lunedì, ottobre 02, 2006 

San Giovanni in Laterano

Today we'll talk about one of the most famous churches of Rome. The basilica of S. Giovanni in Laterano (S. John Lateran). There are a lot of mysteries that are all around this holy palace; in effect the Lateran was the most acient residence of the Pope and it's easy to understan how a lot of legends are born from this palace, in a time in which this was the centre of the story, of Rome and of the world. Let's start from the name: Lateran. This name became from the latin "lata rana". One day Nero, was planning about having a baby; but he was so self-centred that he pretended to birth his/her baby himself. So he summoned wisemen and wizards and he threatened them: "I'll kill you all if you will be not able to make me have a baby". So one of them was so scared that he had a sharp plan; he gave a strong potion to Nero, in which there was hided a little frog. The frog started to grow inside the belly of Nero and the emperor felt a terrible pain inside. So after a little time he summoned again his council to solve his problem and they gave him a strong laxative potion; suddenly the frog came out and the emperor kissed it and said that it was his son. So the roman people started to say "Lata rana", born frog and so this name became the title of the zone in which Nero had his labor pains. This story ends one day when the frog escaped in a little river; Nero became so nervous that he ordered to kill a lot of children to have a revenge against all the little sons of Rome (but there are no real evidences abut this last fact). For more informations, post me a comment or contact me. A personal note: my pc had a virus so if you sent me an e-mail (from july till now), please sent me the e-mail again and I will replace you (I've also lost all the e-mail addresses especially the one of a university teacher). Dblk