Vatican calendars...

Last month somebody asked me how to get one of those "old fashioned" looking Vatican calendars.

These cannot be ordered overseas as they're for Vatican employees but what I do every year is go the first week of February to the Porta Santa Anna with my Passport. Past the Swiss Guards you enter the room to fill out the entrance form for permission to go, not to the farmacia like everyone else, but to the tipographia. Explain to them that this calendar is only available there.

Once you enter the palace of the tipographia which is just up the hill on your right, walk up the stairs to the primo piano. Find an employee and pay cash for your calendar - you can choose from two styles.