The Swiss Guard

An Audience With the Pope from 448 Feet

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June 2nd 2018
It's Italian National Day, celebrating the anniversary of the referendum to abolish the monarchy on 2 June 1946. It started with some midnight fireworks, although we were laying in bed by that point having been up at 4.30am to catch our flight. We turned on the TV after breakfast and there was the Colosseum, covered in a huge Italian flag, and a parade moving slowly along where we had been walk ... read more

Europe » Vatican City

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Popes in their secular role ruled portions of the Italian peninsula for more than a thousand years until the mid 19th century, when many of the Papal States were seized by the newly united Kingdom of Italy. In 1870, the pope's holdings were further c... ... read more