Our journey to the Church of St. Peter in Chains started with our one and only morning off. Jordan, Emily and I headed for Vero: Food to Move and finally got a healthy breakfast. Emily convinced me to try pineapple in my yoghurt and it was delicious. Something amazing happened after that: the cashier mistook me for an Italian. So exciting. The slight tan I’ve gotten since being here and Italian 101 are clearly paying off. After breakfast we decided that one stop on the metro would take us to Cavour, which is just around the corner from the church.
The ride on the metro was cool and pleasant because we weren’t traveling in such a large group being herded like cattle. We hopped of at Cavour and we were on our way. We headed toward what we thought must be the church. There was a beautiful metal cross on top of the steeple and it was up quite a few stairs. When we got to the front of the church it said “Chiesa de San Francesco.” Not what we were looking for. We headed up the second flight of stairs and saw a building off to the right with a bunch of tourists but no indication of what it was. So, we headed back down the steps for another look at the map.
There was a gigantic domed church across the street so we thought “THIS HAS TO BE IT,” and b-lined it for the dome. We looked inside and noticed a gigantic sign that read “Chiesa de Madonna dei Monti.” Wrong again. This church was beautiful but not on our list. Finally I figured out how to ask where San Pietro in Vincoli was and it turns out it was the unmarked building…all the way up the stairs….again.
Inside the church was calm and serene. It wasn’t very crowded in the front part but there was a large mass of people toward the back. I walked over to the center part of the altar and looked down the stairs. There in a golden box were the supposed chains that imprisoned St. Peter. But what interested me the most in this church was just over to my right. It was Michelangelo’s Moses.
This statue is the central work of the tomb of Pope Julius II. It was carved in white marble and completed in 1545. Moses is holding the Ten Commandments and is draped in a robe. His beard is long and curly and reaches his waistline. The most recognizable features however are the horns on top of his head. They aren’t pointy or devilish. Just animalistic. Dan later explained to me that the translation of the bible that Michelangelo used as a description of Moses had a miss translation from the original Hebrew to Latin. Instead of the description being translated as “rays of sunlight” it was translated as “horns.”
This was extremely interesting to me personally because I am Jewish. The surprisingly common myth that ‘Jews have horns’ has always interested me and I have a feeling that this statue may have had something to do with it.
Our walk from San Pietro in Vincoli to San Giovanni in Laterano was sunny and beautiful. We sat outside by the obelisk (originally located in the Circus Maximus) waiting for the group for ten minutes before realizing we were at the back of the church. But, have no fear, we found Dan and everyone inside respectfully admiring the marble and gold that was inside. Jordan and I met a wonderfully good-hearted nun in the gift shop. She followed us out and at first we thought we had done something wrong, but she just said “Attenzione!” because she saw a man following us and got nervous! Just goes to show, not all Europeans hate American tourists!
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