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Rome in 96 hours - first day
Ancient Rome:
 Colosseum,
 Roman Forum,
 Piazza del Campidoglio,
 Pantheon.
Walk through the historical centre:
 Piazza
Navona,
 Trevi
Fountain,
 Piazza
di Spagna.
Suggestion: The late afternoon could be the
right time to go on a panoramic drive on the
double-decker buses of the Atac 110 line that makes
several stops in the centre.
 
Colosseum
Architectural marvel of antiquity and symbol of
the Eternal City throughout the world, the Flavian Amphitheatre is
the largest structure for entertainment with gladiators and wild
animals ever built by the Romans. Erected in 8 years (72-80 AD) by
the Flavian dynasty on the place previously occupied by the
artificial lake of Nero’s Golden House, using 100.000 square metres
of travertine and 300 tons of iron, the Colosseum was inaugurated
with 100 days of games. The 60.000 spectators that it could hold
entered through the 80 numbered arches at street level and, after
spending the entire day there, could leave in under 20 minutes. The
programme offered hunts with wild animals in the morning, executions
of condemned criminals at midday and gladiator combat in the
afternoon, and in warm weather the audience was protected from the
sun by a awning consisting of 240 sails maneuvered by sailors of the
imperial fleet.
The underground section at the centre of the arena
was used to keep the cages with the animals and the equipment for
the games. The floor was placed above that and was made of wooden
flanks covered with a layer of sand. Walking through the corridors
of the Colosseum today we cannot help but notice its ambiguous and
almost paradoxical attraction as, on one hand it seems to represent
the best of the Roman civilization in the grandiosity of its
architecture, and on the other it seems to express its darker side
in the cruelty of the shows that were offered here.
In the Middle Ages the Colosseum was transformed into a fortress and
later used as a quarry of building material. The iron clamps that
held the blocks of travertine together were extracted and melted
down for other purposes, leaving the holes that are visible
throughout the structure.
Suggestion: in order to avoid the long
lines, it is possible to purchase tickets at the entrance to
Palatine in Via di San Gregorio and by the Arch of Titus.
  
The
Roman Forum
The Roman Forum is the most important
archaeological area in the city, the ideal place to
understand that having a “historical sense” means, as the
great writer T.S. Eliot says, feeling that the people of the
past are our contemporaries. The Forum was the centre of the
public life of the ancient city; it developed after the
reclaiming of the marshy valley that extended from the
Palatine and Capitoline hills in the 7th century BC and the
last monument – the commemorative column of the emperor
Phocas – was erected there in the 7th century AC, exactly
1200 years later.
This was where the political, religious and commercial
activities of ancient Rome took place. We must use our
imagination to recreate it as it must have been at the time,
full of buildings and people from all over the empire who,
just like us today, wanted to see the symbol of the
incredible adventure that had led a community of shepherds
to become owners of the world. The Romans charged their
buildings with an important function of propagandistic
communication, aiming at producing in the viewer a sense of
admiration mixed with fear. We find basilicas for business
meetings and for the administration of justice, the Curia,
seat of the Senate, temples, triumphal arches, monuments and
statues. The area was crossed by the Via Sacra which was
used for religious processions and triumphal parades. With
the passing of time and the increase in the population, the
area was extended with the addition of Imperial Forums that
also contributed in stressing the greatness of the empire.
Later, as decline set in, the Forum was abandoned and used
as a source of building material. When the first
archaeological excavations began in the late 18th century,
its monuments, by then mostly underground, had been invaded
by cattle and flocks and used as pasture land.
 
Piazza
del Campidoglio
Ancient seat of the most important temple of the
state cult and symbol of Rome “caput mundi”, the Campidoglio has
always maintained its importance in the life of the city as centre
of the City Government since the 12th century and with the presence
of the Capitoline Museums, the most ancient in the world. The
square, considered one of the most elegant in Europe, was designed
by Michelangelo who created the splendid access ramp, new facades
for the preexisting buildings (Palazzo Senatorio at the centre and
the Palazzo dei Conservatori on the right), and added the Palazzo
Nuovo on the left, giving it the trapezoidal shape that never fails
to communicate a sense of harmony and equilibrium to visitors. The
orientation of the square helps us understand the evolution of the
city that at Michelangelo’s time had already turned its back to the
remains of ancient Rome, the place of the past, of a historical
phase that was concluded, to face the new centre of power and rule
of the day, the Vatican.
The original of the bronze statue of
Marcus Aurelius, whose copy is placed at the centre of the
square is preserved in the Museum and escaped destruction in
later times only because the personage on horseback was
identified with Constantine, the first Christian emperor.
 
The
Pantheon
One of the most impressive architectural
masterpieces of all times, the Pantheon was built by the
Emperor Hadrian in the 2nd century AC as a temple dedicated
to the major gods of the pagan religion. In 608 AD the
emperor of the East, Phocas, made a gift of it to Pope
Boniface IV who transformed it into a church dedicated to
Mary and all the martyrs and thus allowing to survive as the
best preserved monument left over from antiquity. Ground
level was lower at the time of its construction and the
portico was preceded by a few steps. It is wonderful to
notice how through the centuries the city has grown around
the Pantheon, incorporating it and maintaining it at the
heart of its existence. Meeting friends here, in front of a
monument built 1800 years ago, comes natural to both Romans
and visitors and allows us, just as naturally, to perceive
the presence of the many generations who have done the same
before us. From the outside, with its portico of monolithic
granite columns, the Pantheon almost resembles the facade of
a Greek temple, and yet the interior, with the rotunda and
the immense concrete dome, is a perfect example of Roman
architectural space. The Emperor Hadrian was a great lover
of Greek culture and identified Rome as Greece’s heir, and
seems to create an intellectual progression here in which we
reach Rome by passing through Greece. The interior is
conceived as a sphere inserted in a cylinder; the diameter
and the height of the dome, the largest ever built in
concrete until the modern age, are identical and both
measure 43,30m. The opening at the top, the only source of
light, is open and the little drains visible at the centre
of the floor indicate that it actually rains into the
building. The Pantheon is also the burial place of the
Italian royal family, the Savoia, and of Raphael.
 
Piazza
Navona
Piazza Navona is one of the most spectacular
squares of Baroque Rome and a splendid example of how the ancient
appearance of the city can often be traced and identified in the
most popular places of its contemporary life. The elongated shape of
the square repeats the structure of the Stadium of Domitian, built
in the 1st century AC for sports competitions, and the remains of
which are still visible beneath the present street level in Piazza
di Tor Sanguigna.
The square acquired the aspect we enjoy today in the Baroque period,
with the creation of Bernini’s Fountain of the Four Rivers, and the
Church of Sant’Agnese in Agone, adjacent to the Palazzo Pamphilj,
that were designed in part by his “rival”, Borromini. The giants on
the Fountain at the centre of the piazza, inaugurated in 1651,
represent the four major rivers of the continents known at the time:
the Rio de la Plata, the Danube, the Ganges and the Nile, famous for
its covered face that indicated the mystery of its origins, as its
source had yet to be discovered. The representation of plants and
animals, along with the movement and sound of the water, seem to
bring life and animation to the fountain, which is surmounted by one
of the thirteen obelisks in Rome, and is decorated with the coat of
arms of the Pamphilj pope. The hollow section at the centre of the
structure is an ingenious idea, as it allows the viewer to see
through the fountain without blocking the perception of the full
extension of the square.
 
In the past Piazza Navona was a market place and a venue for
festivals during which it used to be partially flooded for the
carriage parades of local aristocratic families, and is still
animated by the traditional Christmas fair, performers, street
artists and many outdoor cafes. As we sit on the edge of a fountain
we realize that one of Rome’s most captivating features is the
correspondence between the space of art and history and our
individual space. We don’t have to limit ourselves to admiring from
a distance, on the contrary it seems that the city itself invites us
to come closer, to become better acquainted with it and to feel that
it belongs to us.
 
Trevi
Fountain
The spectacular effect of the Trevi
Fountain is not revealed gradually; none of the streets
leading to it is in axis with the fountain itself. It is
rather the sound of the water that suggests its proximity,
but we reach it all of a sudden, and it is as if a curtain
was lifted in front of our eyes in a surprise effect that
never fails. Designed in the 18th century by architect
Nicola Salvi and built over thirty years, the Trevi Fountain
is the celebration of water as a symbol of life, health and
change. Its location indicates the end of the course of the
ancient aqueduct of the Acqua Vergine (19 BC), the history
of which is related on the reliefs in the upper section of
the facade. The charm of the fountain is enhanced by the
contrast between its large size and the small square that
contains it and seems to almost compress it, along with its
location on the side of a building that does not allow the
viewer to walk around it as it normally occurs. The
personification of Ocean at the centre of the structure
appears to emerge from the water on a chariot led by sea
horses and tritons, amidst rocks that are decorated with the
representation of thirty varieties of plants. The overall
effect is a unique combination of sculpture, architecture
and nature in which we can imagine the building blending
with the rocks and the gushing water. Don’t forget to throw
the famous coin to ensure your return to the Eternal City…To
respect the “proper procedure” one must stand with one’s
back to the fountain and throw the coin with the right hand
over the left shoulder.
 
Piazza
di Spagna
Heart of the most elegant and exclusive area of
the historical centre, Piazza di Spagna has always been a meeting
place for the Romans, but also for foreign visitors and artists who
in the past used to stay in the numerous hotels and inns in the
neighbouring streets. The famous staircase, designed in the 1700s by
Francesco De Sanctis, proved to be an efficient and spectacular
solution to the age-old problem of the connection between the
square, controlled at length by the Spaniards whose embassy was
located there, and the “French area” at the top of the hill that
included the Renaissance church of the Trinita' dei Monti. The 138
steps in the staircase are animated by terraces and curved sections
that create the effect of a waterfall precipitating into the square
below. In the spring it is decorated by colorful azaleas and it is
also the setting of a famous fashion show. The Fountain of the
Barcaccia was designed by Pietro Bernini, Gian Lorenzo’s father, and
it represents a sinking boat placed in a low basin, a brilliant
solution to the problem of low pressure in the conduits of the
aqueduct that feeds it and that did not allow high jets of water.
The streets around the square are famous for the boutiques of the
most famous brands in international fashion and include Via
Condotti, one of the most elegant streets in the world.
The late afternoon could be the right time to go
on a panoramic drive on the double-decker buses of the Atac 110 line that makes several stops in the centre. This is
certainly a pleasant way of becoming aware of the essence of the
“eternity” of Rome: the historical continuity between the past and
the present in an urban space in which monuments and buildings built
in different periods coexist side by side.
Rome in 4 days - second day
Rome in 4 days - third day
Rome in 4 days - fourth day
Courtesy of romaturismo.com Azienda Promozione Turistica Comune di Roma
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