I arrived in Rome to find a notice (avviso) in my mailbox that a piece of mail was waiting for me to pick up at our local post office.

So, we dutifully went down the street to pick up whatever was waiting for us. Our local post office is on one end of piazza San Silvestro. Since this is Rome, it’s a pretty neat post office. As you can see from the photo at the top of this post, above the doorway, it says “Post e Telegrafi” – I hope they never change that!

The post office abuts the church (actually it’s a basilica) of San Silvestro in Capite, the reference to “capite” referring to the fact that this was the “first” Pope Sylvester. The post office was once the cloisters of the church, where a group of nuns lived, as well as some noble women who had retreated to the convent. One of those women was the poet Vittoria Colonna — a close friend of none other than Michelangelo, who adored her. I like to think that perhaps Michelangelo once walked on via della Mercede, when going to visit his friend. 

When you enter the post office, you go by some bits of spolia — ancient bits of Roman architecture that now decorate the walls.

 

As you step into what was once the cloisters, you’ll notice the lovely painted ceilings, which have been beautifully maintained.

Here are just a few ceiling sections, and each is different:

 

 

 

 

 

 

When you go to the post office, you must check in at the electronic kiosk.

I did, and the kiosk spit out a number. After waiting maybe 20 minutes, my number came up and I walked over to the assigned station (sportello), and got my mail.

 

As we left, we saw a fun thing in the entryway of the post office — a post box decorated by artist About Ponny:

Then we walked through the massive entry doors, and out into the sun.

What was waiting for me at the post office was, this being Rome, a tax bill. More specifically, it was the garbage tax. Long story short, for the last decade or so I’ve been trying to update details on the account. I have been utterly unable to do this by email, on-line, or by telephone, despite numerous attempts. Trying to schedule an in-person appointment at the appropriate government office also is fruitless. But, somehow, the slow-moving wheels of the Roman trash tax apparatus finally turned, and they just now updated my account. Therefore, they immediately sent me a bill. That evening I was actually able to log on from home and finally pay the damn thing. A small success that I appreciated, despite not being happy to pay a big bill.