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Colosseum - Photo © gizax
Visit Rome in 3 days - Day 2.
On the second day, we start from Castel Sant'Angelo, once Hadrian's
Mausoleum (135 139 AD) and then fortress, Papal residence, Prison (from which
Benvenuto Cellini escaped) and now a Museum and Art Gallery. There are some
fine paintings there. Along Via della Conciliazionewe reach Piazza San
Pietro with Bernini's huge colonnade.
The basilica crowned by Michelangelo's Dome is a veritable treasury of art
and history; one can also go up into the dome to see the panorama of Rome
beneath. Besides the church there are also the Museums (pio-Clementino and
Chiaramonti) and the Vatican Art Gallery, the Papal Apartments, the Sistine
Chapel, the Pauline and the Nicolas V Chapels, Raphael's Loggias and Rooms.
A whole morning is hardly enough for the Vatican, and we suggest lunching
nearby and then going up on the laniculum, on the top of which there is a
great piazza with the monument to Garibaldi, One can spend some time here
enjoyng the stupendous view over the city, before going down the other side,
past the Aequa Paola Fountain (1612) and the elegant Renaissance church of
San Pietro in Montorio, with Bramante's masterpiece, the round tempietto
(1502) in the courtyard.
And so down to the Lungotevere (all the riverside
embankement drives have this name), where we shall find the famous Farnesina
villa by Peruzzi (1511) with Raphael's Galatea fresco. Via della Lungara
takes us into the heart of the picturesque Trastevere quarter with Santa
Maria in Trastevere, a 12th century basilica with a Romanesque campanile
(splendid apsidal mosaics by Cavallini, 1291).
Along Via della Lungaretta we
arrive at Piazza Sonnino and the nearby Piazza G.G. Belli, dominated by the
13th century Palazzo degli Anguiilara (it is said that it was here that
Gregorovius, the German historian, was inspired to write his monumental a
History of Rome in the Middle Ages). In the Tiber at this point we find the
ancient Isola Tiberina, the Tiber Island with the church of San Bartolomco.
Just downstream of the island are the ruins of a Roman bridge of Republican
times and the modern Ponte Palatino. Without crossing this, we dive into the
picturesque narrow streets of Trastevere to reach the Basilica of Santa
Cecilia, an evocative pre-Romanesque church (9th century); a Baroque portal
leads into a silent lonely garden with a fountain; the interior is very rich
in works of art, the Tabernacle by Arnolfo di Cambio, 9th century mosaics in
the apse, an enchanting cloister and, in the Nun's Choir, a fresco of the
Last Judgment, a masterpiece by Cavallini (13th century).
Going back on to the Lungotevere, we cross Ponte Palatine and find ourselves
to another fascinating corner of ancient Rome; to the left, the intact
Temple of Fortune Virile (1st cent. BC), which is rectangular. Beyond this,
on the far side of the square, the church of San Giorgio in Velabro (12th
cent.) with frescoes by Cavallini and attached to it the richly decorated
Arch of the Argentarii. Beside the church, the massive Arch of Janus, all
below the Capitoline Hill. Looking right, there is the round temple of Vesta
so-called, and, on the far side of the road, the beautiful church of Santa
Maria in Cosmedin (8th - 12th century) with the famous Bocca della Verita (a
Mouth of Truth).
Crossing over the road we can now go up the Aventine, to
the basilica of Santa Sabina, built in Ravennate style (5th century) one of
the most impressive and unspoiled ancient churches, in Rome, with
interesting mosaics and a 5th century carved wooden door. A short distance
away is the Piazza dei Cavalieri di Malta, the only architectural work of
the engraver, Piranesi, where he let his imagination have ull play. Going
back down the Aventine, we find ourselves at the Circus Maximus, with the
Palatine on the far side.
Going back to Santa Maria in Cosmedin we turn
right into the Via del Teatro di Marcello which leads us to this ancient
theatre and the Palazzo Savelli, afterwards Orsini, which was built over its
arena in the 16th century. On the other side of the road is the Tarpean Rock,
from which traitors were thrown in ancient times. Turning left behind the
Theatre of Marcellus brings us to Octavia's Portico, a graceful Roman ruin
with medieval additions; from here we can wander through the streets of old
Rome as far as Piazza del Gesu and the Church of the Gesu (1584) the mother
church of the Company of Jesus (famous Baroque frescoes in the interior).
Turning right into Via del Plebiscite and then immediately left brings us to
the imposing piazza dominated by the Palace of the Collegio Romano. Walking
parallel to the Corso then takes us into the theatrical Piazza Sant'Ignazio
(note the elegant lines of the buildings opposite the church) and keeping on
in the same direction through Piazza di Pietra, with the colonnade of a
Roman temple built into the Rome Stock Exchange, we arrive at Piazza
Colonna, right in the centre of the city with Marcus Aurelius' Column,
similar to that of Trajan, in the centre. Here turn your back on theCorso
and walk through Piazza Montecitorio, Past Palazzo Montecitorio, now the
seat of the Italian Parliament, through Piazza Capranica to the Pantheon,
one of the finest buildings of ancient Rome (1st cent. BC). 1, the interior
Raphael is buried.
Going along the right side of the Pantheon, take the
first turning to the right, then left, then right again to arrive in Piazza
Sant'Eustachio, with fine Renaissance and Baroque buildings on every side;
continuing in the same direction, past the palace of the old University -
the Sapienza with a curious spiral lantern by Borromini over the church of
Sant'Ivo-crossing the Corso Rinascimento, we arrive in Piazza Navona, the
finest in Rome, built on the foundations of Domitian's Circus. The church of
Sant'Agnese is by Borromini, while the famous Fountain of the Four Rivers is
by Bernini. In this wonderful piazza the two great rival architects of
Baroque Rome worked together. We suggest eating dinner and spending part of
the evening there.
Rome in three days - first day
Rome in three days - third day
Itinerary partly courtesy of ENIT
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