Will be in Rome in Oct. and wondered if anyone had found a shop that sells really unusual Religious items ?<BR><BR>Have 2 brothers who are priests and they have all the ususal stuff.

ttt for Bacon boy

Bacon Boy,<BR><BR>Don't really know what you mean by unusual religious items, but you can find a nice selection of religious items at the Vatican. St. Peter's has a small gift shop that is well stocked with all kinds of religious items.<BR><BR>If you have something specifically unusual in mind, maybe I can remember if I saw it there!?<BR><BR>Dee

Can't remember the name of the shop but it is in front of the main entrance to Santa Maria Maggiore Basicilica. It was a very large shop with "tourist" type relegious items as well as items for use in churches.

We stayed at the hotel Santa Chiara near the Pantheon. We were amazed at all the religious "supply houses" in the neighborhood. The streets were filled with priests etc out to buy some pretty amazing looking stuff. Lots of silver, vestments, statuary and some art. Much different than the souveniers and objects available by St Peters at most of the small gift shops (although a holographic portrait of the Pope is a must in some peoples' book)

In the city centre, you can visit the "tomb of the Capuchin monks" at the foot of Via Veneto. I'm not sure of the exact name - maybe the Santa Maria delle Concezione, but someone took the skeletons of about 400 monks and used them to decorate a series of rooms. I will never look at mosaic patterns again without thinking of how this could be done with a series of monk pelvises. Or that it's possible to make a chandelier out of bones. So - an interesting place for you to visit - and they have a gift shop - where you should be able to buy something strange - but sincere. I seem to remember that they had CDs and tapes of the chants sung in the tombs.