Rome Journal: Salvator Mundi

Mother Teresa being treated at Salvator Mundi

Salvator Mundi International Hospital is located at Via Delle Mura Gianicolensi 67 on the Gianicolo which is one of the seven hills of Rome in the Monteverdi neighborhood. Too bad for you if that is where you’re headed since undoubtedly it was not part of your original itinerary which may have included The Colosseum, The Pantheon, The Circus Maximus and the Baths of Caracalla. Still everyone has to meet their maker (as well as make so to speak) and if you’re in Purgatory on your way to Hell, Salvator Mundi is a cheery enough way station with its automatic door and sleek modern facade. It actually has the look of one of those Courtyard Marriotts that cater to the budget minded crowd or perhaps even the feel of a suburban fitness center. It's certainly not daunting like a major metropolitan hospital in New York, Chicago or L.A. You may very well end up being one of those Americans visiting Salvator Mundi to drop off their stool samples for an "esame colturale delle feci con antibiogramma and parassitologico." In plain English you will be coming to have your feces rather than your head examined and in order to do this you will have to beeline down to your local Farmacia and acquire a "contenitore feci," which again in plain English means a container for feces, with its convenient little scooper attached to its cheery red top. “Friends, Romans and countrymen lend me your ears…if you’ve fallen this low, then you’re probably thinking there’s no place like Rome."