It is Sunday afternoon after all and our walk on to the Piazza Navona only adds the risk of being daubed by dripping ice cream cones as we do another chassee around the day trippers into the church of St. Agnes.
Enough already and two hours have gone by as we make our way back to the Piazza Minerva on which sits our hotel and the church of St. Catherine - so....O.K., just pop inside this one too.
We will have to change quickly in time for the bus to take us to dinner at La Spada, the villa built in the 1630's and purchased in 1946 by the Irish government to be the home and embassy of the Irish Ambassador to Italy.
En route we stop at yet another church, that of San Pietro Montorio which houses the remains of Hugh O'Neil and family members. After all, Mr. O'Neil is the cause of the Winegeese. He was one of the first Wildgeese to leave Ireland in the 1600's as they fled Ireland to seek help among the Catholics of Europe to fight the British in the hope of gaining Irish independence.
Two centuries later there was another migration, this time of merchants - again to Europe, but they married themselves into the wine trade and became the Winegeese. Hence our stop to
pay homage to this Irishman in Rome, who never did make it home!
We arrive at the home of Ambassador Bobby and Mary McDonagh who warmly welcomed us with cocktails and a delicious four course dinner accompanied, of course, by appropriate wines. We inducted our hosts into the Winegeese, and then the party began.
The Ambassador led off with a song which was followed by a member of the clergy singing a "sick note" from a building employee to his boss, to a well-know Irish tune. I wandered where he led mass as I think I could join up!
A couple of other attendees performed other songs, one on a guitar and the party rolled on.
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