The largest of the still-functioning Roman drains, the Cloaca Maxima was the source of a water-drainage channel that ran from the Roman Forum towards the "vicus Tuscus" The drain emptied into the Tiber at Ponte Emilio, along a tortuous route...
The Instrumental Museum of the Academy of Santa Cecilia was founded in 1895 with the name of Ancient and Modern Instrumental Museum of the Academy, with the purpose of offering a wide overview of the various types of instruments of the cultured...
State property only since 1986, the Villa dei Quintili was the largest and most sumptuous residence of the Roman “suburbium”. The original nucleus belonged to the Quintili brothers, consuls in 151 A.D., and was enlarged when the villa became...
The basilica of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme (Holy Cross in Jerusalem) is also called Heleniana or Sessoriana. It rises on the area previously occupied by the Sessorium, a residential complex owned by the Emperor, started in the first half of the...
During the renovation works carried out by Fondazione Alda Fendi, large portions of the floors in antique yellow, African and Pavonazzo marble belonging to the Basilica Ulpia have been discovered. The Basilica was built in the Forum of Trajan...
This temple, wrongly called of Vesta, is circular and has twenty Corinthian columns, it rests on a low platform of marble stairs. Probably, the Architect was Hermodoros di Salamina while the cult statue seems to be the work of Skopas Minore, a...
The tower is in Via Quattro Novembre, in the area between the church of S. Caterina and the complex of the Mercati di Traiano. The name "Milizie" refers to the presence of roman militia emplacements or to a middle age garrison. The tower was...
The Antiquarium Forense was set up at the beginning of the twentieth century by Giacomo Boni in the convent of Santa Maria Nova. Materials coming from the stratigraphic explorations and from the excavations in the Forum and the materials...
Leaning on one side of the right fornix of Porta Flaminia, the fountain was built in 1886, as commemorated in the Municipal coat of arms that surmounts it. The pond consists of an old rectangular brick trough with travertine base and edges. It...
The Jewish Museum of Rome located on the premises of the Great Synagogue, was first opened in 1960 to display the collection of the Jewish Community of Rome: the work of the 17th and 18th century Roman silversmiths, precious textiles from all...
Palazzo Pamphilj, also spelled Palazzo Pamphili, is a palace facing onto the Piazza Navona in Rome. It was built between 1644 and 1650.
Since 1920 the palace has housed the Brazilian Embassy in Italy, and in 1964 it became the property of...
Mons Tarpeius is probably the more ancient name of the Campidoglio (Capitol Hill) and Tarpeia was the divinity that “protected” the rock. However from the ancient times this name was used to indicate the cliff that delimits the south side of the...
The big church of Sant'Andrea della Valle was started by the hand of a drawing by Gian Francesco Grimaldi and Giacomo della Porta in; it was restarted by Carlo Maderno in 1608, also author of the marvellous dome, inferior for width and height to...
This is an artificial hill formed between 140 BC and 250 AD exclusively by the fragments or potsherd (in Latin "testae" hence the name of Testaccio) of millions of amphorae used to transport goods that were unloaded from the ships in the nearby...
Aristocratically isolated, vast and regular, Piazza Farnese is in a quiet spot decorated with two big twin fountains of Egyptian granite coming from the baths of Caracalla.
Their arrangement is attributed to Girolamo Rainaldi. The square...
The evocative Chiesa di San Pietro in Montorio, so called by "Mons Aureus", name given to the Gianicolo for its golden marl, was built before C.IX on the place where, for an accidental tradition, one thought that San Pietro was crucified....
The two fountains are placed symmetrically at the beginning of the graded ramp of the Capitol Hill and present two basalt Egyptian lions, from whose mouth water flows into two small ponds. The lions come from the Iseum Campense (the temple built...
The Forum Boarium was the space given over to the cattle market and was situated between the Tiber and the Capitoline, Palatine and Aventine hills. According to tradition, when Hercules arrived in this area with Geryon’s oxen, he was robbed of...
The Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana, also known as the Palazzo della Civiltà del Lavoro or simply the Colosseo Quadrato (Square Colosseum), is an icon of Fascist architecture.
The building was designed in 1937 to host the Mostra della...
One of Italy’s most antique churches with a round plan, probably built during C.V and consecrated to religion by Pope Simplicio at the end of C.V. It is preceded by a porch with five arcades on high antique granite columns, with Corinthian...
Originally built in C. IV, the church owes its name to the tradition of the martyrdom of four Roman soldiers who refused to adore Esculapio, and five sculptors from Pannonia, accomplices with the soldiers. For this reason the church is subject to...
The Museum of Rome in Trastevere was founded in 1974 with the name of Museum of Folklore and of the Modern Roman Poets. It is located in an ex seventeenth century Carmelite convent that belonged to the Municipality since 1875. After being closed...
The works for the construction of the new dining hall of the Barracks of the Cuirassiers along via XX Settembre, brought to light some ancient structures that included a tract of the Servian Walls, a large podium and a nymphaeum (monumental...
The fountain was built in 1924 to commemorate the previous fountain that is now situated in Piazza della Chiesa Nuova, known as “la Terrina” (the tureen) and originally placed at the centre of Piazza Campo de’ Fiori, from which it was removed in...
This temple was built by Antoninus Pius and dedicated to the deified Emperor Hadrian in 145 AD. All that remains of the building, incorporated in the Palace of the Borsa (Stock Exchange) in Piazza di Pietra, is the northern side with eleven...
The house-museum where Giorgio De Chirico (1888-1978) lived with his wife Elisabetta Far was reopened in November 1998, on the occasion of the twentieth anniversary of his death. The apartment occupies the last three floors of the seventeenth...
At the time of the French occupation of Rome (1808-1814) the Napoleonic edict (of St-Cloud, 1804) was also applied to the city and obliged the burial of the deceased outside the urban areas in order to avoid the spreading of epidemics. The area...
These are tunnels of a quarry tragically famous for the massacre of 335 prisoners on the evening of 24 March 1944 by the German occupation forces in response to the 33 German soldiers killed in a bob attack by Italian resistance fighters in Via...
In the 14th century, the Savelli family built their castle on the Aventine Hill, making the hill an impregnable fortress. The massive medieval walls now enclose Parco Savello (also known as the Garden of Oranges), a small rectangular garden that...
In 1231 this church substituted the chapel of the antique hospice of St Biagio, where St Francis lived during his stay in Rome, in 1219. Inside his cell one can still find the stone pillow and his crucifix. Entirely rebuilt by Cardinal...
The construction, committed by Bonifacio VIII, began in 1296 but was only terminated in 1420.Today’s appearance is due to the reconstruction performed in the years1479-1483 and ordered by Jacopo di Pietrasanta and Sebastiano Fiorentino. In 1756...
After having crossed via Nola, the Mura Aureliane arrive to and include the ruins of the Amphitheatre Castrense, one of the most important and impressive monuments. Most likely its construction was ordered by Emperor Elagabalo (218-222) as a...
This burial ground is situated near the Via Appia, just off Porta San Sebastiano (the entrance is from street number 9 of via di Porta San Sebastiano) in an area that includes several funeral complexes. The tomb was discovered by chance in 1614....
In the splendid setting of Piazza del Popolo, stands the 23.9 meter high obelisk dating from the 14th century BC. It was the first obelisk to be transferred to Rome in the time of Augustus, to celebrate the victory over Egypt, and it was...
The Palazzo di Giustizia (Law Courts) is among the most majestic and imposing buildings in modern Rome. It was built from 1889 and 1911 by Guglielmo Calderini to house the Supreme Court of Cassation.
It was called "palazzaccio" (ugly...
Its name derives from a statue of the god Mars found during foundation excavations and mistakenly believed to be a depiction of the leader Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, defeated by the Romans in 275 BC near Beneventum.
Damaged by the...
The Sora Palace was built in the 15th century by Urbano Fieschi, Count of Lavagna, and later enlarged by his brother Nicola. The original building was of three storeys and flanked by two towers, as depicted in the map by Tempesta.
The...
The decision to built this palace was taken by the Caffarelli, a rich Roman family, in 1500 and Raphael was asked to design it. One of his pupils, Lorenzo Lotto, supervised its construction.
The robust elegance of the palace was altered...