Rome, Italy, Jun 16, 2011 / 09:41 am
Brother Anthony Ariniello is one of the most recognizable and intriguing figures to hit the streets of Rome in recent years. But the monk with a high-speed habit is about to leave the Eternal City.
“When I pass by, people often exclaim, ‘Wow, now that’s a modern monk!’” laughs the 32-year-old, originally from Boulder, Colorado.
Br. Ariniello uses his rollerblades as a practical way of getting to school and to pray at St. Peter’s Basilica. “They're practical, economical and ecological,” he said of the skates that have earned him his Roman persona—“the rollerblading monk.”
His modern appearance aside, Br. Ariniello thinks there’s more to the surprised looks he gets when he tears through Rome’s streets.