Rome : A journey to the past !

Rome, the eternal city, is so called because it is a place of great beauty, contrast and life. Rome is an eclectic city: the religious world center of Catholic Church, the fabulous ruins of the center of the Roman Empire, and modern, bustling Rome. All three seem incongruous, yet they live inside and beside each other with great ease. You will soon realize Rome was build to rule and dominate the world. Everything is on a massive scale, solid and “eternal”.

Places To Visit in Rome

1. Colosseum

The Flavius amphitheatre is the biggest and most imposing in the Roman world, but is also the most famous monument in Rome and is known as the “Colosseum” or “Coliseum”. Started by Emperor Vespasian of the Flavia family, it was opened by his son Titus in 80 A.D.
The highly ostentatious opening ceremony, lasted one hundred days during which people saw great fights, shows and hunts involving the killing of thousands of animals (5000 according to the historian Suetonius).

2. St. Peter’s Basilica Interior

For St. Peter’s Basilica interior nave, Michelangelo ensured that the basilica’s interior, the largest in the world, would be a soaring, well-lit space in spite of its gigantic, overwhelming proportions.

3. Vatican Museum

Vatican Museums are founded by Pope Julius II in the early 16th century and enlarged by successive pontiffs, the museums are housed in what is known collectively as the Palazzo Apostolico Vaticano.

4. Castel Sant’Angelo

Castel Sant’Angelo was originally built by Emperor Hadrian as a mausoleum and housed the remains of Hadrian and his successors up to Caracalla. Its design was inspired by that of the Mausoleum of Augustus, built a century earlier.

5. Altar of Peace

The Ara Pacis Augustae is an altar to Peace, envisioned as a Roman goddess. It was commissioned by the Roman Senate in 13 BC to honour the triumphal Gallic and Spanish campaigns of the Roman emperor Augustus and was consecrated in 9 BC by the Senate to celebrate the peace established in the Empire after Augustus’s victories.

6. Villa Medicis

The Villa Medici, founded by Ferdinando I de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany and now property of the French State, has housed the French Academy in Rome since 1803. A musical evocation of its garden fountains features in Ottorino Respighi’s Fontane di Roma

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7. Piazza del Campidoglio

Piazza del Campidoglio was the result of famous painter Michelangelo’s plan for the revival of the Capitoline Hill, a site of great importance since antiquity.

8. Roman Forum

After the fall of Rome, the ‘’Forum Romanum’’ became pasture. Archaeologists believe the establishment of the forum was the result of a deliberate and large-scale landfill project.

9. Trevi Fountain

‘’The Fontana di Trevi’’ is absolutely the most famous and arguably the most beautiful fountain in all of Rome. This impressive monument dominates the small Trevi square located in the Quirinale district.

10. The Pantheon

With its old-thick brick walls and marble columns, the Pantheon makes an immediate impression on tourists. But the most remarkable part of the building is the more than 43 meter high dome. The Pantheon was the largest dome in the world until 1436 when the Florence Cathedral was constructed.

Rome is divided into several districts with its center, the Colosseo district, containing the most ancient attractions like the Colosseum, Capitoline Hill and the Roman Forum. On the outskirts of the center is Old Rome, featuring the Pantheon, stunning cathedrals, plazas and Renaissance architecture.

Unfortunately, it’s not possible to see all the top tourist attractions in Rome in a few days or even a few months. Wise travelers won’t even attempt to see everything in one trip. To ensure they’ll return to Rome, they’ll toss a coin into the Fountain of Trevi. Legend has it that those who do will return to Rome again.

Here are some interesting facts about Rome.

• Modern Rome has 280 fountains and more than 900 churches.
• Nearly 700,000 euros worth of coins are tossed into Rome’s Trevi Fountain each year. The proceeds are donated to Caritas to help those in need.
• The Romans had built a road network of 53,000 miles by the early fourth century. Each Roman mile was about 4,800 feet and marked by a milestone, giving birth to the saying “All roads lead to Rome.”
• In Ancient Rome, only free-born men were allowed to wear togas, a sign of Roman citizenship. Women wore stolas, the female version of togas, made from linen.
• The mascot of Rome is a she-wolf that cared for brothers Romulus and Remus, the mythological founders of Rome.
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• Rome became the capital city of unified Italy in 1870, taking the title from Florence.
• Law in Rome allows cats to live without disruption in the place they were born. Wild cats can be climbing the walls of the Colosseum, and sleeping among the ruins of the Forum.
• Women in ancient Rome dyed their hair with goat fat and beech wood ashes. The most popular colors were red and blond.
• The first ever shopping mall was built in Rome between 107 and 110 AD by Emperor Trajan. It sold a wide variety of goods and grocery items.
• Rome’s first university, La Sapienza, established in 1303 AD, is the largest in Europe and the second largest in the world.
• Rome has a museum dedicated entirely to pasta.
• St Peter’s basilica inside Vatican City is the largest church ever constructed.

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