Vatican Balks At Receiving Gay Ambassador

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14. Villa Bonaparte Embassy?

Now there's some irony. An Embassy bearing the name of the guy who shut down the Pope's personal Jewish ghetto in Rome. Wikipedia:

The Roman Ghetto or Ghetto of Rome, Italian: Ghetto di Roma, was a Jewish ghetto established in 1555 in the Rione Sant'Angelo, in Rome, Italy...

With the exception of brief periods under Napoleon from 1808 to 1815 and under the Roman Republics of 1798-99 and 1849, the ghetto of Rome was controlled by the papacy until the capture of Rome in 1870.

Controlled by WHO? Say it ain't so!

TOUR GUIDE MODE: Villa Bonaparte is not named for the Emperor, but for his fast-livin' sister Pauline, who lived there. So fast-livin' that her husband once put her under house arrest, which didn't slow her down a bit. The family of Pauline's husband gave their name to another awesome piece of Roman real estate - Villa Borghese. Located right behind Piazza Federico Fellini!