Translate

1.10 - The city of Rome, Capitol, Forum and Palatine



Aerial view of the city centre of Rome - http://binged.it/SmSgDS

Rome, the Eternal City, the Head of the World, is one of the cradles of "western civilisation", and a city who has lived the last two thousand and five hundred years as a major player in the political, religious and cultural domain. Each century and each event has left traces still visible in the city, its buildings and its inhabitants, creating an unique environment that can be seen in only few other places in the world.

The city

As one can imagine, the city is shaped by the geography as much as by the story. The current city centre is in the ancient Campus Martius and monuments are scattered everywhere in the areas delimited by the Aurelian Walls. From there, the new city continues along the path of the ancient Roman roads (Aurelia, Flaminia, Nomentana, Tiburtina, Appia...) which are now, in their initial parts, also the main streets of the city.

Capitol, Forum and Palatine. The area from piazza Venezia to the south was the centre of ancient Rome. The Capitol is now partly occupied by the huge Altare della Patria, a monument to the king who unified Italy. Behind it, there is the church of St Maria in Aracoeli and the square designed by Michelangelo, with the bronze sculpture of the emperor Marcus Aurelius. Walking few hundred meters, you can jump directly from the renaissance to the ruins of the empire, with a view on the Fora, the Colosseum, and the Palatine. In the Forum of Trajan, it is still possible to see the Trajan's Column, where it is represented the campaign of this emperor and the conquest Dacia, modern Romania.

The church of St Maria in Aracoeli. Aracoeli: temple of the sky, it is the place where the ancient priests observed the flight of the birds to predict the future. According tot a christian legend, it's the place from where the Virgin mary ascended to the sky
Piazza del Dampidoglio, designed by Michelangelo.
The Curia Iulia, the senate of the ancient Rome restored by Augustus.

Back to home