The piazza of St Peter's is one of the great open spaces of Europe. The colonnades reach out to embrace the crowds in a rhythmic symmetry that seems to extend the solemn contemplativeness of the cathedral into the open air. It has three elements within it, the obelisk and two fountains. It is strange to learn that for 60 years, there was only one fountain, which must have made the whole scene unbalanced. In this picture, Pip is standing beside the younger one, installed by Pope Clement X. It appears more weathered than the other as a strange quirk of the shape of the area means this fountain gets caught in the blasts of the tramontana, while its elder brother less than 100m away is protected.
The water comes from Lake Bracciano, forty miles away, splashes through the fountains in the Vatican gardens, makes this last showy appearance and then joins the Tiber, which is about a mile from the piazza. At times the fountains have to be shut off and the pipes cleaned out: eels breed in the lake and millions of small fry get into the works and gum them up.
No visit to St Peters is complete without a picture of the Swiss Guard in their popinjay uniforms. Tradition had it that these were designed by Michelangelo, but nowadays they are attributed to Raphael. The idea of slashed clothing began after the Swiss beat the Burgundians in 1476. The victors were themselves in rags, and they cut down the bright marquees of the ducal army and made themselves patchwork jerkins and hose from the silks and tapestries. This became a continent-wide fashion, with sleeves and leggings stitched to reveal rich cloth beneath. It may be that this uniform was an attempt to tone down even more riotous attire.