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Hey everyone!

To celebrate my first day of internship, which went just fine, here it is a new chapter! It seems that the tour is going just fine, and that they are having fun! Hope you will like it, despite the heavy talk about Rome and such; if you do, why don't you leave a comment, a fave or a vote?

Thank you Gritou, for being so amazing *hug*

The midday sun was at its fullest, the arrows of Apollo raining on the poor furs who had the misfortune to be outside. The shades caused by buildings and trees managed to give refreshment only in a mild way, being cooler only in comparison to the sun-bathed places.

"_Perfect time for this stage of the tour."_Luca thought while descending the stairs, the three of them passing from the most recent, Romanic basilica to the ancient, interred paleochristian1one. The temperature didn't actually dropped of much, but it was undoubtedly lower than outside, quite the relief after walking so much.

"So, this is the original San Clemente2, right?" The puma asked, his whiskers moving as if to taste the cool and, most surprisingly, not mildew smelling air. The stairs hadn't lasted too much before they came to a halt, an ancient wall in front of them.

"You do know about this basilica." Staley exclaimed at his side, looking around to find what was so special about the dungeon they were in. The wolf stopped to face the two young furs, waiting to see the response of the cougar.

"Well, yes, I studied it in one of my courses." Edward replied matter-of-factly, maybe a bit annoyed that the husky wasn't believing him. True, he hadn't recognized the church from the façade, but his ears had flicked when the lupo had told them the name of the place; that was understandable, San Clemente was famous for what hold underground, not above it.

"Rightly so. It is one of the best examples of how many layers this cities has." The lupine intruded, stopping what could have turned into an argument. "The church above us is just the latest building, and, as you might have noted, it is still a bit lower than the modern day road level."

"I thought it had been built in a hollow of the ground." The black and white dog stated his opinion, a bit puzzled.

"Nope. You see, with the centuries new buildings were built over the old ones, using them as foundation, and giving the land another layer. Te old buildings that remained stayed at the previous ground level, so they look like they are in hollows, as you said." The wolf explained, getting back to walk, turning one corner to enter the old basilica.

The main space wasn't big at all, or grand, true to its humble origins, just before the start of the middle ages. A small altar stood at the far end, and the walls were lined with frescos, in the style that was in vogue back in the times.

"That's what happened to the old basilica, back in the XII century." Edward noted, his eyes fixed in the admiration of the walls. The frescos weren't the most exquisite around, but their Byzantine look was fascinating, in a way, along with their dark and golden colors.

"Hanno interrato la basilica3?" The Milanese dog asked, now being interested in the story.

"Yes, it was the quickest and less expansive way to have foundations. Examples of that are all over the city, like the Domus Aurea4, not far from here." Luca said, slowly padding along the walls, searching for a particular picture. "Ironically, that use helped preserve many frescoes that would have been lost otherwise."

"But it seems strange that they could do that to ancient buildings..." The husky murmured, puzzled by the attitude of Medieval and Ancient Romans toward their past.

"Back then, people were more pragmatic and hadn't a sense of the importance of those buildings." The big cat pointed out, averting his eyes from the halo-lined figures. "We do the same in America; else there wouldn't be skyscrapers in the heart of our cities."

"Whatever the reason, the furs who excavated the old basilica, back in the XIX century, discovered this interesting piece." Luca announced, throwing his paws in front of him as if unveiling some treasure. The fresco in front of them depicted a peculiar scene, two wolves in servile attires towing a column, while a Patrician stood demanding on one end, his arm raised in command while a saint watched.

"What's so special about this?" Stanley asked, and for once even the knowledgeable puma was in dismay, squirting his eyes to find out what made this piece special.

"See those inscriptions?" He extended one paw, pointing out without touching, attracting the attention on the ones before Patrician. "Can you make out what they say?"

"Fi...Fili de le pu...te... traite5..." The other canine read aloud, his ears jumping at what the words meant. Edward's did the same, he knew enough Italian to know the words, a surprised smile appearing on his muzzle.

"That's Italian!" The two of them exclaimed at the same time, chuckling when they realized they did that.

"Yes, the first example of the Vulgar Roman dialect." The restorer smiled, happy to have showed such a thing to the two young furs. "The inscriptions are like speech bubbles in a comic. That is peculiar, since not many could read at the time, when the frescos were used mostly like a graphic transposition of the Bible."

"That's so cool!" The husky smiled, though he might have only listened to the first part of the explanation. No big deal, they were having fun after all, no need to sour the mood over the lack of attention the younger canine displayed from time to time.

"I bet the discoverers were shocked at the use of the word "whore" in a holy place." The puma grinned, his smile full of mischief. That grin was really nice to look at; the feline had a snarky nature that amused the wolf to no end.

"I am sure they went to their parrocco6and confessed what their eyes have seen." The lupine joked, going along with Edward. "Though, maybe not, the Roman popolino7has always had a disposition to be disrespectful to religion."

"I thought it would be otherwise." The puma said, curious about the fun fact he had been fed with.

"You should know that Romans don't respect anything, even God." Stanley said, his serious tone mitigated right after by a quick show of his long, pink tongue.

"The Milanese is just partially wrong, one time I should tell you one of our Osterie8." The lupo teased, buttando l'esca9. As predicted, the foreign feline swallowed it, turning to him with a curious smile.

"What's an Osteria? I mean, obviously you aren't talking about a small local restaurant." The creamy-furred cat asked, showing that he knew the general meaning of the world. Luca was about to answer him when the husky intruded, giving his definition.

"They are gaudy, naughty songs, all concerning sex in some way." The northerner chuckled.

"Oooooooh I want you to sing me one!" The American boy practically jumped for the excitement, tail swishing behind him.

"Here it's not the right place. Maybe while eating lunch, okay?" The wolf urged them forward, continuing the visit, going back to catch another flight of stairs, descending through the century.

"Ohhhh but I thought you Romans didn't care about being proper in church." The puma teased him, remembering what he had discovered not a few minutes before. He didn't answer to the poke, blushing a bit under his fault because... well, even if he had his qualms with the church, he didn't liked the idea of saying such dirty things in a Basilica.

The steps brought them to another level, one of bricked low walls, with the lights forming a pathway toward another room. They walked in silence, crossing to the other room, a small cave with an altar to the end, but this one was surely pagan since its marble surface had been sculpted with a feline guy in a Phrygian hat, sacrificing a bull.

"What's this place now? Another basilica?" Stanley uttered, fixing his stare on the altar. This time the puma didn't answered, probably having skipped the part of the lesson that talked about that the lower level of San Clemente.

"Nope. On the contrary, this isn't in any way connected to the Christian faith. Before the building of the Basilica, here it stood a house, and a small warehouse." The wolf explained, taking up his lecturing tone. "We have walked along the small alley that divided the two buildings, and now we are in the domus."

"So, I guess those buildings were covered when they built the basilica, isn't that right?" The architecture student noted, catching that unspoken part correctly.

"Yes. In turn, those buildings were built over a Republican era house, though its ruins aren't visible since it was destroyed during the Great Fire of Rome10.." Luca added to the picture those details. He skipped that the domus and the warehouse were built a few years after the Fire, since the area was part of the gigantic Imperial Palace of Nero, but since nothing of that remained on the site, no use to mention it.

"Okay, this was a private house. I guess that was just the household altar?" The other canine intruded, sounding like he wanted to speak just because he hadn't for a while.

"Actually, no. This room of the house was given a new purpose some time after its building, and was used as the shrine of a mysterious cult. The cult of Mithras." The lupo whispered, sillily trying to build some suspense.

"Mithras?" Stanley repeated, his attention rekindle by the mystery.

"Yes. A god coming from the East, his cult shared many similarities with Christianity, which kinda overcame and included it when it became powerful." He told them. "The cult had many followers, and his shrines could be found all over the Empire."

"There weren't any big temples?" Once again, it was the canine to ask the question; Edward seemed content to just listen to the moment, snatching a photo of the altar to be shared once they came back to the land of the living and of the internet.

"No. Even if it was more accepted by the general population, unlike Christianity, they never went big, staying in little groups of believers who met in a house." Luca said, herding the both of them out and toward the stairs, so that the next furs could go inside.

"But wasn't it the same for Christians? I mean, the first churches were in private houses." The cougar questioned, coming back to the conversation.

"Yes, but the cult of Mithras didn't ever have the... ambition to go big, I guess." The wolf dismissed the notion, not wanting to dive deep in the subject of why a religion had succeeded more than another one. Too many theories and possibilities.

"Still, funny that they built a church over the shrine..." The husky pondered out loud, while the reached the old basilica again.

"It isn't a coincidence. The Christians, once they got to power, often built their churches over sacred places of the pagan believes!" The puma explained, once again proving that he studied a lot and well, since the average student wouldn't know about that.

"Why did they do that? I thought they wouldn't like to be associated with the previous religions!" The other replied in a confused voice, his head tilting slightly.

"Actually, they did that for many reasons. Usually, it was better to reconvert a temple than to build a new church from scratch, especially during the first part of the Middle Ages." Luca listed the reasons. "Plus, using a temple or a sacred place meant catering the religiousness around them, making the transition from the old ways easier for the common people."

"Isn't that like cheating?" The husky questioned, sounding almost... offended that the Church did such things.

"Maybe. The Catholic worship of the Saints was another mean, each replacing one of the various Gods. Instead of praying to Jupiter for a good crop, you pray to a bearded holy man!" The American waiter didn't lose the chance to put some salt on the wound, making both Italian canines cringe somewhat while entering the new basilica.

"You shouldn't say such things while standing in a Catholic church, not three meters away from the holy hallows of a saint." The wolf hushed him, only half jokingly. He grew a somewhat respectful stance when so close to religious centre, as if it didn't seem right for him to mock or even talk about such things.

"So, is it true that each church has to have a relic in its altar?" The cougar asked, strutting on the marbled floor of the basilica toward the exit.

"Yes, it's part of what makes a church holy. Nowadays, they take just a little bit of a relic, since the need is big." The lupine nodded, looking around in case the parson of the basilica heard them. Luckily, no black garments were insight, only the gauntly Baroque decorations that quite clashed the Byzantine-sque mosaic in the apse.

"Veramente11!?" The husky almost shouted, his voice echoing in the big space. His ears flattened when he realized how loud he had been, even more so when he saw that there was a cat couple in front of them. He bowed his head as if to apologize, but the elderly felines didn't seem to have heard, barely noticed them when they passed walking in opposite directions.

They remained silent, going through the wooden doors to the outside of the church, leaving the cool shades for a much harsher environment. Though, to tell the truth, it wasn't really without shades, since there were some trees overlooking the small portico they were in now, the columns bearing the roof and gifting a covered open corridor for the heated furs.

The pleasures of the portico didn't last long, since after a few strides they left it and the basilica with the Baroque façade behind them, once again inside the chaotic modern life of Rome. Even in this relatively calmer area of the city the sounds of cars and traffic was a constant background, though it might have been because they were on the street level.

"Il mio pancino12 is saying he is hungry. Time to get food!" Stanley declared, patting his stomach for great measure, looking as if he was ready to eat a buffalo or something.

"Yeah, mine is agreeing to that. Where are we going to eat?" The other youngster joined in, licking his lips as if preparing himself for a great meal. That made the white muzzled cat extra cute, in some ways.

"It depends. Do you want to grab something to eat, or sit and have a proper lunch?" The wolf answered them, his mind giving him choices for both possibilities. After all, thanks to his years as a guide, he knew tons of places for lots of occasions.

"It's such a nice day, I think we can buy something and eat it in the park!" The feline said with much enthusiasm, voicing his preference. If he had been a canine, surely his tail would be wagging right now, or so Luca thought. Edward turned to face the black and white furred dog, his eyes full of hope for his little wish to be granted.

"Fiiiine, we can do that. After all, we will have time to eat at a restaurant later tonight." The husky sighed, though his muzzle was fixed in a goofy smile. Truth to be told, the lupo hadn't planned the day to go on until the evening, but that could be easily fixed later; it seemed that he would need a full day of rest that Sunday.

"Good, I know a good pizza al taglio not two streets away from here! Follow me!" The lupine acknowledged the decision and waved to them, getting around the Basilica and back toward the Coliseum. He turned left on the next crossroad, their journey to food avoiding a certain street, thankfully enough.

Passing that street he could see the COMING OUT's13rainbow flag hanging outside the bar, though that was the only sign that the place was for people with special... tastes. Not that scenes of public depravity were to be expected, after all; Luca had went there a few times, and it was a pretty cool place to hang out, all in all.

They passed the street, and another one, turning right on the third, were the buildings gave in to a big space, a piazza long converted in a parking place. The pizzeria was just there, with good smell coming out of it from the open door; they didn't wait to enjoy that, pressed to get some of that delicious pizza in their muzzle.

"Buon giorno14!" The Persian cat behind the counter chimed in an almost correct Italian. "What can I get you?"

"Uhm, for me a slice of that pizza con le patate15." The lupo said, going already to get a bottle of water from the fridge on one side of the small pizzeria.

"I think I'll go for a plain rossa16. You Edward?" The other canine ordered, passing the ball to the last member of their small group.

"Uhm, the same for me!" The puma simply said.

"Just that?" The Persian asked again while getting to action.

"Yes, and three bottle of water." Luca added, putting said bottles on the glass counter that separated them from the pizze.

"Okay, I'll make them extra big, you are big boys!" The cat with the apron chuckled, slicing hefty squares of pizza. Done with the order, the lupine relaxed a bit, looking around to the various photos and images of happy famous clients that had eaten there; then, he moved his stare out in the street again, just in time to see a very familiar feline figure passing by.

"Oh cielo17! Wait me here, I just saw someone!" He told the other two, rushing outside with a smile on his muzzle.

Translation:

1) Denomination of the architectural style used in the first centuries of the Middle ages. It's a mixture of Roman style with a more sober one.

2) The Basilica of San Clemente al Laterano stands just a few blocks away from the Coliseum. A nice and interesting visit :3 Here some information! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basilica_of_San_Clemente

3) They interred/buried the basilica?

4) The Golden House, the name of the humungous Imperial Palace Emperor Nero built on the scorched ruins of Rome after the Great Fire of 64 AD. Here some information! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domus_Aurea

5) In Modern Italian it goes "Figli di puttana, spingete!" Which is translated in:" Son of whore/a bitch, push!"

6) Parson.

7) Smallfolk.

8) Raunchy songs in Roman dialect, going something like "Osteria numero mille/Il mio cazzo fa scintille" "Osteria one thousand/my cock gives out sparks". The formula is Osteria numero ##, with the rest rhyming with the number ^^

9) Throw the bait.

10) The Great Fire of 64 AD, of which Emperor Nero has been infamously (and almost certainly) accused for. A great part of Rome was destroyed, leaving countless people homeless.

11) Really? Actually, it literally means truly.

12) My tummy.

13) Famous gay bar of Rome. The owners didn't have much fantasy, in my opinion XD

14) Good morning!

15) Pizza with potatoes, without tomato sauce. Really yummy :3

16) The most common one, only tomato sauce, oil and some other spices :3

17) Oh my! Or better, Heavens.