ROME - PART I
rome-travel
PART I
Sites: Castel Sant'Angelo, Mausoleum of Augustus, Ara Pacis Augustae, Spanish Steps, Piazza del Popolo (Twin Churches, Church of Santa Maria del Popolo), Villa Borghese (Borghese Gallery), Trevi Fountain, Palazzo Barberini (National Gallery of the Ancient Art), Baths of Diocletian, National Museum of Rome (Bath of Diocletian, Palazzo Massimo, Palazzo Altemps, Crypta Balbi), Piazza Navona (Fountain of the Four Rivers, Fountain of the Neptune, Moor Fountain, Church of Sant'Agnese in Agone), Pantheon, Palazzo Farnese, Jewis Ghetto and outskirts (Synagogue, Museum of the Jewish Art, Fountain of the Tortoises, Tiber Island, Campo de' Fiori), Piazza del Campidoglio, Capitoline Museum, Piazza Venezia (Vittoriano), Doria Pamphilj Gallery, Imperial Fora (Forum of Caeser, Forum of Augustus, Temple of Peace, Forum of Nerva or Transitional Forum, Forum of Trajan), Roman Forum, Arch of Constantine, Colosseum, Domus Aurea (Nero's Golden House), Palatine Hill (Palatine Museum), Circus Maximus.
Castel Sant'Angelo
The Mausoleum of Hadrian, usually known as the Castel Sant'Angelo, is a towering cylindrical building in Rome, initially commissioned by the Roman Emperor Hadrian as a mausoleum for himself and his family. The building was later used as a fortress and castle, and is now a museum. The tomb of the Roman Emperor Hadrian was erected on the right bank of the Tiber, between 135 and 139. Originally the mausoleum was a decorated cylinder, with a garden top and golden quadriga. Hadrian's ashes were placed here a year after his death in Baiae in 138, together with those of his wife Sabina, and his first adopted son, Lucius Aelius, who also died in 138. Much of the tomb contents and decoration has been lost since the building's conversion into a military fortress in 401 and inclusion by Flavius Augustus Honorius in the Aurelian Walls. The popes converted the structure into a castle, from the XIV century; Pope Nicholas III connected the castle to St. Peter's Basilica by a covered fortified corridor called the "Passetto di Borgo". The fortress was the refuge of Pope Clement VII from the siege of Charles V's Landsknecht during the Sack of Rome (1527). The Papal State also used Castel Sant'Angelo as a prison. Executions were made in the small interior square. As a prison, it was also the setting for the third act of Giacomo Puccini's Tosca from whose ramparts the eponymous heroine of the opera leaps to her death. Decommissioned in 1901, the castle is now a museum, the National Museum of Castel Sant'Angelo.
Mausoleum of Augustus
The Mausoleum of Augustus was a large tomb begun in 28 BC, the year of Octavian's triumphs for his victories over Cleopatra and other foreign enemies, and the year before he was given the title of Augustus. It consisted of a series of rising concentric circles of concrete with stone or marble facing. Between the upper circles evergreen trees were planted. The circular burial chamber was in the center, and from it rose a column on which was set a bronze statue of Augustus. Two Egyptian obelisks stood at the entrance, near which were placed two bronze tablets inscribed with Augustus' Res Gestae. The first man buried in the Augustus' mausoleum was Marcellus, the son-in-law of Ottaviano Augustus who died in 23 BC, after him was buried there Agrippa, Ottavia, Druso, Ottaviano Augustus, Caligola, Claudio Britannico, Vespasiano and Nerva, except for Nero. During the Middle-Age the tomb was occupied by the Colonna fortress and later it underwent many devastations until 1939 when the monument was restored and the houses built around it were dismantled.
Ara Pacis Augustae
The Ara Pacis Augustae is an altar to Peace, envisioned as a Roman goddess. It was commissioned by the Roman Senate on July 4th 13 BC to honor the triumphal return from Hispania and Gaul of the Roman emperor Augustus, and was consecrated on January 30th 9 BC by the Senate to celebrate the peace established in the Empire after Augustus' victories. The altar was meant to be a vision of the Roman civil religion. It sought to portray the peace and fertile prosperity enjoyed as a result of the Pax Augusta brought about by the military supremacy of the Roman empire, and a visual reminder of the Julio-Claudian dynasty that was bringing it about. The Ara Pacis stood within an enclosure elaborately and finely sculpted entirely in gleaming white marble, depicting scenes of traditional Roman piety, in which the Emperor and his family were portrayed in the act of offering sacrifices to the gods. The Altar is universally recognized as a masterpiece, the most famous surviving example of Augustan sculpture. The Altar was originally located on the northern outskirts of the city, on the west side of the Via Flaminia, in the northeastern corner of the Campus Martius, a formerly open area that Augustus developed as a complex of monuments; the Ara Pacis Augustae stood in the flood plain of the river Tiber, where it became buried under four metres of silt over the centuries. The first fragmentary sculptures were rediscovered in 1568. There is now a new cover building designed by modern American architect Richard Meier.
Spanish Steps
The Spanish Steps is a monumental stairway of 138 steps, climbing a steep slope between the Piazza di Spagna at the base and Piazza Trinità dei Monti, dominated by Trinità dei Monti, the church that was under the patronage of the Bourbon kings of France above. The Scalinata is "without a doubt the longest and widest staircase in all Europe". During May, part of the steps are covered by pots of azaleas. In the Piazza at the base is the Early Baroque fountain called "Fontana della Barcaccia" (Fountain of the Old Boat), built in 1627-29 and often credited to Pietro Bernini, father of a more famous son, Gian Lorenzo Bernini, who is recently said to have collaborated on the decoration. According to an unlikely legend, Pope Urban VIII had the fountain installed after he had been impressed by a boat brought here by a flood of the Tiber river.
Piazza del Popolo
The Piazza del Popolo is one of the most famous square in Rome. The name in modern Italian literally means "Piazza of the People", but historically it derives from the poplars, after which the church of Santa Maria del Popolo, in the northeast corner of the piazza, takes its name. The Piazza lies inside the northern gate in the Aurelian Walls, once the "Porta Flaminia" of ancient Rome, and now called "Porta del Popolo". This was the starting point of the Via Flaminia, the road to Ariminum (modern Rimini) and the most important route to the north. At the same time, before the age of railroads, it was the traveller's first view of Rome upon arrival. For centuries, the Piazza del Popolo was a place for public executions, the last of which took place in 1826. An Egyptian obelisk of Rameses II from Heliopolis stands in the centre of the Piazza. The obelisk, known as the "Obelisco Flaminio", is the second oldest and one of the tallest obelisk in Rome (some 24 m high, or 36 m including its plinth). The obelisk was brought to Rome in 10 BC by order of Augustus and originally set up in the Circus Maximus. It was re-erected here in the Piazza by the architect-engineer Domenico Fontana in 1589 as part of the urban plan of Sixtus V. Looking from the north, three streets branch out from the Piazza, forming the so-called "Trident" (Tridente): the Via del Corso in the centre, the Via del Babuino on the left and the Via di Ripetta on the right. Twin Churches (the "Chiese Gemelle") of Santa Maria dei Miracoli (1681) and Santa Maria in Montesanto (1679), begun by Carlo Rainaldi and completed by Bernini and Carlo Fontana, define the junctions of the roads. To the north of the Piazza stand the "Porta del Popolo" and the ancient Church of Santa Maria del Popolo. In 1099, a chapel was built by Pope Paschal II to Our Lady, over a tomb of the Domitilla Family; since the people of Rome founded the building, the chapel received the name "del Popolo" (of the people). The chapel became a church by will of Pope Gregory IX, and given to the Augustinians, who held it until now, in the first half of XIII century. Santa Maria del Popolo was reconstructed by Baccio Ponticelli and Andrea Bregno in 1472-1477, creating an excellent example of Italian Renaissance architecture. In 1655-1660 the facade was modified by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, who was asked by Pope Alexander VII to update the Renaissance church to a more modern Baroque style. The church contains not only the Cerasi Chapel canvases of Caravaggio (Crucifixion of St. Peter and Conversion on the Way to Damascus) and an Assumption of the Virgin by Annibale Carracci, but also frescoes by Pinturicchio, sculptures by Andrea Bregno and Gian Lorenzo Bernini (Habakkuk and the Angel and Daniel and the Lion). The Chigi Chapel, the private chapel of banker Agostino Chigi, was designed by Raffaello Sanzio. The dome is decorated with Raphael's mosaics Creation of the World. After Bernini's intervention, the church became a favourite site of burials of rich people of the city.
Villa Borghese
Villa Borghese is a large landscape garden in the naturalistic English manner, containing a number of buildings, museums and attractions. It is the second largest public park in Rome after that of Villa Doria-Pamphilj. The gardens were developed for the "Villa Borghese Pinciana" (Borghese Villa on the Pincian Hill), built by the architect Flaminio Ponzio, developing sketches by Scipione Borghese, who used it as a villa suburbana, a party villa, at the edge of Rome, and to house his art collection. The gardens as they are now were remade in the early XIX century. Today the Borghese Gallery is housed in the Villa Borghese itself. The garden "Casino Borghese", built on a rise above the Villa by the architect Giovanni Vasanzio, was set up by Camillo Borghese to contain sculptures by Bernini from the Borghese collection, including his David and his Daphne, and by Antonio Canova (Paolina Borghese), with paintings by Titian, Raphael and Caravaggio.
Trevi Fountain
The Trevi Fountain is the largest and most ambitious of the Baroque fountains of Rome. The fountain at the juncture of three roads ("tre vie") marks the terminal point of the "modern" Acqua Vergine, the revivified Acqua Virgo, one of the ancient acqueducts that supplied water to ancient Rome. In 19 BC, supposedly with the help of a virgin, Roman technicians located a source of pure water some 13 km (8 miles) from the city. This scene is presented on the present fountain's facade. In 1629 Pope Urban VIII, finding the earlier fountain insufficiently dramatic, asked Bernini to sketch possible renovations, but when the Pope died the project was abandoned. In 1730 Pope Clement XII organized a contest in which Nicola Salvi initially lost to Alessandro Galilei, but due to the outcry in Rome over the fact that a Florentine won, Salvi was awarded the commission anyway. Work began in 1732, and the fountain was completed in 1762, long after Clement's death, when Pietro Bracci's "Neptune" was set in the central niche. Salvi died in 1751, with his work half-finished, but before he went he made sure a stubborn barber's unsightly sign would not spoil the ensemble, hiding it behind a sculpted vase. A traditional legend holds that if visitors throw a coin into the fountain, they are ensured a return to Rome. Approximately 3.000 Euros are thrown into the fountain each day and are collected at night. The money has been used to subsidize a supermarket for Rome's needy.
Palazzo Barberini
Palazzo Barberini is a palace on the piazza of the same name in Rione Trevi. The sloping site had formerly been occupied by a garden-vineyard of the Sforza family, in which a palazzetto had been built in 1549. The sloping site had passed from one cardinal to another during the XVI century, with no project fully getting off the ground. When Cardinal Alessandro Sforza met financial hardship, the still semi-suburban site was purchased in 1625 by Maffeo Barberini, who had come to the papal throne as Urban VIII. Carlo Maderno, then at work extending the nave of St. Peter's, was commissioned to enclose the Villa Sforza within a vast Renaissance block along the lines of Palazzo Farnese; however, the design quickly evolved into a precedent-setting combination of just such an urban seat of princely power combined with a garden front that had the nature of a suburban villa with semi-enclosed garden. When Maderno died in 1629, Borromini was passed over in favor of Bernini. The two architects worked briefly together in this project. Works were ended by Bernini in 1633. Today Palazzo Barberini houses the National Gallery of Ancient Art, one of the most important paintings collections in Italy. It includes, among many others, Raphael's portrait "La Fornarina", Caravaggio's "Judith Beheading Holofernes", and a Hans Holbein's portrait of Henry VIII. The palace is also home of the Italian Institute of Numismatics.
Baths of Diocletian
The Baths of Diocletian, dedicated in 306, were the largest and most sumptuous of the imperial baths and remained in use until the acqueduct that fed them were cut by the Goths in 537. It could accommodate 3000 bathers simultaneously, about twice as many as the Baths of Caracalla, covered 13 hectares (32 acres) and had the full panoply of changing rooms, gymnasiums, libraries, meeting rooms, theaters, concert halls, sculpture gardens, vast basin for hot, lukewarm and cold plunges, as well as mosaic floors and marble facades. Similar in size and plan to those of Caracalla and oriented to the southwest so that solar energy heated the caldarium without affecting the frigidarium, they are well preserved because various parts later were converted to ecclesiastical or other use.
National Museum of Rome
The National Museum of Rome is a set of museums, split between various branches across the city. It was founded in 1889 and inaugurated in 1890, with the aim of collecting antiquities from between the V century BC to the III century AD. Its first collection was formed from the archaeological collections of the "Museo Kircheriano" and the numerous new discoveries in Rome during the city-planning after it became the new capital of the new Kingdome of Italy. This was initially meant to be displayed in a "Museo Tiberino" (never realised), but in 1901 the State granted the institution the Villa Ludovisi and the important national collection of ancient sculptures. Its base was established in the XVI century cloister built by Michelangelo off the Baths of Diocletian, still its main base. These buildings' adaptation to their new purpose began for the 1911 exposition and completed in the 1930s. In 1990s, in a radical transformation, the museum's collections were divided between four different sites.
Baths of Diocletian - The historical seat of the National Museum of Rome includes the cloister of Michelangelo, a XVI-century garden and outdoor displays of altars and funerary sculptures and inscriptions. There is also the Octagonal Aula, restored in 1991 and devoted to sculptures found on baths sites in Rome, including the bronze Athlete and Boxer from the Baths of Constantine.
Palazzo Massimo - On the site of Pope Sixtus V's Villa Peretti (demolished in 1883 after the construction of the nearby train station), the present building was constructed in the neo-cinquecentesco style between 1883 and 1887 by the architect Camillo Pistrucci to house a Jesuit seminary. Used partially as a military hospital during the second world war, it then returned to scholastic functions until 1960. In 1981, by which time it was crumbling, the State acquired it and granted it to the museum. Its restoration and adaptation began in 1983. It was inaugurated as part of the museum in 1995 and completed in 1998. It accommodates the sculpture (republican, empire and late empire) and coin/jewelry collections. The Museum's numismatic collections shows the evolution of currency in Italy. Most of the coins on display in the collections are very rare. One room is also devoted to the mummy that was found in 1964 on the Via Cassia, inside a richly decorated sarcophagus with several artefacts in amber and pieces of jewellery also on display. Only open to the public on guided tours by museum staff.
Palazzo Altemps - Built in the XV century by the Riario family and rebuilt by the architect Martino Longhi for the cardinal Marco Sittico Altemps in the XVI century, it was granted by the State to the museum in 1982 and inaugurated in 1997. It houses the museum's displays on the history of collecting (sculptures from Renaissance collections such as the Mattei collections), including the Ludovisi Ares and the Suicide of a Gaul (from the same Pergamon group as the Dying Gaul) and the Egyptian Collection (sculptures of eastern deities). The palace includes also the historic private theatre, at present used to house temporary exhibitions, and the church of Sant'Aniceto.
Crypta Balbi - In 1981, digging on a derelict city-centre site in the Campus Martius, Daniel Manacorda and his team discovered the colonnaded quadriporticus of the Theatre of Lucius Cornelius Balbus, the nearby statio annonae and evidence of later, medieval occupation of the site. These are presented in this branch, inaugurated in 2001, which houses the archaeological remains and finds from that dig.
Piazza Navona
Piazza Navona is one of the most famous and beautiful square in Rome. The piazza follows the plan of an ancient Roman circus, the I century Stadium of Domitian, where the Romans came to watch the "agones" (games). Defined as a square in the last years of XV century, when the city market was transferred here from the Campidoglio. The market was moved in 1869 to Campo de' Fiori. The square has hosted theatrical shows and horse races. After 1652, on every August Saturday and Sunday, the square was turned into a lake to celebrate the Pamphilj family. This feast was suppressed in 1866. Piazza Navona is now the pride of Baroque Rome. It has sculptural and architectural creations: by Pietro da Cortona, who painted the gallery in the Pamphilj palace; by Francesco Borromini and Girolamo Rainaldi, the church of Sant'Agnese in Agone; and by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, the famous "Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi" (Fountain of the Four Rivers, 1651) in the center of the square. Piazza Navona contains two additional fountains sculpted by Giacome della Porta: the "Fontana di Nettuno" (1574), located at the northern area of Piazza Navona, and the "Fontana del Moro" (1576), located in the southern end of the piazza.
Fountain of the Four Rivers - The Fountain of the Four Rivers ("Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi") occupies the center of the large oval Piazza Navona. It is a masterpiece of Gian Lorenzo Bernini's, and emblematic of the dynamic and dramatic effects sought by high Baroque artists. It was erected in 1651 in front of the church of Sant'Agnese in Agone. The fountain means to depict allegories for the four great rivers in the four continents recognized by the Renaissance geographers: the Nile in Africa, Ganges in Asia, Danube in Europe and Rio de la Plata in America. Each has a river god, semi-prostrate, in awe of the central tower, epitomized by the slender Egyptian obelisk (built for the Roman Serapeum in 81 AD), symbolizing by Papal power surmounted by the Pamphilj symbol (dove). A legend is that Bernini positioned the cowering Rio de la Plata River as if the sculpture was fearing the facade of the church of Sant'Agnese by his rival Borromini could crumble against him; in fact, the fountain was completed several years before Borromini began work on the church.
Fountain of the Neptune - The Fountain of the Neptune, also known as the Fountain of the Boilermakers, is located at the northern extermity of Piazza Navona. The work owns the design and the realisation of its tank to the same Giacome della Porta author of the tank of the Moor Fountain at the opposite extremity of the square. It reached the unification of Italy without any decorations, and therefore to give to the Fountain of the Neptune a stylish similarity with the other fountains of the area, a competition was issued in 1878 for the realisation of the monumental apparatus; such competition was won by Gregorio Zappalà and Antonio Della Bitta. The first one realised the decoration complex based on the mythological theme of the "Nereidi with cupids and walruses", the second one realised the group of marbles "Neptune fighting with an octopus".
Moor Fountain - The Moor Fountain, located in the southern area of Piazza Navona, takes its name from the group of sculptures of the tank representing an Ethiopian fighting with a dolphin. The work, sculptured on a design of Bernini in 1654 by Giovanni Antonio Mari and which, in reality, should represent a triton, was expressly required by the sister-in-law of Innocent X, Olimpia Maidalchini, in order to give an ideal achievement to the tank realised by Giacomo della Porta, already placed on the square by the Pontiff Gregorio XIII in 1576.
Church of Sant'Agnese in Agone - The construction of the Church of Sant'Agnese in Agone started in 1652 on the site, as a legend wants, where Sant'Agnese was martyred in the Circus of Domitian. The first designs, by Girolamo Rainaldi in 1652, were for a Baroque church. They were commissioned by Pope Innocent X, whose funerary monument is housed within the church. The Pope's family, the Pamphilj, had a large palace adjacent and the church was to be a sort of a personal chapel annexed to the their residence. In the years 1653-1657 the works of the facade were completed by the important Baroque architect Francesco Borromini, who changed the distance between the two side towers and introduced a concave volume in the centre. Sant'Agnese in Agone is considered among Borromini's most restrained creations. The construction was completed by Carlo Rainaldi, son of Girolamo. The church has a Greek cross plan. The interior of the dome has paintings portraying the Martyrdom of St. Agnese (1670-1689) by Ciro Ferri and Sebastiano Corbellini. Under the church there are substantial remains of an ancient Roman house. The premier artwork in this church is sculptural, crowned by the marble relief in the main altar, placed in a setting installed by Carlo Rainaldi and Ciro Ferri, that depicts the Miracle of Sant'Agnese, initially commissioned from Alessandro Algardi, and completed by Ercole Ferrata and Domenico Guidi in 1688, under constraints that their product must remain in conformity with the original Algardi design.
Pantheon
The Pantheon was originally built as a temple to all the gods of Ancient Rome. The intended degree of inclusiveness of this dedication is debated. The generic term pantheon is now applied to a monument in which illustrious dead are buried. It is the best preserved of all Roman buildings, and perhaps the best preserved building of its age in the world. It has been in continuous use throughout its history. It was built in 27 BC by Marcus Agrippa and reconstructed by Hadrian in the early II century AD. Since the VII century, the Pantheon has been used as a Christian church. The building's consecration as a church saved it from the abandonment, destruction, and the worst of the spoliation which befell the majority of ancient Rome's buildings during the early medieval period. Sicne the Renaissance the Pantheon has been used as a tomb. Among those buried there are the painters Raphael and Annibale Carracci, the composer Arcangelo Corelli, and the architect Baldassare Peruzzi. Also buried there are two kings of Italy: Vittorio Emanuele II and Umberto's Queen, Margherita. In the XV century, the Pantheon was adorned with paintings: the best-known is the Annunciation by Melozzo da Forlì. Architects, like Brunelleschi, who used the Pantheon as help when designing the Cathedral of Florence's dome, looked to the Pantheon as inspiration for their works. Pope Urban VIII (1623 or 1644) ordered the bronze ceiling of the Pantheon's portico melted down. Most of the bronze was used to make bombards for the fortification of Castel Sant'Angelo. It is also said that the bronze was used by Bernini in creating his famous baldachin above the high altar of St. Peter's Basilica. A famous element in the Pantheon is its "Great Eve", the only source of light. The oculus also serves as a cooling and ventilation method. During storms, a drainage system below the floor handles the rain that falls through the oculus. The Pantheon id currently the oldest standing domed structure in Rome. The Pantheon is still a church and masses are still celebrated in the church, particularly on important Catholic days of obligation, and for weddings.
Palazzo Farnese
Palazzo Farnese is a prominent High Renaissance palace, which currently houses the French Embassy in Italy. The palace was designed by Antonio da Sangallo the Younger (1484-1546), one of Bramante's assistants in the design of St. Peter's. Construction began in 1515 after one or two years of preparations, commissioned by Alessandro Farnese, who had been appointed as a Cardinal in 1493 at age 25 (thanks to his sister, who was Pope Alexander VI Borgia's official mistress) and was living a princely lifestyle. Work was interrupted by the Sack of Rome in 1527. When in January 1534 Cardinal Alessandro was made pope, as Paul III, he employed Michelangelo to complete the third story with its deep cornice and revise the courtyard, as an emblematic "power house" suitable to the Farnese family. The palazzo was redesigned in 1534 and 1541, modified under Michelangelo after Sangallo's death in 1546 onwards, adjusted for the papal nephew Ranuccio Farnese by Vignola and completed by Giacomo della Porta's porticoed facade towards the Tiber, for the second cardinal Alessandro Farnese, finished in 1589. Several main rooms were frescoed with elaborate allegorical programs including a series of frescoes on Hercules, and the Loves of the Gods by Annibale Carracci and other artists. In Puccini's opera Tosca, set in Napoleonic Rome, the heroine's confrontation with the malevolent Chief of Police, Scarpia, takes place in Palazzo Farnese. The Palazzo was inherited from the Farnese by the Bourbon kings of Naples, from whom the French government purchased it in 1874. Though the government of Mussolini ransomed it in 1936, the French Embassy remains, under 99-years lease. The Palazzo Farnese houses the great scholarly library amassed by the "Ecole Française de Rome", concentrating especially on the archeology of Italy and medieval Papal history.
Jewish Ghetto and Outskirts
The Jewish Community of Rome is one of the most ancient in Europe. Papal bull, promulgated by Pope Paul IV in 1555 segregated the Jews, who had lived freely in Rome since Antiquity, in a walled quarter with three gates that were locked at night, and subjected them to various restrictions on their personal freedoms such as limits to allowed professions and compulsory Catholic sermons on the Jewish shabbat although to a lesser degree than in other European countries. In 1798, during the Roman Republic, the Ghetto was legally abolished, but it was reinstated as soon as the Papacy regained control. The ghetto of Rome was the last remaining ghetto in Western Europe until its later reintroduction by Nazi Germany. One of the most beautiful "buildings" in the Jewish Ghetto is the Great Synagogue. The building was constructed shortly after the unification of Italy in 1870, when the Kingdom of Italy captured Rome from the Napoleonic regime, which backed the Papal States. Victor Emmanuel II dismantled the Roman Ghetto and granted the Jews citizenship. The building which had previously housed the ghetto synagogue was demolished, and the Jewish community began making plans for a new and impressive building. Designed by Vincenzo Costa and Osvaldo Armanni, the synagogue was built from 1901 to 1904 on the banks of the Tiber, overlooking the former ghetto. The ecletic style of the building makes it stand out even in a city known for natable buildings and structures. This attention-grabbing design was a deliberate choice made by the community at the time who wanted the building to be a visible celebration of their freedom and to be seen from many vantage points in the city. The aluminium dome is the only squared dome in the city and makes the building easily identifiable even from a distance. Plates honor the local Jewish victims of Nazi Germany and of a Palestine Liberation Organization attack in 1982. Inside the Synagogue there is the Museum of the Jewish Art.
One of the main attractions, even if historically outside the ghetto, is the Fountain of the Tortoises in Piazza Mattei. The splendid fountain is a creation by Giacomo della Porta that admirably combines water, architecture and sculpture. It is also happily inserted into a corner of Rome that has remained more or less the same as when it was built. In 1570 a fountain should have been placed in the nearby ghetto in Piazza Giudia but on the intervention of the Mattei family it was built here in 1581. In the original plans another four bronze dolphins, perhaps the same ones that initially decorated the fountain in Campo de' Fiori, should have been found where the tortoises are now, but were inserted, perhaps by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, in 1658. Another interesting place is the famous Tiber Island. Even if out of the Ghetto, the Jewish presence is always been historically very strong, in fact here there was the Jewish Hospital.
Finally, to enjoy of the genuine Roman air, you can not renounce to a walk in Campo de' Fiori. "Campo dei Fiori", translated literally from Italian, means "Field of Flowers". The name, no longer appropriate, was first given during the Middle Ages when the area was actually a meadow. In 1456 under Pope Callixtus III, Ludovico Cardinal Trevisani paved the area: this was part of a greater project of improvement of the rione Parione. This renewal was both the result and cause of several important buildings being built in the surroundings. Capital punishments used to be held publicly in Campo de' Fiori. Here, on February 17th 1600, the philosopher Giordano Bruno was burnt alive by the Roman Inquisition because his ideas were deemed dangerous. In 1887 Ettore Ferrari dedicated a monument to him on the exact spot of his death. Since 1869 Campo de' Fiori is seat of a very coloured, vivid and picturesque market.
Piazza del Campidoglio
Piazza del Campidoglio was entirely designed by Michelangelo. The geometry is dynamic, marked by a trapezoidal plan (determined by the site) formed by three buildings and an oval pavement; the airy breadth of the piazza produces a relatively gentle effect of a special theatrical locus. The chief emphasis is one the facades of the two new side buildings, executed to Michelangelo's plans after his death. Two-story pilasters mark the front plane, unifying the open porch on the lower story and the closed upper one, thus mingling suggestions of compressed power and clear skeletal construction. In the middle, and not to Michelangelo's liking, stood the only equestrian bronze to have survived since Antiquity, that of Marcus Aurelius. Michelangelo provided an unassuming pedestal for it. The sculpture was held in regard because it was thought to depict Emperor Constantine, the first Christian Emperor. The bronze now in position is a modern copy; the original is in the "Musei Capitolini".
Capitoline Museums
The Capitoline Museums are a group of art and archeological museums in Piazza del Campidoglio, contained in three palaces. The history of the museums can be traced to 1471, when Pope Sixtus IV donated a collection of important ancient bronzes to the people of Rome and located them on Capitoline Hill. Since then, the museums' collection has grown to include a large number of ancient Roman statues, inscriptions, and other artifacts; a collection of medieval and renaissance art; and collections of jewels, coins, and other items. The two main buildings of the Capitoline Museums in Piazza del Campidoglio are: "Palazzo dei Conservatori", built in the mid-XVI century and redesigned by Michelangelo with the first use of the giant order column design; and "Palazzo Nuovo", built in the XVII century with an identical exterior design to the "Palazzo Conservatori". Another seat of the museums is in the "Centrale Montemartini". The Centrale Montemartini is a former power station of Acea (active as a power-station between the 1890s and 1930s). Its permanent collection comprises 400 ancient statues, moved here during the reorganisation of the Capitoline Museums in 1997, along with tombs, busts, and mosaics. Many of them were excavated in the ancient Roman horti between the 1890s and 1930s, a fruitful period for Roman archaeology.
The most famous operas in the Capitoline Museums are the bronze sculpture of Marcus Aurelius and the Capitoline Wolf.
Opening Hours
Open from Tuesday to Sunday from 09:00 am to 08:00 pm; December 24th and 31st from 09:00 am to 02:00 pm. The ticket office closes one hour in advance.
Closed Monday, December 25th, January 1st, May 1st.
Piazza Venezia
The Piazza Venezia is at the foot of the Capitoline Hill and near the Roman Forum. It is dominated by the imposing "Vittoriano". The National Monument of Victor Emmanuel II is a monument to honour Victor Emmanuel, the first king of a unified Italy. The monument was designed by Giuseppe Sacconi in 1895. The monument is built of pure white marble. The flame in the centre and the military guards mark Italy's tomb of the unknown soldier.
Doria-Pamphilj Gallery
The Doria-Pamphilj Gallery is a large art collection housed in the palace Doria-Pamphilj. The large collection of paintings, furniture and statuary has been assembled since the XVI century by the Doria, Pamphilj, Landi and Aldobrandini families now united through marriage and descent under the simplified surname Doria-Pamphilj. In the Gallery we can find works by Tintoretto, Tiziano, Raffaello, Correggio, Caravaggio, Velàzquez and many other important artists.
Imperial Fora
The Imperial Fora consist of a series of monumental fora (public squares), constructed in Rome over a period of one and half centuries, between 46 BC and 113 AD. The forums were the heart of the late Roman Republic and of the Roman Empire. The Imperial Forums are not part of the Roman Forum, which was the public square during the Roman Republic.
Forum of Caesar - Julius Caesar decided to construct a large forum bearing his name. This forum was inaugurated in 46 BC, though it was probably incomplete at this time and was finished later by Augustus. The Forum of Caesar was constructed as an extension to the Roman Forum. The Forum was used as a replacement venue to the Roman Forum for public affairs as well as government; it was also designed as a celebration of Caesar's power. Caesar had placed, on the front of his forum, a temple devoted to Venus Genitrix, since Caesar's family (gens Julia) claimed to descend by Venus through Aeneas.
Forum of Augustus - In the battle of Philippi in 42 BC, in which Augustus and Mark Antony worked together and avenged Caesar's death, defeating the forces of Brutus and Cassius, Augustus vowed to build a temple dedicated to Mars Ultor (Mars the Avenger). The incomplete forum was inaugurated, after 40 years of construction, in 2 BC, adding the second monumental square, the Forum of Augustus. This new complex lies at right angles to the Forum of Caesar. The temple consists of a very tall wall, and this stil distinguishes itself from the popular neighbourhood of Suburra. This high wall served as a firebreak, protecting the Forum area from the frequent conflagrations from which Rome suffered.
Temple of Peace - In 75 AD, under Emperor Vespasian, another great square was built. The fact that this structure is not mentioned as having a civil function has prevented it from being classified as a true Forum. Therefore the structure was simply identified as the Temple of Peace until the late Empire. The monument was built to celebrate the conquest of Jerusalem.
Forum of Nerva, or the Transitional Forum - Domitian decided to unify the previous complex and the free remaining irregular area, between the Temple of Peace and the Forums of Caesar and Augustus, and build another monumental forum which connected all of the others forums. Because of the death of Domitian, the forum was inaugurated by his successor, Nerva, who gave his own name to the forum. The Forum of Nerva is also known as Transitional Forum because it worked as an access way, just like via dell'Argileto had done.
Forum of Trajan - It is probable that Domitian's projects were more ambitious than the building of the small "Forum of Nerva", and probably under his reign they started to remove the small saddle that united the Capitoline Hill to the Quirinal Hill, thus blocking the Forums towards Campus Martius, near to modern Piazza Venezia. The project was resumed by Trajan with the construction of Trajan's Forum between 112 and 113. The occasion was the conquest of Dacia, whose spoils paid for this celebration of the military conquests of Rome. The last Forum was also the biggest and greatest.
Roman Forum
The Roman Forum, the oldest and most important forum, was the central area around which ancient Rome developed, in which commerce and the administration of justice took place. It was built on the site of a past cemetery. Sequences of remains of paving show that sediment eroded from the surrounding hills was already raising the level of the forum in early Republican times. Originally it had been marshy ground, which was drained by the Tarquins with the Cloaca Maxima. Its final travertine paving, still visible, dates from the reign of Augustus. The ruins within the forum clearly show how urban spaces were utilized during the Roman Age. During the Middle Ages, though the memory of the Roman Forum persisted, its monuments were for the most part buried under debris, and its location was designed the "Campo Vaccino" or "Cattle Field", located between the Capitoline Hill and the Colosseum. The return of Pope Urban V from Avignon in 1367 led to an increased interest in ancient monuments, partly for their moral lesson and partly as a quarry for new buildings being undertaken in Rome after long laspe. A cardinal took measures to drain it again and built the Alessandrine neighborhood over it. But the excavation by Carlo Fea, who began clearing the debris from the Arch of Septimius Severus in 1803, and archaeologists under the Napoleonic regime marked the beginning of clearing the Forum, which was only fully excavated in the early XX century.
Arch of Constantine
The Arch of Constantine is the largest and most famous triumphal arch erected in Rome. It was erected in 312 AD to commemorate Constantine I's victory over Maxentius at the Battle of Milvian Bridge, and dedicated in 315 AD. The arch spans the Via Triumphalis, the way taken by the emperors when they entered the city in triumph. The general design with a main part structured by detached columns and an attic with the main inscription above is modelled after the example of the Arch of Septimius Severus on the Roman Forum. The Arch of Constantine has three archways, the central one is the biggest. Above the middle archway, the main inscription takes the most prominent place of the attic. It is identical on both sides of the arch and would originally have been bronze letters. It can still be read easily, though only the recesses in which the letters sat, and their attachment holes, remain. The words "instinctu divinitatis" (inspired by the divine) have been much commented. They are usually read as sign of Constantine's shifting religious affiliation: the Christian tradition relates the story of a vision of God to Constantine during the campaign, and that he was victorious in the sign of the cross at the Milvian Bridge.
Colosseum
The Colosseum, originally the Flavian Amphitheatre, is an elliptical amphitheatre, the largest ever built in the Roman Empire. It is one of the greatest works of Roman architecture and engineering. Occupying a site just east of the Roman Forum, its construction started between 70 and 72 AD under the emperor Vespasian and was completed in 80 AD under Titus, with further modifications being made during Domitian's reign (81-96). Dio Cassius recounts that over 9.000 wild animals were killed during the inaugural games of the amphitheatre. The site chosen was a flat area on the floor of a low valley between the Caelian, Esquiline and Palatine Hills, through which a canalised steam ran. By the II century BC the area was densely inhabited. It was devasted by the Great Fire of Rome in 64 AD, following which Nero seized much of the area to add to his personal domain. He built the grandiose Domus Aurea on the site, in front of which he created an artificial lake surrounded by pavillions, gardens and porticoes. The existing Acqua Claudia acqueduct was extended to suplly water to the area and the gigantic bronze Colossus of Nero was set up nearby at the entrance to the Domus Aurea. The lake was filled in and the land reused as the location for the new Flavian Amphitheatre. In constrast to many other amphitheatres, which were located on the outskirts of a city, the Colosseum was constructed in the city centre; in effect, placing it both literally and symbolically at the heart of Rome. The name "Amphitheatrum Flavium" derives from both Vespasian's and Titus' family name (Flavius, from the gens Flavia). While the name Colosseum has long been believed to be derived from a colossal statue of Nero nearby. The statue itself was largely forgotten and only its base survives, situated between the Colosseum and the nearby Temple of Venus and Roma.
Originally capable of seating around 50.000 spectators, the Colosseum was used for gladiatorial contests and public spectacles. It remained in use for nearly 500 years with the last recorded games being held there as late as the VI century. As well as the traditional gladiatorial games, many other public spectacles were held there, such as mock sea battles, animals hunts, executions, re-enactments of famous battles, and dramas based on Classical mythology. The building eventually ceased to be used for entertainment in the early medieval era. It was later resude for such varied purposes as housing, workshops, quarters for a religious order, a fortress, a quarry and a Christian shrine. Although it is now in a ruined condition due to damage caused by earthquakes and stone-robbers, the Colosseum has long been seen as an iconic symbol of Imperial Rome. In recent years it has become a symbol of the international campaign against capital punishment, which was abolished in Italy in 1948. As a gesture against the death penalty, the local authorities of Rome change the color of the Colosseum's night time illumination from white to gold whenever a person condemned to the death penalty anywhere in the world gets their sentence commuted or is released, or if a jurisdiction abolishes the death penalty. On July 7th 2007 the Colosseum was voted as one of New Open World Corporation's New Seven Wonders of the World.
Domus Aurea
The Domus Aurea ("Golden House") was a large landscaped portico villa, designed to take advantage of artificially created landscapes built in the heart of Ancient Rome by the Roman emperor Nero after the Great Fire of Rome, which devastated Rome in 64 AD. Built of brick and concrete in the few years between the fire and Nero's suicide in 68, the extensive gold-leaf that gave it its name was not the only extravagant element of its decor: stuccoed ceilings were apllied with semi-precious stones and veneers of ivory while the walls were frescoed, coordinating the decoration into different themes in each major group of rooms. Though the Domus Aurea complex covered parts of the slopes of the Palatine, Esquiline and Caelian Hills, with a man-made lake in the marshy bottomlands, the estimated size of the Domus Aurea is an approximation, as much of it has not been excavated. The Golden House was a party villa, as shown by the presence of 300 rooms without any sleeping quarter. Nero's own palace remained on the Quirinal Hill. Strangely, no kitchens or latrines have been rediscovered yet either. There were pools in the floors and fountains splashing in the corridors. Some of the extravagances of the Domus Aurea had repercussions for the future. The architects designed two of the principal dining rooms to flank an octagonal court, surmounted by a dome with a giant central oculus to let in light. It was probably the first use of a dome that was not in a temple dedicated to the gods, such as the Pantheon, and an early use of concrete construction. One innovation was destined to have an enormous influence on the art of the future: Nero placed mosaics, previously restricted to floors, in the vaulted ceilings. Only fragments have survived, but that technique was to be copied extensively, eventually ending up as a fundamental feature of Christian art: the apse mosaics that decorate so many churches in Rome, Sicily and Constantinople. After Nero's death, the Golden House was a severe embarrassment to his successors. It was stripped of its marble, its jewels and its ivory within a decade. Soon after Nero's death, the palace and grounds, were filled with earth and built over: the Baths of Titus were already being built on part of the site in 79 AD. On the site of the lake, in the middle of the palace grounds, Vespasian built the Flavian Amphitheatre, which could be reflooded at will, with the Colossus Neronis beside it. The Baths of Trajan and the Temple of Venus and Roma were also built on the site. Within 40 years, the Golden House was completely obliterated, buried beneath the new constructions, but paradoxically this ensured the wallpaintings' survival by protecting them from dampness. When a young Roman inadvertently fell through a cleft in the Aventine hillside at the end of the XV century, he found himself in a strange cave or grotta filled with painted figures. Soon the young artists of Rome were having themselves let down on boards knotted to ropes to see for themselves. The fourth style frescoes that were uncovered then have faded to pale gray stains on the plaster now, but the effect of these freshly-rediscovered grottesche decorations was electrifying in the early Renaissance, which was just arriving in Rome. When Pinturicchio, Raphael and Michelangelo crawled underground and were let down shafts to study them, carving their names on the walls to let the world know they had been there, the paintings were a revelation of the true world of antiquity.
Palatine Hill
The Palatine Hill is one of the most ancient parts of the city. Roma has its origins on the Palatine. Indeed, recent excavations show that people have lived there since approximately 1000 BC. It stands above the Roman, looking down upon it on one side, and upon the Circus Maximus on the other. According to Roman mythology, the Palatine Hill was the location of the cave, known as the Lupercal, where Romulus and Remus were found by the she-wolf that kept them alive. According to this legend, the shepherd Faustulus found the infants, and with his wife Acca Larentia raised the children. When they were older, the boys' killed their great-uncle (who seized the throne from their father), and they both decided to build a new city of their own on the banks of the River Tiber. Suddenly, they had a violent argument with each other and then in the end Romulus killed his twin brother Remus. During Augustus' reign, an area of the Palatine Hill was roped off for a sort of archaeological expedition, which found fragments of Bronze Age pots and tools. He declared this site the "original town of Rome". Modern archaeology has identified evidence of Bronze Age settlement in the area which predated Rome's founding. The Palatine Hill is now a large open-air museum and can be visited during the daytime for a small charge on the same ticket as the Colosseum.
Circus Maximus
The Circus Maximus is an ancient hippodrome and mass entertainment venue. Situated in the valley bewteen the Aventine and Palatine hills, the location was first utilized for public games and entertainment by the Etruscan kings of Rome. Certainly, the first games of the "Ludi Romani" (Roman Games) were staged at the location by Tarquinius Priscus, the fifth Etruscan ruler of Rome. Somewhat later, the Circus was the site of public games and festivals influenced by the Greeks in the II century BC. Meeting the demands of the Roman citizenry for mass public entertainment on a lavish scale, Julius Caesar expanded the Circus around 50 BC, after which the Circus could accommodate an estimated 250.00 spectators (many more, perhaps an equal number again, could view the games by standing, crowding and lining the adjonining hills). The emperor Trajan later added another 5.000 seats and expanded the emperor's seating in order to increase his public visibility during the games. Chariot racing was the most important event at the Circus. The track could hold twelve chariots, and the two sides of the track were separated by a raised median termed the spina. The spina was set slightly diagonally. Statues of various gods were set up on the spina, and Augustus erected an Egyptian obelisk on it as well. At either end of the spina was a turning post, the meta, around which chariots made dangerous turn at speed. On top of the spina, there were rotatable metal dolphins that were turned down to mark laps around the course. Chariot racing was a very dangerous sport, frequently resulting in spectacular crashes and quite possibly the death of one or more of the contestants. Very little now remains of the Circus, except for the now grass-covered racing track and the spina. The Circus Maximus retained the honour of being the first and largest circus in Rome, but it was not the only example: other Roman circus included the Circus Flaminius (in which the "Ludi Plebeii" were held), the Circus of Maxentius and the Circus of Nero. The Circus still occasionally entertains the Romans; being a large, green area in the center of the city, it is often used for concerts and meetings. The Italian World Cup 2006 victory was celebrated here.
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