We took a day to visit the ancient hill town of Alatri which lies about 55 miles south east of Rome. Well worth a visit if you are in the Italian region of Lazio.

The main focus of the trip was to see the early medieval fresco of ‘Christ in the Labyrinth’ which was discovered in the late 90’s behind a false wall during repairs to the cloister of the 13th century Church of St Francis. It is a significant fresco as it is the only known labyrinth fresco with the image of Christ in the centre (the image you see is a rather tatty poster as it is not possible to show the fresco in the public domain).

A bonus for us was to discover massive polygonal megalithic walls which originally surrounded the built up area of the town in the 7th century BCE when it was the home of the Hernici tribe. In the Palazzo Conti-Gentili we also found a fascinating sundial by Angelo Secchi which marked the time by months. As it was the day of the spring equinox we got an exact reading for March 21st.

Many thanks for the kindness and hospitality of those who helped us get access to the labyrinth and showed us the ancient walls.  www.alatricultura.wordpress.com

We found palms in a bundle in the street on the way to the Palm Sunday Eucharistic celebration in St Peter’s Basilica.

It was a surprisingly simple service with times of deep silence, beautiful music and a palpable sense of joy amongst many of those crowded into St Peter’s Square.

Pope Francis spoke gently of the humble love which gives life. We left to walk the lanes of Trastevere with warmed hearts.

We visited the Catacombe di Santa Domitilla, one of the largest of several catacombs in the southern part of Rome. It was particularly moving for us to witness the tombs of Christians who died in the early centuries of the Common Era and to see frescoes of Christ, the apostles and St Petronilla, as well as symbols of the Christian faith inscribed in marble and now set into the walls of the tombs.

Back in the sunshine we enjoyed a walk along the Via Appia Antica (Old Appian Way) which was once the most famous of all the roads that radiated from Rome to the ends of the Roman Empire.

It was lovely to catch the sound of a busy woodpecker amidst the cacophony of birdsong and to sense the threshold of spring as we followed this ancient way.

A wonderful day in the medieval town of Tarquinia. We wandered the winding, ancient streets then visited the Etruscan necropolis of Monterozz outside the town walls.

The necropolis has about 6,000 graves, the oldest of which dates to the 7th century BCE. About 200 of the gravestones are decorated with frescos and offer a fascinating insight into Etruscan life and death.

A visit to the National Museum of Tarquinia helped us appreciate the beauty of Etruscan art and sculpture, much of which was discovered as grave goods in the tombs.