Albergo Ottocento - Main Monuments of Rome
PIAZZA DI SPAGNA
This is one of the best known and evocative places in Rome. It is characterized by the great perron of " Trinità dei Monti". From this square the best known and most elegant streets in Rome branch off: for instance, "Via Condotti" is famous all over the world for its numerous boutique and ateliers of many Italian stylists like Armani, Versace and Valentino. "Via Frattina" is also an elegant and very frequented street. "Via del Babuino" is full of palaces built in 17th and 18th centuries and is the centre of Roman antique-trade. "Via Margutta", which is parallel to " via del Babuino", is the street of the painters. The great perron of "Trinità dei Monti" was made out of travertine in 1724 according to F. De Sanctis' plan. In the middle of the square, at the bottom of the perron, there is the elegant "Fontana della Barcaccia" realized by Pietro Bernini. At the top of the stairs you can see, behind the Egyptian obelisk, "Santa Trinità dei Monti's church". It was built in 1495 and its façade was realized by Maderno. Beginning from "Piazza di Spagna" and going up its flight of steps, you can reach the "Pincio's terrace", from where you can enjoy an exceptional view of Rome.
Car: 1.8 km, 3 min
Mix: 50 mt, 2 min
Foot: 600 mt, 8 min
FONTANA DI TREVI
The most famous fountain in Rome, made by architect Salvi in 1735 under Pope Clement XII, it is considered one of the most beautiful fountains in the world. The Dukes of Poli's building serves as background to the fountain. Not far from "via del Corso" erected in the homonym square, it is probably one of the most visited places in Rome. Thousands of people every day come to admire it and throw a coininto it, because, according to a legend, the one who tosses a coin into the fountain ensures his return to Rome. The movie "La Dolce Vita", directed by Federico Fellini has contributed to enrich the world fame of this fountain. It is divided into three niches by four columns. It tells several allegoric stories. In the central niche, the statue of the Ocean God stands on a shell-shaped chariot pulled by winged horses. In the side niches there are statues symbolizing Plenty and Sobriety. In the basin, which represents the sea, various animals, both mythological and real, are represented.
Car: 700 mt, 3 min
Foot: 700 mt, 10 min
VIA VENETO
The Via Vittorio Veneto starts from the northern end of the Piazza Barberini. It is a very animated road knot of a trapezoidale form on a light slope. Several streets go ahead from Via Veneto: Via del Tritone which goes down up to Largo Chigi Via Barberini which rises up to Largo Santa Susanna, Via Venti Settembre, Via Quattro Fontane, Via Sistina which connects l'Esquilino to Trinità dei Monti.
Fontana del Tritone (Bernini)
At the center of the square one can see the beautiful Fontana del Tritone: four dolphins surmount a big open shell above which a triton plays a sea snail from where comes out a gush of water. Being simple and harmonious it is considered to be a masterpiece of Bernini realized in 1643 for the commission of the pope Urban VIII who wanted to decorate with a touch of particular elegance the bad countryside in front of the entry to the theatre court of his building the nearby Barberini palace. But for two centuries the fountain was the only watering place for bulls and goats grazing in the area. But for two centuries the fountain was the only watering place for bulls and goats grazing in the area.
The Via Vittorio Veneto is a famous artery of Rome of the beginning of the century. It is wide, planted with trees and adorned of flowerbeds, it has wide curves through the high-class Ludovisi quarters which took the name from the villa Ludovisi demolished after 1870 to build up the street which finishes at the Porta Pinciana. Such gate with a simple arch of travertine flanked by cylindrical towers were put up by Bellisario in the time of the Goth siege and it leads to the Aurelian Walls. Beyond the door there is one of the approaches to Villa Borghese.
The play-bill of "La dolce vita" of Federico Fellini
The "sweet life" was born in this street, commonly called Via Veneto which between the luxurious hotels, fashion meeting-points and elegant shops is a stage on which the charactes of Fellini film of 1960 met and separate. The film became the document of the epoch and the mirroe of the costume. The film tells with an irony about the cafe-society style of life which in the wake of richmen of every country goes around the cinema world and finds in Rome its ideal meeting-point. Being ephemeral and tingling the title of the film became all over the world a synonym of a behaviour and is used indifferently to say well or say badly about Italians in general and Romans in particular: from their capacity to make a jump out of the cake. But also depends if one prefer chatting instead of working. One of the photographers who participated in the chorus of the film is called Paparazzo. After him the term "Paparazzi" comes to indicate the fotoreporter in ambush.
After this film the street became the symbol of the "beautiful life" getting famous all over the world. A visit to Rome cannot be imagined without a raid even quick to the Via Veneto. A visit to Rome cannot be imagined without a raid even quick to the Via Veneto.
PINCIO
The Pincian Hill (Italian: Pincio, from 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.
Several important families in Ancient Rome had villas and gardens (horti) on the south-facing slopes in the late Roman Republic, including the Horti Lucullani (created by Lucullus), the Horti Sallustiani (created by the historian Sallust), the Horti Pompeiani, and the Horti Aciliorum. The hill came to be known in Roman times as Collis Hortulorum (the "Hill of Gardens"). Its current name comes from the Pincii, one of the families that occupied it in the 4th century AD.
The Pincio as we see it today was laid out in 1809-14 by Giuseppe Valadier; the French Academy at Rome had moved into the Villa Medici in 1802. The orchards of the Pincio were laid out with wide gravelled allées (viali) that are struck through dense boschi to unite some pre-existing features: one viale extends a garden axis of the Villa Medici to the obelisk (illustration, left) placed at the center of radiating viali. The obelisk was erected in September 1822 to provide an eye-catcher in the vistas; it is a Roman obelisk, not an Egyptian one, erected under the Emperor Hadrian in the early second century, as part of a memorial to his beloved Antinous outside the Porta Maggiore. 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, and a switchback carriageway.
In the gardens of the Pincio, it was Giuseppe Mazzini's urging that lined the viali with busts of notable Italians.
Though the Villa Ludovisi was built over at the turn of the twentieth century, several villas and their gardens still occupy the hill, including the Borghese gardens, linked to the Pincio by a pedestrian bridge that crosses the via del Muro Torto in the nrrow cleft below; the Muro Torto is the winding stretch of the Aurelian Wall, pierced by the Porta Pinciana.
COLOSSEO
It is a marvellous architectural complex that doesn't find examples in Roman art. Its real name is Flavian Amphitheater. It was built in 72 A.D. by an unknown architect. The Coliseum rises among the Palatine hill, the Celian hill and the Oppian hill. Its construction was begun by emperor Vespasian and was completed by his son Titus in 80 A.D. At first, in the amphitheater, gladiatorial shows, consisting in fights to the death between men and beasts, took place: it is there that, later on, the first Christians were cruelly killed by beasts. Afterwards the Coliseum was neglected, which provoked its rapid deterioration. Pope Benedetto XIV's edict consecrated it to the memory of the Christian martyrs, putting an end to its slow destruction. In 1808 it was restored by Pope Pious VII. The Coliseum consists of four floors: the first three of them have 80 holes shaped like archs, while the fourth is taller than the others and is characterized by a more compact building mass with windows. The archs are separated by pillars with semi-columns of Doric, Ionic and Corinthian order. Inside, the staircases had a capacity of around 50.000 people, who, in case of bad weather, were sheltered by a system of coverage consisting of striped cloth, maneuvered by one hundred sailors. It is the greatest amphitheater of the Roman world.
Car: 2.5 km, 9 min
Mix: 150 mt, 10 min
Foot: 2 km, 30 min
FORO ROMANO
It can be considered a symbol of antiquity. It was the center of the civic, juridical and economic life in Republican times. It can be reached from the Capitoline hill going down along Senators Building or behind the monument to king Victor Emmanuel II and walking along Via dei Fori Imperiali. It was very damaged by the barbaric invasions. In 1700 the excavations brought out notable treasures of Romanic art. To the right of its main entrance you can see the ruins of the Basilica Emilia, erected in 179 B.C. The pavement of the ancient street, called Argiletum, separates this basilica from the Curia which was the Forum’s first civic center. Just behind, you can see the arch of Septimius Severus, built in 203 A.D. and still almost intact. It consists of three arcades separated by white columns. Going on there are the Rostra, that is to say, the tribunes from where Roman Orators spoke. In front of the Rostra, you can admire the Phocas column, raised in 608 in honor of the homonymous emperor. Not far, there is the "Via Sacra", so called because it was crossed by priests during the sacred ceremonies; it preserves partly the original paving. Along the street, on the right, there are the Basilica Julia, made under Caesar, the temple of Saturn and the temple of Dioscuris, erected in the B.C.. Besides, you can see the temple of Vesta which has a circular plan and where a perpetual fire, symbol of eternal Rome, used to burn. In addition, you can notice the House of Vestals, where the virgins taking care of the fire lived. Along the "Via Sacra", on the left, there are the temple of Antoninus and Faustina and the Basilica of Maxentius. The "Via Sacra" ended near the Arch of Titus.
Car: 2.5 km, 4 min
Mix: 1 km, 27 min
Foot: 2 km, 30 min
ARCO DI COSTANTINO
It is the most important of the Roman triumphal arches. It was built in 313 A.D. to celebrate emperor Constantine's victory over Massenzio. It rises not far from the Coliseum at the end of the Via Sacra. It marks the limit between Roman Forum and Coliseum area. It is the greatest of the three Roman triumphal arches. It is 25 meters high. It was built during a period in which Rome began its decline in favour of Constantinople, that is the reason why, as Roman wealth had lowered, the arch was realized with marbles taken out from ancient buildings and preexisting monuments. In its composition statues and decorations, originally located elsewhere, were also set. All the materials were used to create polychromatic effects. The different elements, all together, either artistically or historically, make it highly representative of Roman architecture. On the wall, in front of the Coliseum, you can see, in fact, the representation of Mark Aurelius struggling against the Dacians; on the opposite side, you can see episodes of the battles fought by Mark Aurelius and Constantine.
Car: 2.5 km, 9 min
Mix: 150 mt, 4 min
Foot: 2 km, 25 min
SAN PIETRO
It is the greatest church in the world and is dominated by the imposing Michelangelo's dome. It was built in 324 A.D. by Constantine. The works which give the present shape to the basilica began in 1506 thanks to the Bramante's plan. Placed in the Vatican State (that is an independent State) it dominates St.Peter's Square which is a Bernini's masterpiece. This basilica is the spiritual centre of the Christendom and for its realization many great artists like Bramante, Raffaello, G. from Sangallo, Peruzzi, A. from Sangallo masterly worked. In 1547 Michelangelo joined those artists realizing the apse part and the dome which represents the greatest masonry work never built. Later on, Maderno erected the basilica's façade and, by order of the Pope, changed the Greek cross plan of the church into the current Latin cross. Preceded by an enormous perron, the basilica's façade is characterized by emergent columns between which some windows take place. The largest window, that is the central one, is the blessings loggia. The atrium, realized by Maderno, is decorated with stuccoes and mosaics: among these, Giotto's mosaic "La Navicella" is particularly appealing. Five bronze doors introduce to the basilica; one of these, that is to say " The Saint Door", is open only on the jubilees occasion. The church is imposing and and grandiose: in its middle, under the luminous dome, adorned by mosaics, over the papal altar, you can admire the Bernini's bronze canopy. On its right you can see St. Peter's bronze statue, sculptured by A. di Cambio, having its right foot warn out by the faithful's kisses. In the right aisle there is "La Pietà",the famous Michelangelo's marble complex. In the Apse you can admire the splendid "St. Peter's Chair", a bronze work by Bernini. If you want, you can visit the basilica's dome from where you can enjoy an exceptional view of Rome.
Car: 3.4 km, 6 min
Mix: 500 mt, 20 min
Foot: 2.7 km, 35 min
