On our 2012 trip to Rome, I enjoyed the guided tour of the Vatican Museum, but was eager to see the famous Sistine Chapel and Michelangelo’s famed painting that covers the ceiling. When we entered, I instinctively looked up to enjoy the huge scene far above. Our guide paused to describe the various segments of the painting, then ushered us to a seat in the far corner of the room to explain other aspects of the chapel.
As he did so, I glanced to the eastern corner to look at the stove announcing papal decisions, unquestionably the world’s most famous smoke signaling device. No stove. I then looked to the opposite side of the room, thinking I might be disoriented as to its actual location. Again, no stove. So I asked our guide as to where it was. The answer surprised me.
“It’s only placed in the chapel during a conclave,” was the brief answer. I asked where it was stored in the meantime. “Somewhere in the basement, I assume. I really have no idea.”
When a conclave is in session, all eyes are riveted on the smokestack affixed to the roof of the Sistine Chapel. It is the star of the show until the new pontiff emerges on the balcony. In addition, in the past, such as in the election on John Paul I, there has been confusion as to whether the smoke was black – meaning no decision, or white – signaling Habemus Papam. In recent years, after spotty results resulting from adding chemicals to the stove to enhance the color of the smoke seen by those believers in St. Peter’s Square, the Vatican has decided to clarify the smoke by also ringing the Vatican’s bells to signal an election.
Emplacing the stove in the Sistine Chapel, and configuring it in a way to avoid damaging Michelangelo’s famous ceiling, must be a tricky exercise. So, I decided to make the stove the location of the transmitter hidden “in plain sight.” Of course, all of those involved with placing the stove – Bruno Brachi, Gianluca Girodano, and Matteo Ferrari – are all fictional along with their conflicting allegiances.