Am enjoying Keith Miller's small erudite irreverent book about the history and contents and fabrication of St. Peter's Basilica. This is part of my ongoing, off and on, vague mental preparation for the planned trip to Rome next spring. Miller is describing what the visitor can expect after entering the church:
The devout and repentant, the halt and the lame begin a systematic round of altars and reliquaries, or head for the confessional booths. Most tourists join a torrent of artistic pilgrims rushing to admire Michelangelo's Pietà , one of the most celebrated works of Italian High Renaissance art, now tucked safely behind glass in the first chapel on the north aisle as if it were a star exhibit in an aquarium, or a witness in a Mafia maxi-trial.