Italian Skulls - April 2007

It was the middle of the night. I woke up, realized I was in Italy, and smiled. The hotel room’s shades didn’t let in a bit of light from the outside street lamp. As I laid in bed, I looked to my left and noticed a bright colored skull flowing in mid air, glowing in the dark. “What the heck,” I thought. Surprisingly, I wasn’t scared. I didn’t try to hit it and I didn’t run out of the room cursing the Italian poltergeist. I just stared at it.

I thought to myself, “I’m going to try to touch it. If my hand can not go through it, everything will be okay. If my hand can go through it, that will be the time to panic.” That was my well-thought out plan, as well thought out as I could get in five seconds. I found my you-can-do-this attitude, I lifted my hand, moved it toward the apparition, slowly. My hand stopped against something a bit spongy. “Michael?” I asked tentatively.

Michael, my husband, had just been to the bathroom. He was sleeping in an Ocean City Seacrets Bar t-shirt; the bar’s symbol, a glow-in-the-dark skull. The bathroom light brought it to life when he sat on the bed in the pitch black. I breathed a heavy sign and amid tears and laughter, was able to go back to sleep.

Having survived the ghosty night, we woke up and decided to explore the Basilica di Santa Croce. This beautiful white cathedral, which was built is 1294, is the burial place for Michelangelo and Galileo. Buried in the floor of the cathedral are monks who served there. My tour book said that this was a symbol that everyone, including monks who dedicated their lives to God, were equal, and as a sign of humility are walked upon. I looked down at the floor. A plague indicated that indeed a Franciscan monk was buried beneath my feet.

And there, engraved into a stone plaque, was the symbol for the Franciscan monks…a skull. I ran out the front door but made sure to thrown some holy water on me on the way out.