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| Ancient and Mediaeval | ||
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| The Capitoline Hill and beyond | An ideal
introduction to the Eternal City. In Roman times, the Temple of Jupiter
was located on the Capitoline Hill; the Piazza was later designed by Michelangelo.
The Mayor of Rome's office is in the Senator's palace; while The Treaty
of Rome and The European Constitution of 2004 were signed in The Palazzo
dei Conservatori. The original statue of Marcus Aurelius is in the Capitoline
Museum. The Roman Forum and the Palatine Hill can be viewed from different
angles, including one from the Tarpeian Rock. Beyond the Capitoline Hill, we pass the Theatre of Marcellus and the former ghetto of the Jewish community, with its remains of the Portico of Ottavia. After the site of the Theatre of Pompey, where Julius Caesar was assassinated, we finish at the colourful and lively Campo dei Fiori. |
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| Roman Baths |
The Tour begins at the
Baths of Diocletian and finishes at the Baths of Caracalla. The National
Museum and the church of Santa Maria degli Angeli have both been incorporated
in the fabric of the Diocletian Baths, whose original area was immense.
Before the Colle Oppio we see the less dramatic remains of the Baths of
Trajan, constructed above the Golden House of Nero. Over the Caelian Hill,
we pass the church of St. Gregory the Great, responsible for sending St.
Augustine to convert the Anglo-Saxons. The Baths of Caracalla remain the
best-preserved in Rome and have been used in recent times for concerts both
classical and contemporary. |
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| Bell Towers and Cloisters | The
timeless air of mediaeval bell towers and cloisters can still be appreciated
in Rome. The SS. Quattro Coronati, near the Colosseum, provides a mediaeval
campanile, cloisters, frescoes, defensive towers and an enclosed order of
Augustine nuns. Near the Forum are the remains of several mediaeval towers,
including the 51m high Torre del Milizie. The 12th century campanile of the church of S. Bartolomeo is on the Tiberine Island. The mediaeval Tower of the Monkey, immortalised in 'The Marble Faun' by Nathaniel Hawthorne, is followed by a brief glimpse of the bell tower and cloisters of the church of the Patriarchate of Antioch. |
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