Domus Julia Bed and Breakfast

Monuments, churches and buildings in Rome

Bath of Diocletian and Church of S. Mary of the Angels

The huge rectangular area occupied by the Baths, erected between 298 and 306 A.D., is of approximately 140,000sqm, excluding the tanks, discovered in Piazza dei Cinquecento, fed by the water of the aqueduct of the Aqua Marcia. Built in brick stone, the baths could accommodate up to 3000 people simultaneously.

The huge thermal complex housed a central building with calidarium, tepidarium and natatio (rooms for hot or warm baths and swimming pools filled with cold water, partly preserved) disposed along the short axis, and gymnasiums on both sides of the long axis, with a large court all around used as garden.

(continue..)

Bocca della verità square

The square takes its name from the famous Mouth of Truth, the maskaron which is inside the porch of the church of St. Mary in Cosmedin. According to a famous Roman legend the threatening mouth would snap shut on the hand of the liers

(continue..)

Church of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme

According to tradition it was founded by the emperor Constantine in 320 using one large chamber of the Sessorian Palace to house the relics brought by his mother Helen from Jerusalem.

After the edict of Milan which in 313 declared freedom of worship even to Christians, Rome became the new capital of Christianity. In order to give a special value to this decision relics of Mary, Christ and the Apostles were bought from Palestine. These interests gave life to a new commerce and as usual the market offered also many fakes. S. Croce in Gerusalemme became so the basilica of the relics. Here are kept soil from the Holy Sepulchre, fragments of the Holy Cross , two thorns from the Crown, the crosspiece from the cross of the penitent robber who was crucified beside Christ and many other venerated objects. The church was restored in 1144 by Lucius II.

(continue..)

Circus Maximus

The first circus used for chariot races lying in the valley between the Aventine and Palatine hills is said to have been built by king Tarquinius Priscus even if there are testimonies of similar races held at the time of Romulus..

The track was originally bordered by banks of wooden seats. Later the starting stalls (carceres), the spina, which divided the racecourse, and stone seats were added to the older structure.
At the end of the Spina were the “metae” or turning posts, and seven eggs and seven dolphins which were moved so as to indicate which of the seven laps of the race was in progress.

(continue..)

Colosseum (The Flavian Amphitheatre)

The Flavian Amphitheatre, better known as the Colosseum, is probably the most famous monument in the world: this elliptical colossal construction, with a height of 48mt, has impressed and fascinated men of all Ages. It was with no doubt the most favourite place by the Romans, who came to prefer above all other entertainment the slaughter of men armed to kill and be killed for their amusement. The amphitheatre consisted of four floors. The first floor was 11,50mt high adorned by halfcolumns of the Doric order .

(continue..)

Navona Square

Rome’s most characteristic square; The whole district, with its narrow streets, dark lanes and its closed palaces, witnesses of a glorious past and of traditions full of charm to us.

The history of the square goes back to Ancient Rome. In this area rose the large Circus of the Emperor Domitian. As a matter of fact the vast elliptical shape of the square matches exactly the outlines of the circus. Here were carried out mock sea battles, grandiose public shows, games etc. In the following centuries, although the complex fell into ruins, the site was still a favourite spot by the Romans.

(continue..)

Pantheon

In 27 b.C., Agrippa, son-in-law and architect of Augustus, erected the Pantheon on the site where Romolus according to the legend ascended to Heaven during a ceremony. It was a common temple rectangular in shape, medium size, conceived as a place of worship for various divinities. Through the years the temple suffered fires and other disasters, it was restaured several times till the final reconstruction by the emperor-architect Hadrian between 118 and 128 A.D.. The pronaos with its sixteen columns, the enlargement of the rotunda and the dome, the largest existing one built in brickwork up to our time, are for sure by Hadrian.

(continue..)

Pyramid of Caius Cestius

Leaving St. Paul’s gate (Porta San Paolo) along the Via Ostiense, stands the original Pyramid of Caius Cestius , a burial monument that this official who was in charge of the sacred banquets had erected as his own tomb between 18 and 12b.C.

(continue..)

Roman Forum

The site of the Forum was a marshy and unhealthy valley which lay roughly at the centre of a circle of hills upon which grew small villages. Their inhabitants used the valley as a burial ground. In the VII cent b.C., under the Etruscan king Tarquin the Elder, the stagnant water in the Forum was drained into the Tiber through a channel which was to become the great Sewer Cloaca Maxima, it was paved and became a real square at the centre of a town. The buildings we see today in the Forum do not date back to the same period and were not discovered at the same time.

The sacred Way was the most famous street in ancient Rome, along which victorious generals rode in triumphal procession proceeeding to the Capitoline Hill to give thanks to Jupiter, the Great and Good. Immediately on its right are the ruins of the Basilica Emilia (named after the Aemilia family), it was used for the administration of justice. Walking forwards the Sacred Way,stands the great Curia Iulia, seat of the Senate.

(continue..)

Spanish Steps

The square is one of the characteristic spots of the city and offers a splendid panorama on the center of Rome. Dominated by the façade of the church of the Trinità dei Monti, built in 1502 and consecrated in 1587 by Sisto V, that made of it a focal point of his ambitious urbanistic plan. From here began the Via Felice, then Sistina, straight road that led pilgrims to the basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore.

In the middle of the square rises the obelisk point of convergence of different roads. Roman imitation of the Egyptian obelisks, it dates back to the Imperial age, it came from the Gardens of Sallustio, but it was put here as element of link between the church and the stairway.

(continue..)

St. Angel Castle

Hadrian had it built as a mausoleum for himself and his family. In order to have an easy access to this sepulchre from the area of Campo Marzio a bridge was built crossing the Tiber river, the Elio Bridge, which was inaugurated in 134 A.D.

The construction of the mausoleum was completed after the death of Hadrian (138 A. D.), in 139 A. D., by Antoninus Pius: immediately after his death Hadrian was buried in another place at Pozzuoli (near Naples). The edifice had a base in brick with a side of 89 mt and 15 mt high, which supported the tomb, a circular structure 64mt in diameter and 21mt high. The exterior was completely covered by veneer marble. Today’s entrance which substitutes the original one is about 3mt higher.

(continue..)

The Basilica of St. Peter (Vatican)

The Basilica of St. Peter is in the heart of the Vatican City, an independent sovereign state on the right bank of the Tiber river, in the centre of Rome.
The Vatican State is the smallest State in the world, and what remains of temporal dominions of the Church, which were annexed to Italy at the end of 1800’s with the unification of the country.

The Basilica as we see it today, with its ribbed dome stands impressively in its square which seems to welcome all the pilgrims of the world in the embrace of the Mother Church. It was designed by the most famous architects and geniuses of the Renaissance and Baroque time.

(continue..)