are, even if you are the Ambassador to the Holy See (and Ireland).

But seriously - what a gig! The Holy See AND Ireland. I bet she stopped some war single handed or something to get that sort of posting, talk about nice!

Of course, it’s not like Ms Plunkett heard I was coming and rolled out the red carpet! It happened like this ~

Fr Jefferies Foale CP, AM received an invitation from the Embassy to attend a performance by the Australian Girls’ Choir at the Church of San Lorenzo in Damaso ( http://tinyurl.com/wf7ll ). With a little something light to nibble beforehand :-)

Knowing I was here on my own and completely new to Rome ("primo volta"), Fr Jeff kindly invited me to join him for the evening. Together with Fr Bob (“please, NOT Robert”) Coward, we set out for the Church, which is located near the famous Campo di Fiori ( http://tinyurl.com/y8nmqg ).

Just to prove I COULD, I decided to leave my camera at home for once. Yep, that’s how dumb I can be … take photos of rocks and trees, but leave the camera at home for something like this!

We caught the bus to the Campo di Fiori, my first taste of Roman buses. It was so exciting! These buses go fast, and one does not sit down, they are designed for standing with a very few seats only ( http://tinyurl.com/ygh5fa ). Romans are very territorial of space on public transport, it is not unusual to get pushed and shoved, so they get a reputation for rudeness. But if any disabled or elderly person gets on the bus, people soon let anyone sitting know about it! If you are able bodied you better stand up quick and give the seat to someone who needs it.

Personally, I think that is actually more practical than all the pleasantness in the world, while lifting the paper higher so one can’t see the old person!

From the Campo di Fiori, we walked through a series of small Viales (laneways) to the Piazza where the Church of San Lorenzo in Damasao stands. Typically Roman, from outside at night it looks a little like a boarded up warehouse, but once through the gates! WOW!

Walking into a small courtyard, we were treated to some delicious (really really delicious) ordeuvres (I can never spell that, no correspondence will be entered into), even vegetarians were catered for :-) with the most delicious little mushroom mini-flans with the best, most crumbly and buttery pastry ... mmmmmmmmm.

Unfortunately, I was the guest of a decent, respectable person, or my bag would have been overflowing! I mean, they are not going to eat all those little flans … you can see the staff licking their lips already waiting to take the left overs home!!!

Nevertheless, we were politely but firmly ushered into a second, huge courtyard, a little like a square cloister, with the verandahs on all four sides, held up by huge round marble columns.

Up the wide sweeping marble staircase we walk, straight into an illustrated church!

The walls, ceiling and doorways of this beautiful old church are covered in scenes from the past, along with some beautiful traditional patterns and scared images. It is at once amazing and also charming. Despite the ostentatious style, the pictures add a homely feel to the room, which seems warmer because they are there, like a silent crowd of extras watching the action in the live world. The room itself is very formal in style, in a grand and ancient way, lashings of red velvet, polished wood and gilt everywhere … I was glad I’d made the effort to dress ‘up’ a little!

The story behind the church is also interesting – apparently a rich Cardinal in days gone by had a big gambling win, and rather than spend his money on a new Mazerati or the neo-classical equivalent, he decided to build a church on which he could put a plaque with his name. Much more enduring and, actually, more Roman, too - the city is littered with marvellous art and architecture that is the result of SOMEONE having some luck for a while! And of course, all marked with discreet, yet obviously expensive, plaques.

The Australian Girls Choir ( http://tinyurl.com/wjxfu ) were great! They performed at the front of the long room (if you check out the link to the Church, you can imagine the sweeping marble floor under a forest of gilt chairs covered in red velvet, hideously uncomfortable but very, very classy), and after a brief introduction they appeared and gave a terrific concert. All aged between about 12 or 13 and 18 or so, the girls are fine young Aussie women, from every cultural background and part of Australia. Different choir members took turns to introduce the songs they sung, giving a little background about themselves, the choir and the songs in the process. The girls spoke well, their clear young voices penetrating into the hushed corners of the old room. I've uploaded some publicity photos about the Choir, and recommend you check out their very nice website - it's interesting!

The colour of their costumes really is that very nice, rich purple, and the costumes are interesting, too. When the girls stand still, it looks just like a long dress. But when they move and jump about, you can see it is culottes. A smart way to get around all sorts of cultural sensitivities and also make dressing 'up' or 'down' depending on the occasion, easier.

They began the concert with Inanay, a song from Aboriginal Australia, and introduced it with a little information about the first Australians’ long guardianship of the land. The concert featured a range of songs, from Gershwin foot tappers and traditional religious plainsong, to melodies from Africa, and finished with Peter Allen’s bittersweet favourite, I Still Call Australia Home.

After the concert the girls continued their work as youth ambassadors by circulating among those present, speaking a little about their homes and Australia in general.

Walking out into the humid night, it seemed like a good chance to get an introduction to pizza, Roman style! This is served hot and cut off a long narrow slice, one large piece per person. Each long slice has several selections – cheese, tomato sauce, minced meat, zucchini, mushroom … all lined up next to each other like rows on a knitted jumper! The customer points to what they want, the slice is cut and served, and the transaction is finished … unless there’s something else you want?

Like other places in Europe, Romans often eat standing up, but they’re practical enough to know that many like to sit, so table and chairs can always be found.

The pizza finished, we joined the large numbers of people, particularly young people, enjoying the cooler evening air in the Campo di Fiori, a large open square which was a flower market in mediaeval times. There are still flowers sold in the Campo (and real genuine fake Gucci, Versace and Rolex, too!), but the main feature of the large and pleasant square is the statue of ‘Bruno’ ( http://tinyurl.com/y8wy2k ).

Bruno is the statue which attempts to balance the domination of the Roman landscape by religious art. Tried and executed because of his freethinking ways (including running a printing press, apparently), Bruno symbolizes the ‘anti religious’ heritage of the city of Rome, a heritage marked by a clear and obvious division of the kind we haven’t seen in Australia for a long time. Here, where Christianity of a very profound and essential kind is not just part of the landscape, but largely IS the landscape, one has to work hard to be irreligious.

Bruno was that hard worker, developing a theory of cosmology which posited an infinite universe full of stars which were really suns, and planets as the essential objects ( http://tinyurl.com/y55g9s ). OK, he was a wrong about some, maybe a lot, of that, but he was a philosopher, not an astronomer. He wasn't even an atheist, well not at first. At first he was a Dominican. Not exactly a 'god is dead' type ( http://tinyurl.com/vt77m ). Nevertheless, he suffered mightily. I'm not entirely sure what offence led him into the hands of the Inquisition (there's a Monty Python joke here somewhere), and then to the secular courts for a nasty end, but that was where poor old Bruno's labours eventually did ltake him.

A citizen of my own era, I cannot find a way to think that setting someone alight (or throwing rocks at them, or locking them blindfolded in a box with Def Leopard blaring into their ears without respite) because they disagree with my beliefs is a positive thing, so I have to sympathise with Bruno. And I think I'm right, because if Bruno hadn't been burned, there would be no statue and we wouldn't be having this conversation and I would never have heard of him, instead of which I've read quite a bit about him now and so in that way his memory and the memory of his philosophies (which I personally think are way out there but then I'm not a philosopher) is kept alive. This is the thing the burners and stoners and torturers don't understand, I reckon - blood fertilises ideas.

Bruno is a pretty grim looking chap, well who wouldn't be, but he looks like he has a lot of admirers ~ although I suspect that's because there are not many places to sit in the Campo and the young people congregate nightly on the steps at Bruno's feet as they didn't during his life.

Our night finished with a walk along the Via di Giubbonari and another mad bus ride home.

The Chapter was set to begin soon – just a couple of days, and Fr Jefferies advised me to make any excursions I could during the next few days, as after that, time would fly!

He was so very right …