On politics, sovereigns and the temple

I was surprised to find the Pantheon open at night, while walking through the historical area of Rome last week. We went under the great dome and circled the floor in awe, once more our gazes on the many frescoes, tombs, paintings and carvings of the ancient temple.

Pantheon is a two-millennia-old temple originally built by Agrippa in 27 B.C. As the name suggests, it is a “temple of all gods”, and was intended to be the greatest temple in Rome at the time. It is the largest remaining structure standing to tell the story of pagan worship. (Of course, the Papacy was clever enough to establish a small chapel which is part of its decoration today, along with commissioning portrayals of the annunciation, crucifixion etc. Featured left is “the Annunciation” by Melozzo da Forli.)

The Pantheon is also the tomb of two great “Kings of Italy”: Vittorio Emanuele II and Umberto I. For this reason, Pantheon is the temple of the few remaining monarchists and noblemen of the country. It is one of the last places where the House of Savoy coat-of-arms is bannered publicly and for many, it is where monarchy is buried. (Unlike Turkey where nobody knows where the last sovereign was buried.)

(For those of you interested “Vahideddin” Mehmet VI  died in San Remo, Italy (nice place), and was interred in Damascus, Syria)

Once out of the temple, however, we were surprised to find Walter Veltroni, head of Italy’s main opposition -the Democratic Party, crying a merry speech to a small crowd of Italians. He was standing in front of a giant picture of Barack Obama titled “Il mondo cambia” –the world is changing.

That day marked the accession of Barack Hussein Obama to the most powerful seat in the world, and it seemed that Veltroni was delighted to hear the news. His speech was parallel in many ways to the tagline flashing behind him, and he seemed like the world had suddenly given him too many things to say in a speech, including the financial bust.

As I also noted in my previous posts, politics is everywhere in Italy: on billboards, street corners, buses, fire cabinets, phone booths. I have had many encounters with such posters that put a smile on my face, such as the one with three men of the Esercito (Army) flashing RayBans; “Grazie ragazzi!” –Thank you boys!” written below. Signed by none other than Silvio Berlusconi.

When Alitalia was “bailed-out”, his partisans chose to thank Berlusconi publicly, covering Rome with posters: “Thank You Berlusconi!”

The next day I was sent into laughing fits seeing what the Italian youth had to say for Veltroni. (see below) I told you, they’re too creative…

Now, I will continue listening to the Mamma Mia! soundtrack (my latest addiction) while reading my magazine (featuring Obama on the cover, like half of the magazines available to the Italian reader today). Meanwhile, Robert Oxton Bolton will give you something to think about, about churches, temples and however educated you are, your political views:

"A belief is not merely an idea the mind possesses. It is an idea that possesses the mind."