No Coins in the Fountain

All Saints', Rome

It promised to be another scorching day, but we set out on Sunday morning on foot. To continue the theme of worshipping in different settings during my sabbatical we were heading for All Saints, the home of the Anglican Church in Rome. The route took us up and down some quite steep hills, and near the end down a long flight of steps, but we found it alright and enjoyed taking part in the 10.30 a.m. Sung Eucharist. A visiting priest was presiding in the absence of the Chaplain, Jonathan Boardman, who is also Archdeacon of Italy and Malta (rather different from Bolton), and the preacher was Dana English, who is shortly to be ordained deacon. The worship was enriched by an excellent visiting choir from St Chad's College, Durham. 


It was a formal, but welcoming and accessible service with a thoughtful sermon. Afterwards there was opportunity to enjoy a cold drink in the garden and to meet members of the congregation. One of the choir members turned out to be from Tottington, near Bury, and plays the organ at Rivington Church in Bolton Archdeaconry. He was a good salesman, too, and persuaded us to buy a CD of the choir's music.


We also met Canon David Richardson and his wife Margie. David is the Archbishop of Canterbury's Representative to the Holy See and Director of the Anglican Centre. We had an interesting conversation, during which I learnt that David will be retiring next Easter. Margie was responsible for the Anglican Centre's notes on visiting Rome that were proving so useful.


We have always enjoyed visiting Anglican churches and chaplaincies overseas when on holiday, and at other times, and always encouraged members of our congregations to do so. The local custom in Rome is to invite visitors to stand up near the end of the service and briefly introduce themselves, which we duly did. It was, as you might expect a cosmopolitan congregation. We were satruck by how many Americans had chosen to worship at All Saints', despite the presence of an American Episcopal congregation elsewhere in the city.

Spanish Steps

After a light lunch we planned to visit the Spanish Steps and the Trevi Fountain, two of the most celebrated tourist attractions in the city. We walked back to the Piazza di Spagna and realised the schoolboy error we had made earlier that morning. We had only walked down the Spanish Steps (see the first paragraph above) without realising it! Although feeling slightly ashamed of ourselves for failing to appreciate one of the city's most recognisable sights, we did enjoy the lively Sunday afternoon atmosphere in the square.


I loved the fountains in Rome. There are so many, each one of them catching the eye in a different way and offering refreshment in the heat of the city. They even conjured up for me the Biblical image of the 'river of the water of life' flowing through this earthly eternal city.

Trevi Fountain

Most famous of all, of course, is the Trevi Fountain. On a Sunday afternoon the tourists thronged around it, but we still loved it. It is full of life, both the sculptures and the flowing water, and the crowds just add to that. We lingered for ages before making our way back to our hotel for a late afternoon rest, but the Trevi Fountain acted like a magnet and we went back to the same part of the city to see it again in the evening and seek a meal nearby. 


But all the recommended restaurants seemed to be closed on Sundays or had disappeared altogether. We chose a 'spaghetteria' that looked busy (which we usually take to be a good sign) but it was a disaster, with unspeakably bad service. You win some, you lose some, but even though we didn't join in the superstition of throwing coins into the fountain to guarantee a return, we hope we will be back one day to rectify our mistake.


Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city.

Revelation 22:1-2