Saint Nicholas in Bari

Bari keeps the relics of Saint Nicholas in a crypt that smells of stone and the sea. Above, the basilica is Romanesque and bright. Below, Orthodox and Catholic pilgrims have long shared the same cool room.

Nicholas is a bishop of Myra, a friend of sailors and of children, a name spoken in Greek, Slavic, and Italian with equal ease. People come with the living and the departed written on a small paper.

A pilgrim of Palomeya descends those steps, lights a candle, and remains for the rite the day allows. Palomeya does not speak for the basilica. It sends a guest to the tomb and then back to the light of the piazza.

If Bari is on your list, you are asking for a visit to that crypt — not for a parish document, and not for anyone to stand in the church's name.