Three men in a car ...

Verkünder des Triumphs (Herold proclaiming the Triumph)     Colorised Woodcut Der Triumphzug Kaiser Maximilians (1526, 1765) Artists : Burgkmaier/Höfer    Source : Universitätsbibliothek Graz I am sitting at my kitchen window, looking out into the dark and humid fog in this late hour of New Year’s Eve of 2023, and musing about things in general, in particular, life and the meaning of it. It occurs to me that most of what I have accomplished during my years of existence is already slipping away into oblivion, like sand running through the narrows of the hourglass.  What will be left of me when I am gone? What of all the work projects I have been so busy with all my life? The only people still vaguely remembering me are those of my own age, who will soon be gone as well as I will be. The others see an old totterer stumbling on the icy and sluicing sidewalks on his way to the coffee shop, maybe feeling sorry for his faibles, but having no idea about the man they ju...

We are standing at the Southern end of an immense square, rather narrow, but at least half a kilometer long. In its interior, fountains and an obelisk are its main accoutrements, whereas its longsides are embellished with churches and other elaborate buildings from the baroque and renaissance epochs. What on earth are we doing here, on this slightly cloudy day of April? This rectangular vastness is called “Piazza de Navona” and is located amidst the myriad of buildings and small streets constituting the Renaissance quarters of Rome; the most charming part of the eternal city, if you query my views. We are here on a quest, to locate the estate of a formidable Vatican fonctionnaire, Cardinal Merk Sittich III von Ems  (1533-95), one of the richest and most influential cardinals of his time.  You are of course already familiar with this Emser cardinal, from an earlier post in this series ( Celestial Protection ). But now is the time to add some facts to fiction! If you look c...