Mendicant on Ponte Vittorio Emanuele II and Tiber River, Rome Italy
Mendicant in a street photograph from the Ponte Vittorio Emanuele II bridge over the Tiber in Rome, Italy. The woman is begging with a cup that shows the Virgin Mary and other religious symbols. In the background is the 2nd century Castel Sant’Angelo, originally commissioned by the pagan Roman emperor Hadrian as a mausoleum. Rome exudes religion, history, and the history of religion. The mendicant, seen in this context as a holy mendicant, carries on and extends the history of religiosity that extends back millennium.