This pyramid was built the years 18 and 12 BC as a sepulchre for Caio Cestio, a magistrate, representative of the plebeians and member of the College of Septemviri Epulones.
Taking inspiration from the Egyptian pyramids, quite fashionable...
This is the old quarter where from 14 July 1555, on the orders of Pope Paul IV, all Rome’s Jews were forced to live. Today, many Jews still live here and it is possible to visit some shops selling typical Roman kosher food. On the Lungotevere is...
The Altemps Palace was built in 1477 by Girolamo Riario, Duke of Imola and nephew of Pope Sixtus IV (1471-1484), on previous Medieval buildings, including small terrace houses, towers and gardens probably making up a single fortified complex...
The new premises of the Municipal gallery of Modern Art are the former ice factory of Peroni Beer, one of the most interesting complexes of industrial archaeology in the Capitol, whose plants were disseminated in the Quarter. The stables for...
The botanical garden of Rome is part of the Dept. of Plant Biology of the University of Rome "La Sapienza" and is one of the most important in Italy, both for its size (about 12 hectares) and the number of species (about 8000).
Its plants...
The church of Santa Maria in Cosmedin was founded in C.VII, on the place where once was the Ara Maxima Erculi (a big hall with a porch from Flavius’ time, from which one only has various columns incorporated in the building, the antique food...
Inside the Catacombs of San Sebastiano, four levels have been excavated. Near the catacombs, the Appian Way passes through a valley. On its slopes houses and columbarii were built. In the valley bottom (called "ad catacumbas" now synonymous with...
The Church was built thanks to the concern of Cardinal Antonio Barberini, Capuchin. His brother, Pope Urbano VIII Barberini, blessed its first stone on October 4th 1626, St. Francis’ Day and celebrated the first Mass on September 8th 1630. The...
Santa Maria del Popolo is one of the most significant buildings from Rome’s Renaissance, not only for its architectural elements, but also for the paintings and sculptures that make it a precious museum of Renaissance art.
The church...
Santa Cecilia, music’s patron saint, became martyr here on 230 d. C.. The church, founded before C. V on the place where a Roman house was located, probably Valeriano’s , husband to Santa Cecilia, was redone in obedience to Pope Pasquale I’s...
Santa Maria in Aracoeli was built on the ruins of the Tempio di Giunone Moneta during C.VI, and it raises on the highest peak of the Campidoglio hill. Its name derives from a legend according to which a sibyl supposedly forecasted to Augusto the...
The arrangement of the area took place in the age of Augustus with the completion of the theatre. The building was began by Caesar and completed between the 13 and 11 BC by Augustus who dedicated to Marcellus, his sister Octavia’s son. In the...
The fountain of Nettuno (Neptune) is placed at the North end of Piazza Navona and is known also as the fountain “dei calderari” (coppersmiths), due to the merchants that sold copper vessels in the nearby Piazza Sant’Apollinare.
At the...
Immediately adjacent to the Flavian palace of Severus is the Hippodrome of Domitian or Stadium (160 x 48 m). This is a structure which has the appearance of a Roman Circus and whose name means Circus in Greek, but is too small to accommodate...
The fountain of the Moro (Moor) is fed by the Acqua Vergine and situated on the Southern side of Piazza Navona in front of Palazzo Pamphilj.
The portasanta marble basin built by Giacomo della Porta in 1575 under Gregory the Thirteenth...
This park is located within Villa Borghese. Also known as the "Park of Perspectives," it was the second enclosure in the 17th-century design and was reserved for the Prince.
Colossal Termini, works of Pietro Bernini and his son Gian...
The archeological complex that lies under the Basilica of San Clemente is situated in the valley that separates the Caelius Mountain from the Esquiline Hill. The currently visible structures belong to two buildings. The former consists of a house...
The Museum of Palazzo Venezia is located in the famous palace that was the residence of the Venetian Pietro Barbo, the future Pope Paul the Second (1464-71), and housed the Embassy of the Republic of Venice (hence the name) and the...
To discover the Roman views from the Aventine hill, you can start from piazza dei Cavalieri di Malta, that owes its present look to the hand of G B Piranesi (1765).
The hole in the door at number 3 (the famous “keyhole”) frames, at the end of...
The catacomb of Priscilla is the oldest general cemetery of Early Christian Rome and the best preserved. It is located along the via Salaria. The first nucleus of the catacomb - among the largest in Rome - dates back to the second century, as...
The Colonna Gallery is situated inside the Palace with the same name in Piazza Santi Apostoli. It was set up in 1654 by cardinal Girolamo the First Colonna, who entrusted its construction to the architect Antonio Del Grande.
At his death...
The Central Museum of Risorgimento was inaugurated on October 2 1970 on the occasion of the centenary of the plebiscite for Rome capital and is located on the left side of the Vittoriano, the monument dedicated to Victor Emanuel the Second. It...
The church of Sant'Agnese in Agone was built on the place where, according to tradition, Sant'Agnese was exposed naked to the pillory and was covered with her hair miraculously untied. The present construction was started by Girolamo and Carlo...
The church of the Santissima Trinità dei Monti, often called merely the Trinità dei Monti (French: La Trinité-des-Monts) is a Roman Catholic late Renaissance titular church. It is best known for its commanding position above the Spanish Steps...
The private domus is one of the most important archaeological sites along the Via Appia Antica. The entire complex was established during the brief span of Massenzio's reign (306-312).
Apart from the remains of the imperial palace, the...
The first antiquarium on the Palatine was set up in the second half of the nineteenth century in a building next to the Domus Tiberiana. It kept material coming from excavations commissioned by Napoleon the Third. When the building was demolished...
The church of Santa Maria della Pace was built under Sisto IV’s papacy around 1480, and is attributed to the creativity of Baccio Pontelli. It is the result of the union of two elements: a rectangular room in the front part, followed by an...
The National Roman Museum – Crypta Balbi occupies three floors and is located in the buildings that are part of the of the Medieval and Renaissance complex that rose on the structures of the Theatre and of the crypt built by Lucius Cornelius...
The National Roman Museum-Thermae of Diocletian was founded in 1889 to collect the antiquities of Rome and was recently reopened to the public.
Housed within the imposing Diocletian complex, it contains a considerable and valuable...
The Renaissance building was begun in 1523 for Thomas Leroy, a French diplomat accredited to the Holy See, upon the project by Antonio da Sangallo the Young.
Raised to the peerage by François I of France he added the lily of France to the...
This is the name given from the Middle Agesto the ancient State Prison called Tullianum. The place is bound to the memory of St. Peter and Paul, but the tradition for them to be imprisoned here for nine months before escaping due to the jailers’...
The church of Santi Cosma e Damiano was made by order of Pope Felice IV (and thus also defined Basilica "Beati Felicis") in an aula of the Foro della Pace, in 527. In 1632 it was remodeled on a drawing by Arrigucci. The vestibule in front of the...
The church was built at the expense of Cardinal Scipione Borghese, by the hand of Carlo Maderno between 1608 and 1620. Dedicated to San Paolo at first, it owes its new name to a small image of the Madonna found in the garbage at the castle of...
One of the famous baroque churches for its scenographic setting and for its solemnity, the church of St Charles of the Four Fountains is often unjustly forgotten. It is, in fact, one of the most original works by Francesco Borromini, ingeniously...
The Chiesa Nazionale Francese, founded by Cardinal Giulio dei Medici (then Clemente VII) in 1518, and completed in1589 by Giacomo della Porta and Domenico Fontana, it is famous for the three paintings by Caravaggio dedicated to San Matteo and for...
The church of Sant'Ignazio di Loyola was built on a drawing by the Jesuit mathematician Orazio Grassi, on the basis of projects by Carlo Maderno and others, and to the expense of Cardinal Ludovico Ludovisi, nephew of Gregorio XV’s.
The...
Founded on the ruins of a temple dedicated to Minerva Calcidica during C. VII, it was rebuilt with Gothic shapes during C.XII. During the Renaissance the façade was reordered and substantial internal works were performed. On the façade only three...
Palazzo Barberini was designed by Maderno and built on the site of the previous Villa Sforza, for Matteo Barberini, who became pope with the title of Urban VIII. On Maderno’s death in 1629, Gian Lorenzo Bernini took control of...
Ponte Sant'Angelo was anciently called Pons Aelius, from the name of the emperor Aelius Hadrian who built it in 136 A.D. to connect the city with the entrance to his mausoleum: the current Castel Sant'Angelo. Several important events related to...
This monument, dated back to the fourth century AD, is located near the Church of San Giorgio al Velabro and the Arch of the Argentari (Silversmiths). The arch, erroneously known as the arch of Janus, is identified as the ancient Arch of the...