3H00’ – Walking tour
Rome, the cradle of civilization, is Italy’s political capital, as well as heart of Christianity being the Papacy’s seat.
Imperial Rome is certainly the best-known. The splendors of Antiquity are living and visible in the Capital today : from the Colosseum to the Imperial Forums, the Domus Aurea, the Pantheon and Circus Maximus.
At the end of the 1400s, the great Florentine Renaissance moved to Rome, where the Popes – important patrons of art – were gathering the
best artists to embellish the city : churches were built (e.g. San Pietro in Montorio and its Tempietto del Bramante
or Santa Maria della Pace and its frescoes by Raphael) and already-existing
churches were refurbished and newly-decorated, such as Santa Maria in Aracoeli,
where Pinturicchio and Donatello worked.
Royal palaces were built and adorned, among those Palazzo Farnese, Palazzo
della Cancelleria, and Villa Farnesina; and even some of the city’s most
important piazzas, for example the Campidoglio, one of several Michelangelo’s masterpieces.
Then, the Baroque in Rome thrived up from the 1600s on, and was dominated by architects like Bernini and Borromini. This is the Rome of Palazzo del Quirinale, current residence of the President of the Republic; of Piazza Navona with its Four Rivers Fountain; and of Sant’Ivo alla Sapienza and Palazzo Spada. During this period, Caravaggio was the indisputable genius in town, and he bequeathed to it countless invaluable works.
The first decades of the 1900s were characterized by the creation of two very particular areas of Rome: the Coppedè District with the splendid Villino delle Fate and EUR with its famous “rationalist” structures. The Art Nouveau period can also be seen in places like Ostia, with its homes and buildings in the style that the Italians call “Liberty” (Ostia is especially appreciated for its ancient seaport ruins).
Of course, Christian Rome comprises the Vatican City, the Patriarchal Basilicas – San Giovanni in Laterano, Santa Maria Maggiore and St. Paul Outside the Walls – and the Catacombs.
Do not miss the many museums, among them : Borghese Gallery, Doria Pamphilj Gallery, GNAM, the Macro, Scuderie del Quirinale, Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Chiostro del Bramante, Villa Giulia, the Capitoline Museums, Palazzo Altemps, Palazzo Barberini, Palazzo Massimo and Trajan’s Markets.