First day:
Morning
Ancient Rome:
Colosseum,
Roman Forum,
Piazza del Campidoglio,
Pantheon
Piazza del Campidoglio
Ancient seat of the most important temple of the state cult and symbol of Rome “caput mundi”, the Campidoglio has always maintained its importance in the life of the city as centre of the City Government since the 12th century and with the presence of the Capitoline Museums, the most ancient in the world. The square, considered one of the most elegant in Europe, was designed by Michelangelo who created the splendid access ramp, new facades for the preexisting buildings (Palazzo Senatorio at the centre and the Palazzo dei Conservatori on the right), and added the Palazzo Nuovo on the left, giving it the trapezoidal shape that never fails to communicate a sense of harmony and equilibrium to visitors. The orientation of the square helps us understand the evolution of the city that at Michelangelo’s time had already turned its back to the remains of ancient Rome, the place of the past, of a historical phase that was concluded, to face the new centre of power and rule of the day, the Vatican. The original of the bronze statue of Marcus Aurelius, whose copy is placed at the centre of the square is preserved in the Museum and escaped destruction in later times only because the personage on horseback was identified with Constantine, the first Christian emperor
Pantheon
One of the most impressive architectural masterpieces of all times, the Pantheon was built by the Emperor Hadrian in the 2nd century AC as a temple dedicated to the major gods of the pagan religion. In 608 AD the emperor of the East, Phocas, made a gift of it to Pope Boniface IV who transformed it into a church dedicated to Mary and all the martyrs and thus allowing to survive as the best preserved monument left over from antiquity. Ground level was lower at the time of its construction and the portico was preceded by a few steps. It is wonderful to notice how through the centuries the city has grown around the Pantheon, incorporating it and maintaining it at the heart of its existence. Meeting friends here, in front of a monument built 1800 years ago, comes natural to both Romans and visitors and allows us, just as naturally, to perceive the presence of the many generations who have done the same before us. From the outside, with its portico of monolithic granite columns, the Pantheon almost resembles the facade of a Greek temple, and yet the interior, with the rotunda and the immense concrete dome, is a perfect example of Roman architectural space. The Emperor Hadrian was a great lover of Greek culture and identified Rome as Greece’s heir, and seems to create an intellectual progression here in which we reach Rome by passing through Greece. The interior is conceived as a sphere inserted in a cylinder; the diameter and the height of the dome, the largest ever built in concrete until the modern age, are identical and both measure 43,30m. The opening at the top, the only source of light, is open and the little drains visible at the centre of the floor indicate that it actually rains into the building. The Pantheon is also the burial place of the Italian royal family, the Savoia, and of Raphael.
Afternoon:
Walk through the historical centre:
Piazza Navona,
Trevi Fountain,
Piazza di Spagna.
Suggestion: The late afternoon could be the right time to go on a panoramic drive on the double-decker buses of the Atac 110 line that makes several stops in the centre.
Second day:
Morning
The Vatican City:
Vatican Museums and St. Peter’s Basilica
Afternoon
Castel Sant’Angelo,
brief boat ride on the Tiber up to the Isola Tiberina (Tiber Island), walk in
Trastevere.
Trastevere:
The area of Trastevere is ideal for a walk through narrow streets, squares and colours that still maintain an authentically Roman character and offers a pleasant contrast with the solemn splendour seen at the Vatican. In antiquity Trastevere – “beyond the Tiber” – was the first district established on the right bank of the Tiber and was inhabited by artisans, fishermen, merchants and communities of foreigners, connected with the activities of the nearby port. Trastevere was also famous for its magnificent villas and vast gardens, the most important of which belonged to Julius Caesar who may have hosted Cleopatra there and left them in his will to the people of Rome. In the Middle Ages the neighbourhood acquired the aspect it still preserves today in its narrow alleys and small squares that often defy any idea of a rational overall urban design, and give the impression of having adapted to preexisting structures. Sites that should not be missed include the ancient Basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere, with the 13th century mosaics by Pietro Cavallini, and of Santa Cecilia, with the touching statue of Cecilia herself, patron saint of music, by Stefano Maderno. To find the magnificence of the Renaissance even in Trastevere, the ideal place is the Farnesina, the suburban villa of wealthy banker Agostino Chigi, containing frescoes by Raphael, Baldassarre Peruzzi and Sebastiano del Piombo.
Trastevere offers a great variety of restaurants and bars for a fun evening.
Third day:
Morning: out of town excursion to
Ostia Antica, reachable by metro line B or boat (boats leaving from Ponte Marconi, information telephone number 0667893619)
The archaeological site of Ostia Antica offers a unique opportunity to complete the image of the ancient city by exploring the aspect of daily life, otherwise difficult to identify among the great public monuments of capital.
Founded around the 4th century BC as a military base between the mouth of the Tiber and the coast, Ostia soon became the commercial port of ancient Rome and for this reason was tightly connected to its history. The goods destined to the support of the capital, but also to its urban development and entertainment industry, came through here. Grain, oil, wine, precious marble, animals for the circus, arrived here from all over the Mediterranean, and were often transferred onto smaller boats that went up the river hauled by oxen on the river banks, up to the port in Rome. It is easy to imagine Ostia as a thriving town of 60,000 people as we walk through the rather well preserved remains of the forum, the baths, temples, and residential neighbourhoods that must have housed many foreigners as well. Among the sites that deserve to be seen, are the ancient theatre, still in use today, and the Square of the Guilds, a structure consisting of 60 representative offices of the different associations of artisans and merchants who worked here. The existence of Ostia was not interrupted suddenly as occurred in Pompeii; its decline coincided with that of Rome but was made worse by the gradual silting up of the port and by floods that changed the course of the Tiber, favouring the spreading of malaria. Ostia was never inhabited again in a significant manner after that, and this allows us to follow the various phases in the evolution of an ancient city without the adding of structures from later times.
The visit is made especially pleasant by the extraordinary natural context, a fundamental element in the perception of the romantic charm of ruins that was highly appreciated by 19th century travellers. Even here Nature seems to almost regain possession of the space taken up by the work of man, creating a landscape that communicates a strong sense of the ineluctable passing of time.
Ostia Antica can be reached easily by the train to Ostia Lido that departs from Porta San Paolo (Ostia Antica stop).
Forth day:
Morning :Borghese Gallery
Located amidst the greenery of the favourite public park of the Romans, the Borghese Gallery is an authentic artistic treasure chest, the result of the passion for art of Cardinal Scipione Borghese, who in the early 1600s had the villa built on the suburban property donated to him by his uncle, Pope Paul V, with the specific purpose of housing his art collection. In order to enjoy it fully, it is important to enter the villa with a perception of the surrounding park and open air in a wonderful blend of art and nature, that we now recognize as typical of Rome. Once again, as at the Vatican Museums, we find the correspondence between the “container” and what it “contains”, in which the artistic value of the individual works is enhanced by the decorative splendour of the rooms in which they are displayed. It is important to bear in mind that the Borghese Gallery originated as a private collection and that the works and their display are not the result of didactic criteria (period, subject), but rather reflect the taste and intentions of its former owners. Do not miss the series of sculptures made for the cardinal by young Gian Lorenzo Bernini (Eneas, the Rape of Proserpine, Apollo and Daphne, and David), that seem to invite us to participate in what is happening to them, Titian’s Sacred and Profane Love, Caravaggio’s masterpieces and the lovely Princess Paolina Borghese, Napoleon’s favourite sister, portrayed by Canova as Venus. The Borghese Cardinal was famous above all for his capacity to discover new talents and for his methods in acquiring the works of art he wished to own, which on some occasions were not exactly lawful. He did not hesitate to have the Deposition by Raphael stolen from a church in Perugia and he had painter Domenichino imprisoned because he did not want to give him a painting commissioned to him by another cardinal. Before leaving the park, why not enjoy a unique view of Rome from the largest fixed air balloon in the world, located at the Galoppatoio of Villa Borghese
Afternoon: The Catacombs
A visit to the Catacombs on the Appian Way allows us to trace the origins of the Christian presence in Rome and to explore one of the fundamental aspects of its identity. The Catacombs are in fact the underground cemeteries of the early Christians, located outside the city walls in accordance with the ancient custom that forbade the burying of the dead in the inhabited area. They consist of a series of levels with passageways dug out of the tufa, a soft volcanic rock that hardens when it comes into contact with oxygen contained in the air. The dead used to be wrapped in a shroud and placed in loculi and crypts carved out of the walls of the passageways themselves, and sealed with marble slabs or terracotta slabs, according to financial possibilities. It is interesting to notice how the layering of the levels, determined by the need to exploit the expensive land as much as possible, must be interpreted in the opposite way we do at a proper archaeological site. The most ancient level is in fact the first to be accessed, immediately below the ground level, and others were excavated beneath it as they gradually became filled up.
A persistent tradition identified the Catacombs as the hiding places of the early Christians at the times of the persecutions, but they were actually used exclusively as cemeteries and for devotional practices connected to the presence of the tombs of the saints and martyrs. The frescoes and inscriptions on the funerary slabs indicate how death was conceived as a moment of rest before the final awakening to eternal life, and the catacombs were thus places of transition, in contrast to pagan necropolis, considered to be the permanent abode of the dead. If you wish to see more in the area, the pedestrian section of the ancient Appian Way is easy to reach on foot from the major catacombs in the area