Home Page of Skip Conde
After retiring from the U.S. Navy after 22 years of service, and retiring from industry after 26 years, I can now pursue my main interests full time. I am fascinated with history. So, I am following two areas of research: the genealogy of my family, and the art and history of the churches of Rome.
For the last 25 years I have been developing the
genealogy of my family. In order to
make it available to everyone interested, and as a way of exchanging information, I decided to use the Internet. The genealogy is also developed in simple text so that any part of it can be easily printed or downloaded. So enjoy our family history, and please keep me informed of any changes or additions. There is also an index of people for each family to easily go directly to the information for any particular person in that family. The update section records the changes made to the files. If I have your email address I will let you know when a new update of changes have been uploaded.
A few people in the family have written histories of different aspects of our family. An index of these history stories can be found here.
In 2006 my wife and I visited Rome in order to renew our wedding vows, which we did in the basilica of Santa Susanna. While we were there I became fascinated with the churches in Rome. When we returned home I began to study the history of the city of Rome, then the popes, and finally the churches themselves, because all three are intricately tied together. As I reviewed the information available on the internet I discovered that there is quite a lot of information available. There are detailed descriptions, and there are many photographs, but I was unable to find any site that had detailed descriptions integrated with photos in a coherent manner. So that is my goal.
There are almost 400 active churches in the approximate 10 square mile centro storico, and over 300 in the area surrounding the city. The churches within the historic center tend to be older to ancient, while the churches outside the city are usually modern churches. Many of the modern churches are just as interesting as the ancient churches because of their wonderful architecture and art. Since 2006 I have been to Rome nine times, and have visited and photographed over 90 churches. As I complete formatting the files for each church I will make them available.
Some of my early efforts are a little rough as I am not a professional photographer, and my equipment was not up to the task. I ask your forgiveness for them. I will update them as I can. If my photos were inadequate, or I missed a few points in the churches, I have borrowed photos from the web. These are clearly indicated. Concerning the listed dates of the churches, many ancient churches have been partially or completely rebuilt over time. The dates I have listed refer to the building of the church you are walking into. In many cases, the interior decorations postdate the building fabric.