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ROMA

BASILICA SAN GIOVANNI IN LATERANO

The Cathedral of the Most Holy Savior and of Saints John the Baptist and the Evangelist in the wLateran, (Italian: Santissimo Salvatore e Santi Giovanni Battista ed Evangelista in Laterano) - also known as the Papal Archbasilica of St. John [in] Lateran, St. John Lateran, or the Lateran Basilica is the cathedral church of Rome, Italy and therefore houses the cathedra, or ecclesiastical seat, of the Bishop of Rome (Pope). It is the oldest and highest ranking of the four papal major basilicas, giving it the unique title of “archbasilica”.

The current archpriest is Angelo De Donatis, Vicar General for the Diocese of Rome.[4] The President of the French Republic, currently Emmanuel Macron, is ex officio the “first and only honorary canon” of the archbasilica, a title that the heads of state of France have possessed since King Henry IV.

The large Latin inscription on the façade reads: Clemens XII Pont Max Anno V Christo Salvatori In Hon SS Ioan Bapt et Evang; which is a highly abbreviated inscription which translates to: “Pope Clement XII, in the fifth year [of Because it is the oldest public his Pontificate, dedicated this buchurch in the city of Rome, and ilding] to Christ the Savior, in houses the cathedra of the Ro- honor of Saints John the Baptist man bishop,[2][3] it has the tit- and [John] the Evangelist”.[5] The le of ecumenical mother chur- inscription indicates, along with ch of the Catholic faithful. its full title (see below), that thwe archbasilica was originally dedi-

cated to Christ the Savior and, centuries later, co-dedicated to St. John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist. As the Cathedral of the Pope qua Bishop of Rome, it ranks superior to all other churches of the Roman Catholic Church, including St. Peter’s Basilica, and therefore it alone is titled “Archbasilica” among all other basilicas. The archbasilica is sited in the City of Rome, outside and distanced from Vatican City proper, which is approximately 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) to its northwest, although the archbasilica and its adjoining edifices have extraterritorial status from Italy as one of the properties of the Holy See, subject to the sovereignty of the latter, pursuant to the Lateran Treaty of 1929 with Italy under Benito Mussolini. LOOK ON GOOGLE

COLOSSEO

The Colosseum or Coliseum, also known as the Flavian Amphitheatre (Latin: Amphitheatrum Flavium; Italian: Anfiteatro Flavio or Colosseo , is an oval amphitheatre in the centre of the city of Rome, Italy. Built of travertine, tuff, and brick-faced concrete,[1] it is the largest amphitheatre ever built. The Colosseum is situated just east of the Roman Forum. Construction began under the emperor Vespasian in AD 72,[2] and was completed in AD 80 under his successor and heir Titus. [3] Further modifications were made during the reign of Domitian (81–96).[4] These three emperors are known as the Flavian dynasty, and the amphitheatre was named in Latin for its association with their family name (Flavius). The Colosseum could hold, it is estimated, between 50,000 and 80,000

spectators,[5][6] having an average audience of some 65,000;[7][8] it was used for gladiatorial contests and public spectacles such as mock sea battles (for only a short time as the hypogeum was soon filled in with mechanisms to support the other activities), animal hunts, executions, re-enactments of famous battles, and dramas based on Classical mythology. The building ceased to be used for entertainment in the early medieval era. It was later reused for such purposes as housing, workshops, quarters for a religious order, a fortress, a quarry, and a Christian shrine.

has links to the Roman Catholic Church, as each Good Friday the Pope leads a torchlit “Way of the Cross” procession that starts in the area around the Colosseum.[9] The Colosseum is also depicted on the Italian version of the five-cent euro coin.

The Colosseum The Colosseum’s original Latin name was Amphitheatrum Flavium, often anglicized as Flavian Amphitheatre. The building was constructed by emperors of the Flavian dynasty, following the reign of Nero.[10] This name Although partially ruined because is still used in modern Engliof damage caused by earthquakes sh, but generally the structure is and stone-robbers, the Colosseum better known as the Colosseum. is still an iconic symbol of Imperial Rome. It is one of Rome’s most popular tourist attractions and also LOOK ON GOOGLE

BASILICA DI SANTA CROCE IN GERUSALEMME

The Basilica of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem or Basilica di Santa Croce in Gerusalemme, (Latin: Basilica Sanctae Crucis in Hierusalem) is a Roman Catholic minor basilica and titular church in rione Esquilino, Rome, Italy. It is one of the Seven Pilgrim Churches of Rome. According to tradition, the basilica was consecrated circa 325 to house the relics of the Passion of Jesus Christ brought to Rome from the Holy Land by Empress St. Helena, mother of Roman Emperor Constantine I. At that time, the Basilica’s floor was covered with soil from Jerusalem, thus acquiring the title in Hierusalem; it is not dedicated to the Holy Cross which is in Jerusalem, but the Basilica itself is “in Jerusalem” in the sense that a “piece” of Jerusalem was moved to Rome for its foundation. The most

recent Cardinal Priest of the Titulus frescoes telling the Legends of the S. Crucis in Hierusalem was Juan True Cross, attributed to Melozzo, José Omella, since 28 June 2017. Antoniazzo Romano, and Marco Palmezzano. The Museum of the Several famous relics of disputed Basilica houses a mosaic icon whiauthenticity are housed in the Cap- ch, according to the legend, Pope pella delle Reliquie, built in 1930 Gregory I had made after a vision by architect Florestano Di Fausto, of Christ. The icon, however, is including part of the Elogium or believed to have been given to the Titulus Crucis, i.e. the panel which Basilica around 1385 by Raimondo was hung on Christ’s Cross (gene- Del Balzo Orsini.[9] Notable also rally either ignored by scholars[6] is the tomb of Cardinal Francisco or considered to be a mediaeval for- de los Ángeles Quiñones sculpgery[7]); two thorns of the Crown ted by Jacopo Sansovino in 1536. of Thorns; part of a nail; and three small wooden pieces of the True At one time the site of the temCross. A much larger piece of the ple of El Gabal, or Sol Invictus, True Cross was taken from the Ba- the god of Emperor Elagabalus, silica on the instructions of Pope the Basilica was later built around Urban VIII in 1629 to St. Peter’s Ba- a room in Empress St. Helesilica, where it is kept near the co- na’s imperial palace, the Palazzo lossal statue of St. Empress Helena Sessoriano, which she conversculpted by Andrea Bolgi in 1639.. ted into a chapel circa AD 320. The apse of the Basilica includes LOOK ON GOOGLE

VIA DEI FORI IMPERIALI E FOTO ROMANO

evoke and emulate the past glories of Ancient Rome. But he also built the Via dei Fori Imperiali across the middle of the site, supposedly in order that he could see the Colosseum from his office window. The modern street and its heavy traffic has proved a source of damage to the buildings because of vibration The Imperial forums, while not and pollution. There have been a part of the Roman Forum, are lo- number of proposals to remove the cated relatively close to each other. road, but none have taken effect. Julius Caesar was the first to build in this section of Rome and rear- Julius Caesar decided to conranged both the Forum and the struct a large forum bearing his Comitium, another forum type name. This forum was inauguraspace designated for politics, to do ted in 46 BC, although it was proso. These forums were the centres bably incomplete at this time and of politics, religion and economy was finished later by Augustus. in the ancient Roman Empire. The Forum of Caesar was conDuring the early 20th century, structed as an extension to the Mussolini restored the Imperial Roman Forum. The Forum was Fora as part of his campaign to used as a replacement venue to the The Imperial Fora (Fori Imperiali in Italian) are a series of monumental fora (public squares), constructed in Rome over a period of one and a half centuries, between 46 BC and 113 AD. The forums were the center of the Roman Republic and of the Roman Empire.

Roman Forum for public affairs as well as government; it was also designed as a celebration of Caesar’s power. death, the Senate agreed to reconstruct the Curia on the site. In 2007, a museum dedicated to the Imperial Fora was opened in the Trajan’s Markets, which once constituted the northern edge of the Forum of Trajan. The new museum, named “Museo dei Fori Imperiali” (English: Museums of Imperial Fora) by the means of sculptures, videos, architectural pieces, and scale models depicts the history of the four forums and the Temple of Peace.

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BASILICA SANTA MARIA MAGGIORE

Basilica of Saint Mary Major’, Latin: Basilica Sanctae Mariae Maioris),[2] or church of Santa Maria Maggiore, is a Papal major basilica and the largest Catholic Marian church in Rome, Italy, from which size it receives the appellation “major”.

the Holy See fully owns the Basilica, and Italy is legally obligated to recognize its full ownership thereof[4] and to concede to it “the immunity granted by International Law to the headquarters of the diplomatic agents of foreign States.”

The Basilica is sometimes referred to as Our Lady of the Snows, a name given to it in the Roman Missal from 1568 to 1969 in connection with the liturgical feast of the anniversary of its dedication on 5 August, a feast that was then denominated Dedicatio Sanctae Mariae ad Nives (Dedication of Saint Mary of the Snows). This name for the basilica had become popular in Pursuant to the Lateran Treaty of the 14th century[6] in connection 1929 between the Holy See and with a legend that the 1911 CaItaly, the Basilica is within Italian tholic Encyclopedia reports thus: territory and not the territory of “During the pontificate of Liberithe Vatican City State.[3] However, us, the Roman patrician John and The basilica enshrines the venerated image of Salus Populi Romani, depicting the Blessed Virgin Mary as the help and protectress of the Roman people, which was granted a Canonical coronation by Pope Gregory XVI on 15 August 1838 accompanied by his Papal bull Cælestis Regina.

his wife, who were without heirs, made a vow to donate their possessions to the Virgin Mary. They prayed that she might make known to them how they were to dispose of their property in her honour. On 5 August, at the height of the Roman summer, snow fell during the night on the summit of the Esquiline Hill. In obedience to a vision of the Virgin Mary which they had the same night, the couple built a basilica in honour of Mary on the very spot which was covered with snow. From the fact that no mention whatever is made of this alleged miracle until a few hundred years later, not even by Sixtus III in his eight-line dedicatory inscription ... it would seem that the legend has no historical basis.”

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RIONE MONTI

Monti is the name of one of the twenty-two Rioni of Rome, rione I, located in Municipio I. The name literally means mountains in Italian and comes from the fact that the Esquiline and the Viminal Hills, and parts of the Quirinal and the Caelian Hills belonged to this rione. Its logo consists of three green mountains with three tops on a silver background.

was completely different: the Roman aqueducts were damaged, and it was very difficult to bring water to Monti since it was on the hills. Hence many inhabitants moved to Campus Martius, a lower level part, where they could drink the water from the river Tiber.

From the Middle Ages to the beginning of the 19th century, the rione remained an area full of Today the Esquilino, Castro Pretorio vineyards and market gardens. and Celio districts do not belong to Monti was not densely populated it anymore, but it has kept its name. because of the lack of water and because it was quite far from the In ancient times the rione was Vatican, the center of Christian densely populated: in Monti the- culture. The area did not become re were the Forum Romanum and abandoned thanks to the church of the so-called Suburra: this was San Giovanni in Laterano and the the place poor people lived, full of constant high number of pilgrims.. disreputable locals and brothels. Still in the Middle Ages the inhaIn the Middle Ages the situation bitants of Monti, called monticiani,

developed a strong identity: their Roman dialect was different from that spoken in the other rioni. Their main enemies were the people from the other rione with a strong identity, Trastevere, and they often used to fight with one another. Then, with growing urbanization at the end of the 19th century after Rome had become the capital of a united Italy, the great changes of the Fascist period completely changed the appearance of the rione. In particular, between 1924 and 1936, a large part of the rione, consisting of small streets and popular houses, was destroyed to make way for the Via dei Fori Imperiali (the street artificially dividing the Roman Forum and most of the Imperial forums) and the archaeological buildings of the Forum Romanum were excavated. LOOK ON GOOGLE

VITTORIANO

“Altar of the Fatherland”), also known as the Monumento Nazionale a Vittorio Emanuele II (“National Monument to Victor Emmanuel II”) or Il Vittoriano, is a monument built in honor of Victor Emmanuel, the first king of a unified Italy, located in Rome, Italy. It occupies a site between the Piazza Venezia and the Capitoline Hill. The eclectic structure was designed by Giuseppe Sacconi in 1885. Established Italian sculptors, such as Leonardo Bistolfi and Angelo Zanelli, made its sculptures nationwide. [1] It was inaugurated in 1911 and completed in 1925.[2]

ft) wide and 70 m (230 ft) high. If the quadrigae and winged victories are included, the height reaches 81 m (266 ft).[2] It has a total area of 17,000 square metres.

The base of the structure houses the museum of Italian Unification.[2][3] In 2007, a panoramic lift was added to the structure, allowing visitors to ride up to the roof for 360-degree views of Rome. The monument holds the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier with an eternal flame, built under the statue of goddess Roma after World War I following an idea of General Giulio Douhet. The body of The Vittoriano features stairways, the unknown soldier was chosen Corinthian columns, fountains, on 26 October 1921 from among an equestrian sculpture of Victor 11 unknown remains by Maria Emmanuel and two statues of the Bergamas, a woman from Gradigoddess Victoria riding on qua- sca d’Isonzo whose only child was drigas. The structure is 135 m (443 killed during World War I. Her

son’s body was never recovered. The selected unknown was transferred from Aquileia, where the ceremony with Bergamas had taken place, to Rome and buried in a state funeral on 4 November 1921. The flags of disbanded units of the Italian Armed Forces, as well as the flags of ships stricken from the naval register of the Italian Navy are stored at the Vittoriano in the so-called Shrine of the Flags (Sacrario delle Bandiere). The oldest flag on display is the flag of the 19th-century frigate Giuseppe Garibaldi.

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GIARDINO DEGLI ARANCI- AVENTINO

The Orange Garden (Italian: Giardino degli Aranci) is the name used in Rome to describe the Savello park (Parco Savello). It is about 7,800 square meters and is located on the Aventine Hill. The park offers an excellent view of the city. The garden, as it is today, was designed in 1932 by Raffaele De Vico. [1]It was constructed to offer public access to the view from the side of the hill, creating a new ‘’belvedere’’, to be added to the existing viewpoints in Rome from the Pincian Hill and the Janiculum.

by the Crescentii in the tenth century. The garden is bordered by a wall that once surrounded the Savelli castle and other remains of the castle can also be still seen. [1] Orange trees and the terrace at the Orange Garden, Rome The castle was later given to the Dominican Order from Santa Sabina, which transformed it into a monastery, and the small park into a vegetable garden. According to legend Saint Dominic gave the garden its first orange tree, after transporting a sapling from Spain. Legend also tells that Saint Catherine of Siena picked the oranges from this tree and made candied fruit, which she gave to Pope Urban VI.

The garden, whose name comes from the many bitter orange trees growing there, extends over the area of an ancient fortress built near the basilica of Santa Sabina by the Savelli family between 1285 The garden setting is very symand 1287, which, in turn, was bu- metrical, with a central avenue ilt over an old castle constructed aligned with the viewpoint, and la-

ter named in honour of the actor Nino Manfredi. The central square is named after another Roman actor, Fiorenzo Fiorentini, who for many years led the ongoing summer theatre season in the park. The fountain at the entrance in Piazza Pietro D’Illiria is made up of two separate pieces: a Roman thermal bath, and a monumental marble mask originally carved to adorn a fountain built in 1593 by Giacomo della Porta for a cattle market (Campo Vaccino) in the centre of Rome.

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CAMPO DEI FIORI

ft) wide and 70 m (230 ft) high. If the quadrigae and winged victories are included, the height reaches 81 m (266 ft).[2] It has a total area of 17,000 square metres.

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SAN PIETRO BUCO DELLA SERRATURA- VILLA DEL PRIORATO

Villa del Priorato di Malta or Magistral Villa,[1] located on the Aventine Hill in Rome, is one of the two institutional seats of the government of the Sovereign Order of Malta. Along with Magistral Palace, the estate is granted extraterritorial status by Italy. It also hosts the Grand Priory of Rome and the embassy of the Sovereign Order of Malta to Italy.

toriality in 1869.[3] On the piano nobile is an assemblage of portraits of the Grand Masters of the Order.

At the northern side of the square the monumental entrance screen is located, also designed by Piranesi under commission from Cardinal Carlo Rezzonico, nephew of Pope Clement XIII. The Villa is arguably best known for a small keyhole (Il Buco Della Serratura) in the arThe site, on a rise directly overlo- ch-headed central portone, throuoking the Tiber and access to the gh which the copper-green dome Roman Pons Sublicius, was already of Saint Peter’s Basilica, the cena fortified Benedictine monastery ter of Roman Catholicism, can be in the tenth century. The monastery viewed at the end of a garden alpassed to the Templars and after lée framed in clipped cypresses. the destruction of their order, to the Knights Hospitallers, predeces- The parterre garden links the villa sors of the present Order of Malta. with the Order’s Church of SanRadical rebuilding was undertaken ta Maria del Priorato, an ancient in the 15th through 17th centuries. church completely redesigned by The villa was granted extraterri- Piranesi in 1765, affording perhaps

the earliest example in Rome of Neoclassical architecture.[6] Its facade is capped with a low pediment; paired pilasters on either side of the door have fanciful capitals each formed of a tower flanked by seated sphinxes; other elements of the classical vocabulary are also combined in fanciful and personal ways. The site is reached by via Santa Sabina, which ends in the small, picturesque piazza dei Cavallieri di Malta enclosed on two sides by the cypresses of the garden of the Benedictines backing the fantasy screen of obelisks and stele constructed in 1765 to designs by Giovanni Battista Piranesi, one of the very few executed designs by this etcher of Roman.

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CASTEL SANT ANGELO

wife Sabina, and his first adopted son, Lucius Aelius, who died in 138. Following this, the remains of succeeding emperors were also placed here, the last recorded deposition being Caracalla in 217. The urns containing these ashes were probably placed in what is now known as the Treasury room deep within the building. Hadrian also built the Pons Aelius facing straight onto the mausoleum – it still provides a scenic approach from the center of Rome and the The tomb of the Roman empe- left bank of the Tiber, and is reror Hadrian, also called Hadrian’s nowned for the Baroque additions mole,[1] was erected on the right of statues of angels holding aloft inbank of the Tiber, between 134 and struments of the Passion of Christ. 139 AD.[2] Originally the mausoleum was a decorated cylinder, Much of the tomb contents and with a garden top and golden qua- decorations have been lost since driga. Hadrian’s ashes were placed the building’s conversion to a mihere a year after his death in Baiae litary fortress in 401 and its subin 138, together with those of his sequent inclusion in the Aurelian The Mausoleum of Hadrian, usually known as Castel Sant’Angelo (Italian pronunciation: English: Castle of the Holy Angel), is a towering cylindrical building in Parco Adriano, Rome, Italy. It was initially commissioned by the Roman Emperor Hadrian as a mausoleum for himself and his family. The building was later used by the popes as a fortress and castle, and is now a museum. The structure was once the tallest building in Rome.

Walls by Flavius Augustus Honorius. The urns and ashes were scattered by Visigoth looters during Alaric’s sacking of Rome in 410, and the original decorative bronze and stone statuary were thrown down upon the attacking Goths when they besieged Rome in 537, as recounted by Procopius. n unusual survivor, however, is the capstone of a funerary urn (probably that of Hadrian), which made its way to Saint Peter’s Basilica, covered the tomb of Otto II and later was incorporated into a massive Renaissance baptistery. [3] The use of spolia from the tomb in the post-Roman period was noted in the 16th century.

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PANTHEON

Pantheion, “[temple] of all the gods”) is a former Roman temple, now a church, in Rome, Italy, on the site of an earlier temple commissioned by Marcus Agrippa during the reign of Augustus (27 BC – 14 AD). The present building was completed by the emperor Hadrian and probably dedicated about 126 AD. He retained Agrippa’s original inscription, which has caused confusion over its date of construction as the original Pantheon burned down, so it is not certain when the present one was built.

lus) to the sky. Almost two thousand years after it was built, the Pantheon’s dome is still the world’s largest unreinforced concrete dome.[3] The height to the oculus and the diameter of the interior circle are the same, 142 feet (43 m).[4]

It is one of the best-preserved of all Ancient Roman buildings, in large part because it has been in continuous use throughout its history, and since the 7th century, the Pantheon has been used as a church dedicated to “St. Mary and the Martyrs” (Latin: Sancta The building is circular with a por- Maria ad Martyres) but informaltico of large granite Corinthian co- ly known as “Santa Maria Rotonlumns (eight in the first rank and da”.[5] The square in front of the two groups of four behind) under Pantheon is called Piazza della a pediment. A rectangular vestibu- Rotonda. The Pantheon is a state le links the porch to the rotunda, property, ruled by Italy’s Ministry which is under a coffered concrete of Cultural Heritage and Actividome, with a central opening (ocu- ties and Tourism through the Polo

Museale del Lazio; in 2013 it was visited by over 6 million people. The Pantheon’s large circular domed cella, with a conventional temple portico front, was unique in Roman architecture. Nevertheless, it became a standard exemplar when classical styles were revived, and has been copied many times by later architects. Godfrey and Hemsoll point out that ancient authors never refer to Hadrian’s Pantheon with the word aedes, as they do with other temples, and the Severan inscription carved on the architrave uses simply “Pantheum,” not “Aedes Panthei” (temple of all the gods).

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TRASTEVERE

“bridge built on wooden piles”). res decided to build their villae in Trastevere, including Clodia, By the time of the Republic c. 509 (Catullus’ “friend”) and Julius CaBC, the number of sailors and fi- esar (his garden villa, the Horti shermen making a living from Caesaris). The regio included two the river had increased, and many of the most ancient churches in had taken up residence in Traste- Rome, the Titulus Callixti, later vere. Immigrants from the East called the Basilica di Santa Maria also settled there, mainly Jews in Trastevere, and the Titulus Ceand Syrians. The area began to cilae, Santa Cecilia in Trastevere. be considered part of the city unIn Rome’s Regal period (753–509 der Augustus, who divided Rome n order to have a stronghold on BC), the area across the Tiber be- into 14 regions (regiones in La- the right Bank and to control longed to the hostile Etruscans: tin); modern Trastevere was the the Gianicolo hill, Transtiberim the Romans named it Ripa Etru- XIV and was called Trans Tiberim. was partially included by Emperor Aurelian (270–275) insisca (Etruscan bank). Rome conquered it to gain control of and Since the end of the Roman Repu- de the wall erected to defend the access to the river from both ban- blic the quarter was also the cen- city against the Germanic tribes. ks, but was not interested in bu- ter of an important Jewish comilding on that side of the river. In munity,[2] which inhabited there fact, the only connection betwe- until the end of the Middle Ages. en Trastevere and the rest of the city was a small wooden bridge With the wealth of the Impecalled the Pons Sublicius (Latin: rial Age, several important figuis the 13th rione of Rome, on the west bank of the Tiber, south of Vatican City, and within Municipio I. Its name comes from the Latin trans Tiberim, meaning literally “beyond the Tiber”. Its logo is a golden head of a lion on a red background, the meaning of which is uncertain. To the north, Trastevere borders the XIV rione, Borgo.

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FONTANA DI TREVI

The Trevi Fountain (Italian: Fontana di Trevi) is a fountain in the Trevi district in Rome, Italy, designed by Italian architect Nicola Salvi and completed by Pietro Bracci. Standing 26.3 metres (86 ft) high and 49.15 metres (161.3 ft) wide,[1] it is the largest Baroque fountain in the city and one of the most famous fountains in the world. The fountain has appeared in several notable films, including Federico Fellini’s La Dolce Vita, the eponymous Three Coins in the Fountain, and The Lizzie McGuire Movie.

a source of pure water some 13 km (8.1 mi) from the city. (This scene is presented on the present fountain’s façade.) However, the eventual indirect route of the aqueduct made its length some 22 km (14 mi). This Aqua Virgo led the water into the Baths of Agrippa. It served Rome for more than 400 years.

well as a project attributed to Nicola Michetti[5] one attributed to Ferdinando Fuga[6] and a French design by Edme Bouchardon-

Competitions had become the rage during the Baroque era to design buildings, fountains and even the Spanish Steps. In 1730 Pope Clement XII organized a conIn 1629 Pope Urban VIII, finding test in which Nicola Salvi initialthe earlier fountain insufficient- ly lost to Alessandro Galilei – but ly dramatic, asked Gian Lorenzo due to the outcry in Rome over a Bernini to sketch possible renova- Florentine having won, Salvi was tions, but the project was abando- awarded the commission anyway ned when the pope died. Though The fountain at the junction of Bernini’s project was never conthree roads (tre vie)[2] marks the structed, there are many Bernini terminal point[3] of the “modern” touches in the fountain as it exists Acqua Vergine, the revived Aqua today. An early, influential model Virgo, one of the aqueducts that by Pietro da Cortona, preserved supplied water to ancient Rome. In in the Albertina, Vienna, also exi19 BC, supposedly with the help of a sts, as do various early 18th cenvirgin, Roman technicians located tury sketches, most unsigned, as LOOK ON GOOGLE

VILLA BORGHESE

Villa Borghese is a landscape garden in the naturalistic English manner in Rome, containing a number of buildings, museums (see Galleria Borghese) and attractions. It is the third largest public park in Rome (80 hectares or 197.7 acres) after the ones of the Villa Doria Pamphili and Villa Ada. 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 nineteenth century.

extensive gardens built in Rome since Antiquity. The vineyard’s site is identified with the gardens of Lucullus, the most famous in the late Roman republic. In the 19th century much of the garden’s former formality was remade as a landscape garden in the English taste (illustration, right). The Villa Borghese gardens were long informally open, but were bought by the commune of Rome and given to the public in 1903. The large landscape park in the English taste contains several villas. The Spanish Steps lead up to this park, and there is another entrance at the Porte del Popolo by Piazza del Popolo. The Pincio (the Pincian Hill of ancient Rome), in the south part of the park, offers one of the greatest views over Rome.

the villa, hosted the equestrian dressage, individual jumping, and the jumping part of the eventing competition for the 1960 Summer Olympics. A balustrade (dating from the early seventeenth century) from the gardens, was taken to England in the late 19th century, and installed in the grounds of Cliveden House, a mansion in Buckinghamshire, in 1896. In 2004, a species of Italian snail was discovered, still living on the balustrade after more than 100 years in England.

In 1605, Cardinal Scipione Borghese, nephew of Pope Paul V and patron of Bernini, began turning this former vineyard into the most The Piazza di Siena, located in

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MUSEO BORGHESE

under the guidance of the architect Antonio Asprucci, to replace the now-outdated tapestry and leather hangings and renovate the Casina, restaging the Borghese sculptures and antiquities in a thematic new ordering that celebrated the Borghese position in Rome. The rehabilitation of the much-visited The Casino Borghese lies on the villa as a genuinely public museum outskirts of seventeenth-century in the late eighteenth century was Rome. By 1644, John Evelyn de- the subject of an exhibition at the scribed it as “an Elysium of deli- Getty Research Institute, Los Anght” with “Fountains of sundry geles, in 2000,[1] spurred by the inventions, Groves and small Ri- Getty’s acquisition of fifty-four vulets of Water”. Evelyn also de- drawings related to the project. scribed the Vivarium that housed ostriches, peacocks, swans and cranes “and divers strange Beasts”. Prince Marcantonio IV Borghese (500-600), who began the recasting Scipione Borghese was an ear- of the park’s formal garden archily patron of Bernini and an avid tecture into an English landscape collector of works by Caravaggio, garden, also set out about 1775, The Galleria Borghese (English: Borghese Gallery) is an art gallery in Rome, Italy, housed in the former Villa Borghese Pinciana. At the outset, the gallery building was integrated with its gardens, but nowadays the Villa Borghese gardens are considered a separate tourist attraction. The Galleria Borghese houses a substantial part of the Borghese collection of paintings, sculpture and antiquities, begun by Cardinal Scipione Borghese, the nephew of Pope Paul V (reign 1605–1621). The Villa was built by the architect Flaminio Ponzio, developing sketches by Scipione Borghese himself, who used it as a villa suburbana, a country villa at the edge of Rome.

who is well represented in the collection by his Boy with a Basket of Fruit, St Jerome Writing, Sick Bacchus and others. Other paintings of note include Titian’s Sacred and Profane Love, Raphael’s Entombment of Christ and works by Peter Paul Rubens and Federico Barocci.

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PIAZZA DEL POPOLO

Piazza del Popolo is a large urban square in Rome. The name in modern Italian literally means “People’s Square”, but historically it derives from the poplars (populus in Latin, pioppo in Italian) 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 the Porta del Popolo. This was the starting point of the Via Flaminia, the road to Ariminum (modern-day 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.

The layout of the piazza today was designed in neoclassical style between 1811 and 1822 by the architect Giuseppe Valadier,[1] He removed a modest fountain by Giacomo Della Porta, erected in 1572,[2] and demolished some insignificant buildings and haphazard high screening walls to form two semicircles, reminiscent of Bernini’s plan for St. Peter’s Square, replacing the original cramped trapezoidal square centred on the Via Flaminia.

ter erected by Rameses II) from Heliopolis stands in the centre of the Piazza. Three sides of the obelisk were carved during the reign of Sety I and the fourth side, under Rameses II. The obelisk, known as the Flaminio Obelisk or the Popolo Obelisk, is the second oldest and one of the tallest obelisks 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 MaValadier’s Piazza del Popolo, howe- ximus. It was re-erected here in ver, incorporated the verdure of the piazza by the architect-enginetrees as an essential element; he er Domenico Fontana in 1589 as conceived his space in a third di- part of the urban plan of Sixtus V. mension, expressed in the building of the viale that leads up to the balustraded overlook from the Pincio. An Egyptian obelisk of Sety I (laLOOK ON GOOGLE

VILLA BORGHESE- IL PINCIO

The Pincian Hill ( Latin: Mons Pincius) is a hill in the northeast quadrant of the historical center of Rome. The hill lies to the north of the Quirinal, overlooking the Campus Martius. It was outside the original boundaries of the ancient city of Rome, and was not one of the Seven hills of Rome, but it lies within the wall built by Roman Emperor Aurelian between 270 and 273.

Pincii, one of the families that occupied it in the 4th century AD.

The Pincio as seen today was laid out in 1809-14 by Giuseppe Valadier;[1] the French Academy at Rome had moved into the Villa Medici in 1802. The orchards of the Pincian were laid out with wide gravelled allées (viali) that are struck through dense boschi to unite some pre-existing features: Several important families in An- one viale extends a garden axis of cient Rome had villas and gardens the Villa Medici to the obelisk (il(horti) on the south-facing slopes lustration, left) placed at the center in the late Roman Republic, inclu- of radiating viali. The obelisk was ding the Horti Lucullani (created erected in September 1822[2] to by Lucullus), the Horti Sallustiani provide an eye-catcher in the vi(created by the historian Sallust), stas; it is a Roman obelisk, not an the Horti Pompeiani, and the Hor- Egyptian one, erected under the ti Aciliorum. The hill came to be Emperor Hadrian in the early 2nd known in Roman times as Collis century, as part of a memorial to Hortorum (the “Hill of Gardens”). his beloved Antinous outside the Its current name comes from the Porta Maggiore.[3] The Piazza

Napoleone— in fact Napoleon’s grand urbanistic example was set from a distance, as he never visited Rome— is a grand open space that looks out over Piazza del Popolo, also laid out by Valadier, and provides views to the west, and of the skyline of Rome beyond. Valadier linked the two spaces with formal staircases broken by generous landings, (illustration) and a switchback carriageway. In 1873 a hydrochronometer on the 1867 design of Gian Battista Embriaco, O.P.[4] inventor and professor of the College of St. Thomas in Rome was built on the Pincian Hill in emulation of the one at the College of St. Thomas.

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BASILICA DI SAN PIETRO

The Papal Basilica of St. Peter in the Vatican (Italian: Basilica Papale di San Pietro in Vaticano), or simply St. Peter’s Basilica (Latin: Basilica Sancti Petri), is an Italian Renaissance church in Vatican City, the papal enclave within the city of Rome. Designed principally by Donato Bramante, Michelangelo, Carlo Maderno and Gian Lorenzo Bernini, St. Peter’s is the most renowned work of Renaissance architecture[2] and the largest church in the world. [3] While it is neither the mother church of the Catholic Church nor the cathedral of the Diocese of Rome, St. Peter’s is regarded as one of the holiest Catholic shrines. It has been described as “holding a unique position in the Christian world”[4] and as “the greatest of all churches of Christendom”.[2][5]

thin the Basilica or the adjoining St. Peter’s Square.[7] St. Peter’s has many historical associations, with the Early Christian Church, the Papacy, the Protestant Reformation and Catholic Counter-reformation and numerous artists, especially Michelangelo. As a work of architecture, it is regarded as the greatest building of its age.[8] St. Peter’s is one of the four churches in the world that hold the rank of Major Basilica, all four of which are in Rome. Contrary to popular misconception, it is not a cathedral because it is not the seat of a bishop; the Cathedra of the Pope as Bishop of Rome is in the St. Peter’s is famous as a place of Archbasilica of St. John Lateran.. pilgrimage and for its liturgical functions. The Pope presides at a number of liturgies throughout the year, drawing audiences of 15,000 to over 80,000 people, either wiCatholic tradition holds that the Basilica is the burial site of Saint Peter, chief among Jesus’s Apostles and also the first Bishop of Rome. Saint Peter’s tomb is supposedly directly below the high altar of the Basilica. For this reason, many Popes have been interred at St. Peter’s since the Early Christian period, and there has been a church on this site since the time of the Roman emperor Constantine the Great. Construction of the present basilica, which would replace Old St. Peter’s Basilica from the 4th century AD, began on 18 April 1506 and was completed on 18 November 1626.

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MUSEI VATICANI

The Vatican Museums (Italian: Musei Vaticani; Latin: Musea Vaticana) are Christian and art museums located within the city boundaries of the Vatican City. They display works from the immense collection amassed by Popes throughout the centuries including some of the most renowned classical sculptures and most important masterpieces of Renaissance art in the world. The museums contain roughly 70,000 works, of which 20,000 are on display,[3] and currently employ 640 people who work in 40 different administrative, scholarly, and restoration departments.[4]

route through the Vatican Museums. In 2017, they were visited by 6 million people, which combined makes it the 4th most visited art museum in the world.[1][6] There are 54 galleries, or sale, in total,[citation needed] with the Sistine Chapel, notably, being the very last sala within the Museum. It is one of the largest museums in the world.

Rome. Pope Julius II sent Giuliano da Sangallo and Michelangelo Buonarroti, who were working at the Vatican, to examine the discovery. On their recommendation, the pope immediately purchased the sculpture from the vineyard owner. The pope put the sculpture, which depicts the Trojan priest Laocoön and his two sons being attacked by giant serpents, on public display at the Vatican exactly one month after its discovery.

In 2017, the Museum’s official website and social media presence was completely redone, in ac- Benedict XIV founded the Mucord with current standards and seum Christianum, and some of appearances for modern websites. the Vatican collections formed the Lateran Museum, which Pius Pope Julius II founded the mu- The Vatican Museums trace their IX founded by decree in 1854 seums in the early 16th century. origin to one marble sculpture, [5] The Sistine Chapel, with its purchased 500 years ago: Laocoön ceiling decorated by Michelangelo and His Sons was discovered on 14 and the Stanze di Raffaello decora- January 1506, in a vineyard near the ted by Raphael, are on the visitor basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in LOOK ON GOOGLE

PIAZZA NAVONA

Pamphili, faced the piazza. It features important sculptural and creations: in the center stands the famous Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi or Fountain of the Four Rivers (1651) by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, topped by the Obelisk of Domitian, brought in pieces from the Circus of Maxentius;[2] the church of Sant’Agnese in Agone by Francesco Borromini, Girolamo Rainaldi, Carlo Rainaldi and others; and the aforementioned Pamphili palace, also by Girolamo Rainaldi, Defined as a public space in the last that accommodates the long galyears of 15th century, when the city lery designed by Borromini and market was transferred there from frescoed by Pietro da Cortona.[3] the Campidoglio, Piazza Navona was transformed into a highly si- P i a z z a N a v o n a . j p g gnificant example of Baroque Ro- Piazza Navona has two other founman architecture and art during tains. At the southern end is the the pontificate of Innocent X, who Fontana del Moro with a basin reigned from 1644 until 1655, and and four Tritons sculpted by Giawhose family palace, the Palazzo como della Porta (1575) to which, Piazza Navona (pronounced is a square in Rome, Italy. It is built on the site of the Stadium of Domitian, built in the 1st century AD, and follows the form of the open space of the stadium.[1] The ancient Romans went there to watch the agones (“games”), and hence it was known as “Circus Agonalis” (“competition arena”). It is believed that over time the name changed to in avone to navone and eventually to navona.

in 1673, Bernini added a statue of a Moor, wrestling with a dolphin. At the northern end is the Fountain of Neptune (1574) also created by Giacomo della Porta; the statue of Neptune, by Antonio Della Bitta, was added in 1878 to create a balance with La Fontana del Moro. During its history, the piazza has hosted theatrical events and other ephemeral activities. From 1652 until 1866, when the festival was suppressed, it was flooded on every Saturday and Sunday in August in elaborate celebrations of the Pamphilj family. The pavement level was raised in the 19th century, and in 1869 the market was moved to the nearby Campo de’ Fiori. A Christmas market is held in the piazza square.

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PALAZZO ALTEMPS

The National Roman Museum (Italian: Museo Nazionale Romano) is a museum, with several branches in separate buildings throughout the city of Rome, Italy. It shows exhibits from the preand early history of Rome, with a focus on archaeological findings from the period of Ancient Rome.

the Jesuit complex of Sant’Ignazio. The collection was appropriated by the state in 1874, after the suppression of the Society of Jesus. Renamed initially as the Royal Museum, the collection was intended to be moved to a Museo Tiberino (Tiberine Museum), which was never completed.

Founded in 1889 and inaugurated in 1890, the museum’s first aim was to collect and exhibit archaeologic materials unearthed during the excavations after the union of Rome with the Kingdom of Italy.

In 1901 the Italian state granted the National Roman Museum the recently acquired Collection Ludovisi as well as the important national collection of Ancient Sculpture. Findings during the urban renewal of the late 19th century added to the collections.

The initial core of its collection originated from the Museo Kircheriano (Kircherian Museum), archaeologic works assembled by the antiquarian and Jesuit priest, Athanasius Kircher, which previously had been housed within

In 1913, a ministerial decree sanctioned the division of the collection of the Museo Kircheriano among all the different museums that had been established over the

last decades, such as the National Roman Museum, the National Etruscan Museum of Villa Giulia and the Museum of Castel Sant’Angelo. Its seat was established in the charterhouse designed and realised in the 16th century by Michelangelo within the Baths of Diocletian, which currently houses the epigraphic and the protohistoric sections of the modern museum, while the main collection of ancient art was moved to the nearby Palazzo Massimo alle Terme, acquired by the Italian state in 1981. The reconversion of the area of the ancient bath/charterhouse into an exhibition space began on the occasion of the International Exhibition of Art of 1911; this effort was completed in the 1930s. LOOK ON GOOGLE

TERME DI CARACALLA

The Baths of Caracalla (Italian: Terme di Caracalla) in Rome, Italy, were the city’s second largest Roman public baths, or thermae, likely built between AD 212 (or 211) and 216/217, during the reigns of emperors Septimius Severus and Caracalla.[2] They were in operation until the 530s and then fell into disuse and ruin. However, they have served as an inspiration for many other notable buildings, including the Baths of Diocletian, Basilica of Maxentius, the original Pennsylvania Station (New York) and Chicago Union Station. Art works recovered from the ruins include famous sculptures such as the Farnese Bull and the Farnese Hercules. Construction of the baths was probably initiated by emperor

Septimius Severus and completed during the reign of his son, Caracalla. They were inaugurated in AD 216. The baths were located in the southern area of the city, Regio XII, where members of the Severan family commissioned other construction works: the via nova leading to the baths and the Septizodium on nearby Palatine Hill.[3]:7

mostly finished by 235. Later renovations were conducted under Aurelian (after a fire) and by Diocletian. Under Constantine the Great the caldarium was modified.[3]:7–8

The building was heated by a hypocaust, a system of burning coal and wood underneath the ground to heat water provided by a dedicated aqueduct. The baths For work to have been mostly were free and open to the public. completed in the time of Caracalla, workers would have had The baths were fully functional in to install over 2,000 t (2,000 long the 5th century when they were tons; 2,200 short tons) of mate- referred to as one of the seven rial every day for six years in or- wonders of Rome. Olympiododer to complete it between 211 rus of Thebes mentions a capa(when Severus died) and 216.[4] city of 1,600. This is interpreted to refer to the maximum numWork on additional decorations ber of simultaneous visitors, as continued under Caracalla’s suc- the daily capacity is thought to cessors Elagabalus and Severus have been 6,000 to 8,000 bathers. Alexander. The baths were likely LOOK ON GOOGLE

PIRAMIDE CESTIA

The Pyramid of Cestius (in Italian, Piramide di Caio Cestio or Piramide Cestia) is an ancient pyramid in Rome, Italy, near the Porta San Paolo and the Protestant Cemetery. It was built as a tomb for Gaius Cestius, a member of the Epulones religious corporation.[1] It stands at a fork between two ancient roads, the Via Ostiensis and another road that ran west to the Tiber along the approximate line of the modern Via della Marmorata. Due to its incorporation into the city’s fortifications, it is today one of the best-preserved ancient buildings in Rome. he pyramid was built about 18–12 BC as a tomb for Gaius Cestius, a magistrate and member of one of the four great religious corporations in Rome, the Septemviri Epulonum. It is of brick-faced concrete covered with slabs of

white marble standing on a travertine foundation. The pyramid measures 100 Roman feet (29.6 m) square at the base and stands 125 Roman feet (37 m) high.[2] In the interior is the burial chamber, a simple barrel-vaulted rectangular cavity measuring 5.95 metres long, 4.10 m wide and 4.80 m high. When opened in 1660, the chamber was found to be decorated with frescoes, which were recorded by Pietro Santi Bartoli. Only scant traces of these frescoes survive, and no trace of any other contents. The tomb had been sealed when it was built, with no exterior entrance, but had been plundered at some time thereafter, probably during antiquity. Until the end of restoration works in 2015, it was not possible for visitors to access the interior,[2] except by special

permission typically only granted to scholars. Since the beginning of May 2015, the pyramid is open to the public every second and fourth Saturday each month. Visitors must arrange their visit in advance. Another inscription on the east face is of modern origins, having been carved on the orders of Pope Alexander VII in 1663. Reading INSTAVRATVM · AN · DOMINI · MDCLXIII, it commemorates excavation and restoration work carried out in and around the tomb between 1660–62

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IL GIANICOLO

The Janiculum is a hill in western Rome, Italy. Although the second-tallest hill (the tallest being Monte Mario) in the contemporary city of Rome, the Janiculum does not figure among the proverbial Seven Hills of Rome, being west of the Tiber and outside the boundaries of the ancient city. The Janiculum is one of the best locations in Rome for a scenic view of central Rome with its domes and bell towers. Other sights on the Janiculum include the church of San Pietro in Montorio, on what was formerly thought to be the site of St Peter’s crucifixion; a small shrine known as the Tempietto, designed by Donato Bramante, marks the supposed site of Peter’s death. The Janiculum also houses a Baroque fountain built by Pope Paul V in the late 17th century, the Fontana

In Roman mythology, Janiculum is the name of an ancient town founded by the god Janus (the two-faced god of beginnings). In Book VIII of the Aeneid by Virgil (Publius Vergilius Maro), King Evander shows Aeneas (the Trojan hero of this epic poem) the ruins of Saturnia and Janiculum on the Capitoline Hill near the Arcadian city of Pallanteum (the future site of Rome) (see line 54, Bk. 8). Virgil uses these ruins to stress the The Villa Lante al Gianicolo by Giu- significance of the Capitoline Hill lio Romano (1520-21) is an impor- as the religious center of Rome. tant early building by the Mannerist master, also with magnificent views. According to Livy, the Janiculum was incorporated into anThe Janiculum was a center for cient Rome during the time of the cult of the god Janus: its king Ancus Marcius to prevent position overlooking the city an enemy from occupying it. It made it a good place for au- was fortified by a wall, and a brigurs to observe the auspices. dge was built across the Tiber to join it to the rest of the city. dell’Acqua Paola, and several foreign research institutions, including the American Academy in Rome and the Spanish Academy in Rome. The Hill is also the location of The American University of Rome, Pontifical Urban University, and Pontifical North American College, as well as the Orto Botanico dell’Università di Roma “La Sapienza” and the Palazzo Montorio, residence of the Ambassadors of Spain.

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NUVOLA FUKSAS

Italian starchitect Massimiliano Fukas on Tuesday presented his long-awaited ‘Nuvola’ (Cloud) building in the southern Fascist-era EUR district of Rome. Speaking at the foreign press club, Fuksas said the futuristic project has taken 18 years - “far too long”. He said that for this reason it would be his last project in Rome. “The only thing that got me through was my Roman determination”, he said. Fuksas said it was “essential to fill the space with art, concerts, and events”. The Nuvola ended up costing 239 million euros against an higher tender estimate, 275 million, Fuksas said. The architect said he did not know whether he would be present at the building’s inauguration on Saturday. The actual construction of the Cloud convention centre took eight years.

A contest to name the convention centre is underway, with the chosen moniker to be announced on live television at the inauguration ceremony. In three to five years, when the convention centre located in Rome’s EUR business district is up and running at full capacity, it’s expected to bring in between 300 and 400 million euros annually. The structure is made of 20,000 tonnes of steel - almost three times more than the iron used for the Eiffel Tower - and cost about 300 million euros (VAT excluded) to build, said Duccio Astaldi of construction company Condotte. The convention centre can host up to 8,000 people overall, including 6,000 in the plenary room, which sprawls over 9,000 square metres, and 1,762 in the auditorium. The forum level houses a

6,000-square-metre multipurpose space under the auditorium, held up by 14,000 square metres of fibreglass - the “cloud” itself. The centre boasts 15 elevators, eight of which are panoramic, and there’s also a 439-room luxury hotel built right into the structure. Roberto Diacetti, president of EUR Spa, which manages properties in the EUR district including the Cloud, said that the congress centre’s opening in the district will put it on the same level as other large European capitals in terms of convention tourism. The Cloud has already secured its first big conference, beating out Glasgow and Barcelona for the International Bar Association’s 2018 annual conference, with over 6,000 delegates expected from around the world. w

QUIRINALE

he Quirinal Palace (known in Italian as the Palazzo del Quirinale or simply Quirinale) is a historic building in Rome, Italy, one of the three current official residences of the President of the Italian Republic, together with Villa Rosebery in Naples and Tenuta di Castelporziano in Rome. It is located on the Quirinal Hill, the highest of the seven hills of Rome. It has housed thirty Popes, four Kings of Italy and twelve presidents of the Italian Republic. The palace extends for an area of 110,500 square metres and is the ninth-largest palace in the world[1] in terms of area.[2] By way of comparison, the White House in the United States of America is one-twentieth of its size. The current site of the palace has been in use since Roman times, as excavations in the gardens testi-

fy. On this hill, the Romans built temples to several deities, from Flora to Quirinus, after whom the hill was named. During the reign of Constantine the last complex of Roman baths was built here, as the statues of the twins Castor and Pollux taming the horses decorating the fountain in the square testify. The Quirinal, being the highest hill in Rome, was very sought after and became a popular spot for the Roman patricians, who built their luxurious villas. An example of those are the remains of a villa in the Quirinal gardens, where a mosaic, part of the old floor has been found.

was far away from the humidity and stench coming from the river Tiber and the unhealthy conditions of the Lateran Palace, chose the Quirinal hill as it was one of the most suitable places in Rome. On the site, there was already a small villa owned by the Carafa family and rented to Luigi dâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Este.

The pope commissioned the architect Ottaviano Mascherino to build a palace with porticoed parallel wings and an internal court. The project was not fully completed due to the death of the pope in 1585 but it is still recognisable in the north part of the court, especially The palace, located on the Via del in the double loggia facade, topped Quirinale and facing onto the Piaz- by the panoramic Torre dei venza del Quirinale, was built in 1583 ti (tower of the winds) or Torrino by Pope Gregory XIII as a papal summer residence. The pope, who wanted to find a location which LOOK ON GOOGLE

PALAZZO MASSIMO

BOCCA DELLA VERITA’

The Mouth of Truth is a marble mask in Rome, Italy, which stands against the left wall of the portico of the Santa Maria in Cosmedin church, at the Piazza della Bocca della Verità, the site of the ancient Forum Boarium (the ancient cattle market). It attracts visitors who audaciously stick their hand in the mouth. The massive marble mask weighs about 1300 kg and probably depicts the face of the sea god Oceanus. The eyes, nostrils and mouth are open. Historians aren’t quite certain what the original purpose of the disc was. It was possibly used as a drain cover in the nearby Temple of Hercules Victor, which had an oculus—a round open space in the middle of the roof, similar to that of the Pantheon. Hence, it could rain inside. It is also thou-

ght that cattle merchants used it to drain the blood of cattle sacrificed to the god Hercules. In the thirteenth century the disc was probably removed from the temple and placed against the wall of the Santa Maria in Cosmedin. In the seventeenth century it eventually moved to its current location inside the portico of the church..

della Concezione dei Cappuccini.

There are a number of Bocca della Verità replicas and derivative works. A full-size reproduction sits in the Alta Vista Gardens in California and one of Jules Blanchard’s sculptures in the Luxembourg Garden in Paris depicts a woman with her hand in the sculpture’s mouth. Coin-operated fortune The Mouth of Truth is now known teller machines have been develomostly from its appearance in the ped and installed in different par1953 film Roman Holiday. The ts of the world, including one on film also uses the Mouth of Truth display in the Musee Mecanique.. as a storytelling device since both Hepburn’s and Peck’s characters are not initially truthful with each other. In Het geheim van de afgebeten vingers by Dutch writer Rindert Kromhout,[1] the fingers of lying children are cut off by a skeleton with a scythe who lives in the Capuchin Crypt in the Santa Maria LOOK ON GOOGLE

PIAZZA DI SPAGNA

ley, displaying books and memorabilia of English romanticism. At the left corner there is the Babington’s tea room, founded in 1893.

in order to connect the Bourbon Spanish embassy (from which the square takes its name) to the Church of Trinità dei Monti.

The side near Via Frattina is overlooked by the two façades (the main one, designed by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, and the side one created by Francesco BorromiIn the middle of the square is the ni) of the Palazzo di Propaganda famous Fontana della Barcaccia, Fide, a property of the Holy See. dating to the beginning of the In front of it, actually in a lengthebaroque period, sculpted by Pie- ning of Piazza di Spagna named tro Bernini and his son, the more Piazza Mignanelli, rises the Colufamous Gian Lorenzo Bernini. mn of the Immaculate Conception, erected in 1856, two years after At the right corner of the Spa- the proclamation of the dogma. nish Steps rises the house of the English poet John Keats, who li- The imposing 135-step staircase ved there until his death in 1821: was inaugurated by Pope Benenowadays it has been changed dict XIII during the 1725 Jubilee; into a museum dedicated to him it was released (thanks to Frenand his friend Percy Bysshe Shel- ch loans granted in 1721–1725)

t was designed by Alessandro Specchi and Francesco De Sanctis after generations of long and glowing discussions about how to urbanize the steep slope on the side of the Pincian Hill in order to connect it to the church. The final key was the one proposed by Francesco De Sanctis: a great staircase decorated with many garden-terraces, splendidly adorned with flowers in spring and summer.

Piazza di Spagna, at the bottom of the Spanish Steps, is one of the most famous squares in Rome (Italy). It owes its name to the Palazzo di Spagna, seat of the Embassy of Spain among the Holy See. Nearby is the famed Column of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

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BASILICA DI SAN CLEMENTE

The Basilica of Saint Clement (Italian: Basilica di San Clemente al Laterano) is a Roman Catholic minor basilica dedicated to Pope Clement I located in Rome, Italy. Archaeologically speaking, the structure is a three-tiered complex of buildings: (1) the present basilica built just before the year 1100 during the height of the Middle Ages; (2) beneath the present basilica is a 4th-century basilica that had been converted out of the home of a Roman nobleman, part of which had in the 1st century briefly served as an early church, and the basement of which had in the 2nd century briefly served as a mithraeum; (3) the home of the Roman nobleman had been built on the foundations of republican era villa and warehouse that had been destroyed in the Great Fire of 64 AD.

of a fragment of the Severan marble plan of the city), was built or remodelled on the same site during the Flavian period. Shortly after an insula, or apartment block, was also built. It was separated from the industrial building by a narrow alleyway. About a hundred years later (c. 200) a mithraeum, a sanctuary of the cult of Mithras, was built in the courtyard of the insula. The main cult room (the speleum, “cave”),[3] which is about 9.6m long and 6m wide, was discoveThe lowest levels of the present ba- red in 1867 but could not be invesilica contain remnants of the foun- stigated until 1914 due to lack of dation of a possibly republican era drainage.[4] The exedra, the shalbuilding that might have been de- low apse at the far end of the low stroyed in the Great Fire of 64. An vaulted space, was trimmed with industrial building – probably the pumice to render it more cave-like. imperial mint of Rome from the late 1st century A.D. onwards (because a similar building is represented on a 16th-century drawing This ancient church was transformed over the centuries from a private home that was the site of clandestine Christian worship in the 1st century to a grand public basilica by the 6th century, reflecting the emerging Catholic Church’s growing legitimacy and power. The archaeological traces of the basilica’s history were discovered in the 1860s by Joseph Mullooly,[1] Prior of the house of Irish Dominicans at San Clemente (1847-1880).

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SANTA CECILIA IN TRASTEVERE

The first church on this site was founded probably in the 3rd century, by Pope Urban I; it was devoted to the young Roman woman Cecilia, martyred it is said under Marcus Aurelius Severus Alexander (A.D. 222-235). Tradition holds that the church was built over the house of the saint.[1] The baptistery associated with this church, together with the remains of a Roman house of the early Empire, was found during some excavations under the Chapel of the Relics. By the late fifth century, at the Synod of 499 of Pope Symmachus, the church is mentioned as the Titulus Ceciliae. On 22 November 545, Pope Vigilius was celebrating the Feast of the saint in the church, when the emissary of Empress Theodora, Anthemius Scribo, captured him. Pope Paschal I rebuilt the church

in 822, and moved here the relics of St Cecilia from the Catacombs of St Calixtus. More restorations followed in the 18th century. The Cardinal priest who is currently assigned to Santa Cecilia in Trastevere is Gualtiero Bassetti. His predecessors include: are Pope Stephen III, Pope Martin IV (1261-1281), Adam Easton (1383),[2] Pope Innocent VIII (1474-1484), Thomas Wolsey (1515), Pope Gregory XIV (15851590), Michele Mazzarino (1647), Giuseppe Doria Pamphili (1785), Mariano Rampolla (1887-1913), and Carlo Maria Martini (d. 2012).

The inscriptions found in Santa Cecilia, a valuable source illustrating the history of the church, have been collected and published by Vincenzo Forcella. The church has a faĂ§ade built in 1725 by Ferdinando Fuga, which incloses a courtyard decorated with ancient mosaics, columns and a cantharus (water vessel). Its decoration includes the coat of arms and the dedication to the titular cardinal who paid for the facade, Francesco Cardinal Acquaviva dâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Aragona.

Since 1527, a community of Benedictine nuns has lived in the monastery next to Santa Cecilia, and has had charge of the basilica. LOOK ON GOOGLE

VIA APPIA ANTICA

The Appian Way (Latin and Italian: Via Appia) was one of the earliest and strategically most important Roman roads of the ancient republic. It connected Rome to Brindisi, in southeast Italy.[1] Its importance is indicated by its common name, recorded by Statius:[2][3] Appia longarum... regina viarum “the Appian Way the queen of the long roads” The road is named after Appius Claudius Caecus, the Roman censor who began and completed the first section as a military road to the south in 312 BC[4] during the Samnite Wars. The main part of the Appian Way was started and finished in 312 BC. The road began as a leveled dirt road upon which small stones and mortar were laid. Gravel was laid upon this, which was finally topped with tight fitting, interlocking stones to provide a flat surface.

The historian Procopius said that the stones fit together so securely and closely that they appeared to have grown together rather than to have been fitted together.[5] The road was cambered in the middle (for water runoff) and had ditches on either side of the road which were protected by retaining walls.

ted, and extended to the borders of their domain — hence the expression, “All roads lead to Rome”.

Romans had an affinity for the people of Campania, who, like themselves, traced their backgrounds to the Etruscans. The Samnite Wars were instigated by the Samnites when Rome attempted to ally itself he Appian Way was used as a main with the city of Capua in Camparoute for military supplies since nia. The Italic speakers in Latium its construction for that purpo- had long ago been subdued and se in 312 B.C.[citation needed] incorporated into the Roman state. They were responsible for The Appian Way was the first long changing Rome from a primarily road built specifically to transport Etruscan to a primarily Italic state. troops outside the smaller region of greater Rome (this was essential to Dense populations of sovereign the Romans). The few roads outsi- Samnites remained in the mounde the early city were Etruscan and tains north of Capua, which is just went mainly to Etruria. By the late north of the Greek city of Neapolis. Republic, the Romans had expan- Around 343 BC, Rome and Capua ded over most of Italy and were attempted to form an alliance, a first masters of road construction. Their step toward a closer unity. The Samroads began at Rome, where the nites reacted with military force. master itinerarium, or list of destinations along the roads, was locaLOOK ON GOOGLE