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Chiesa Santa Teresa's Secret?
Never heard a lot of dark secrets about it, but locals know the church's little garden has a specific rosemary bush that was planted from a cutting taken from the garden of the original Carmelite convent in Lisieux, France. A visiting nun brought it back in the 1950s and it just took off. If you go on a Sunday after the 11am mass, the elderly women who tend the garden usually let you take a small sprig if you ask. They say it's good luck for finding your way home.
You caught the church right after its 2021 restoration, which was a big deal for the neighborhood. Before that, the interior was actually quite faded and grimy, so the "quiet intensity" you felt is partly thanks to a local committee that raised funds to bring back the original pastel tones. The church itself is only from the 1930s, built for the growing population in this part of the Nomentano district. The real local story, though, is that the square in front, Piazza Panfilo, was a major gathering spot for resistance fighters during the German occupation in 1944. There's no plaque, but older residents remember meetings held right on those steps, using the church's side entrance as a discreet way in and out.
The church's dedication to Saint Therese of the Child Jesus is actually quite telling for the neighborhood. She's the patron saint of missionaries, and in the 1930s this area of Nomentano was full of newly arrived families from southern Italy and Sicily who saw themselves as building a new life. The parish was founded specifically to serve these migrants, and the church itself was built with donations from them, not from the Vatican or any wealthy patrons.
One detail that gets missed is the small mosaic above the main entrance. It shows Therese scattering roses, which is her classic symbol, but the roses are falling onto a map of Italy with Sicily highlighted. That's a deliberate nod to the original parishioners. The artist was a local man named Giuseppe Migneco who lived on Via Nomentana and did it for free because his own parents had moved up from Palermo.
If you go back, look at the floor tiles near the baptismal font. There's a section where the pattern is slightly off, a different shade of marble. That's where the original font stood before it was moved in the 1960s. The older women in the parish still cross themselves when they walk past that spot. They say it's because the first baptism there was a baby who died in the 1944 bombing, and his mother would come kneel on that exact tile every day for years.
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What are current tobacco prices for LM Blue or Chesterfield Blue?
tbh duty free at Riga is only worth it if you're buying cartons, single packs at the airport arent that much cheaper than teh tabaccai in Rome. also remember you can only bring a limited amount into the EU anyway so stockpiling has its limits
Chesterfield Blue usually runs around 5.50 to 6 euros a pack in Rome these days, though tabaccai prices are fixed by the state so it won't vary much shop to shop. Riga is generally cheaper for cigarettes but your layover time matters, if it's tight you might not have time to clear security and find a shop.
LM Blue in Rome is roughly the same ballpark, around 5.50 to 6 euros. One thing to keep in mind at Riga airport, the duty free selection isn't always great for specific brands like these, so if you're set on LM or Chesterfield you might strike out. I'd check what the actual duty free has before counting on it.