Piazza del Campidoglio

The Piazza del Campidoglio was a site which I am really sorry that I missed.  It is one which I have wanted to see for a long time.  The square itself was designed by Michelangelo and it is surrounded by giant statutes created by Michelangelo (the actual originals are now in a nearby museum, but they have been replaced with replicas).  It sounds pretty spiffy to see in real life.  The Piazza is on the Capitoline Hill, which is one of the seven hills upon which ancient Rome was built.

The Goddess of Rome

Equestrian statute of Marcus Aurelius. 

Statues around the Piazza, at night.

Palazzo Senatorio ("Senatorial Palace"), on the Piazza del Campidoglio.

The fancy, Michelangelo designed square, of the Piazza del Campidoglio.

I am not sure who these fat, ugly babies symbolize, but they sit under the
elbow of the statue of the River Tiber in the Piazza del Campidoglio, so I am
guessing that they are supposed to be Romulus and Remus and that the
fuzzy cyclops monster they are pulling on is supposed to be their foster
mother wolf.  But that is just a guess.

This fellow totally looks like he is playing with a cell phone.
Actually, he is the River Nile, and sits across from the statue of the River Tiber.

(All pictures are from Wikimedia Commons.)

Thermae of Caracalla

Thermae of Caracalla, or the Baths of Caracalla, were the second largest Roman baths after the Diocletian Baths.  If you watched the videos on the Roman Highways, some of them talked about walking through these baths.  These baths are much less well preserved than the Diocletian Baths.

(All pictures are from Wikimedia Commons.)

Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi

The Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi is just a short way from the distinctive doughnut shape of the Pantheon.

Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi is the Fountain of the Four Rivers.  It is not really ancient, as it was built in the 17th century AD, and it was a sign of the spread of Roman Catholicism.  The four river gods depicted represented the four major rivers of the four continents under Papal authority.

God of the Ganges, representingAsia.  The Ganges is in India but, although India is best known for being colonized by the Protestant English, they did not kick out the Catholic French decisively until a hundred years or so until after this fountain was built.  The Jesuits, a Roman Catholic religious order, had had a significant and influential presence in Japan  a hundred years before the fountain was built, but, by this time, Emperor Hideyoshi had adopted an extremely seclusionist foreign policy and had kicked out or killed all foreign missionaries and local converts.

God of the Nile, representing Africa.  His head is covered because, at the time, no one knew where the source of the Niles was located.  It was found in 1875 by Henry Morton Stanley, a British explorer, perhaps even more famous for saying "Dr. Livingstone, I presume?" on finding the missionary David Livingstone in the middle of Africa.  If you notice the band around his left leg, I assume that it is a symbol of subservience in some way.

The God of the Danube, for Europe. 

The God of the Rio de la Plata, for the Americas.  It is significant that this river is in South America, which was a stronghold of the Spanish and Portuguese, and not the much longer Mississippi River in North America.  By the time this fountain was designed, Catholics (especially the French, and Jesuit missionaries) had been using the Mississippi as a prime trade and communication route for over a century and had already traced the Mississippi at least five times as far as the Rio de la Plata.  (The Mississippi River is 2,530 miles and long and the Rio de la Plata is 180 miles long.)  I assume that the choice of rivers was determined primarily because of the greater trade value of South America (gold, instead of fur) but also because by this time, the Protestant English and the Protestant Dutch had a pretty significant stranglehold on the Atlantic seacoast, and were a significant threat to Catholic control of North America).
If you notice the right ankle of this fellow, this is almost certainly a symbol of slavery and the shaved head also seems symbolic of something.  (A lot of captions said that this river god is symbolized by an African slave.)

 (All pictures are from Wikimedia Commons.)

Pantheon (not Parthenon)

Every time I saw this site listed, for some reason, I had to specifically say to myself "Pantheon . . . not the Parthenon".  I have no idea why I kept getting them mixed up.  They really don't look all that much alike.

The Parthenon, in Athens--Parthenon means "Place of the Maidens".  It was the temple of Athena.

The Pantheon, in Rome--Pantheon means "All the Gods" and was an ancient Roman temple to lots of gods.  It became a Christian church in the 7th century AD.  Which seems like a reminder of Paul's speech before the Areopagus, which was in Athens, where he talked about the altar to the Unknown God (Acts 17:23). 

What is very interesting about this building is that it has been constantly in use since it was built by the Emperor Hadrian in the 2nd century BC.  It has been used in 4 separate millenia! It has stood up pretty well!  That don't make buildings like that anymore.

I think it looks a little like the Vines Center from the side, though not as shiny.







The building is very famous for its round dome, which is a perfect half of a sphere.  The shape, and the hole in the dome, make it very easy to spot in an aerial view map.

The Roman Pantheon, from the back.

The front of the Pantheon
(which does look vaguely like the Parthenon, since both have columns).

An interior view of the Pantheon.

This video by Rick Steves is very good.  It has some interesting trivia about the Pantheon building.  The second half of the video is about the Colloseum and, best of all, he talks about the Roman Centurians who hang around that area!

Trajan's Market

The Italians have, apparently, always liked shopping.  Trajan's Market, which was a ginormous shopping mall, was another thing which I did not see.  I can't remember for sure, but might this be where Charlton Heston was sold as a slave in Ben Hur?--That was in Rome, wasn't it?  The Market was right next to the Victor Emmanuel Monument (the large white monument on the upper left) and a ways away from the Colosseum as you see below.  Trajan's Market is marked with the red "A" pin.

This is street-level view of Trajan's Market, to give you an idea of its scope.  You can see one wall of the Colloseum at the end of the street.

You can see in the picture below, however, that the above view is just the top part of the Market, as the ground floor of the Market is well below street level.


If you notice on the map above, you can see a "Julius Caesar's Statute" label.  You can see that picture here, with the Forum in the background.  You can also see a couple of historic Centurions and you can tell that it was quite a bit cooler when the Google car drove by than when I was in Rome.

These are some more artistic views of the Market, from Wikimedia.

The Altare della Patria (Altar of the Fatherland)

The Altare della Patria (Altar of the Fatherland) also known as the Monumento Nazionale a Vittorio Emanuele II (National Monument to Victor Emmanuel II) or "Il Vittoriano".  It is was built quite near the Colloseum (it is marked with the little "A" bubble).

This was actually quite controversial because it involved the destruction of part of the Capitoline Hill.  Also, there is something disturbingly statist about the name (although I suppose that this is not surprising in Rome).

The facade of the Memorial/Altar.

The equestrian statue of Victor Emmanuel II in front of the building.

There are loads of equestrian statues of Victor Emmanuel II, the first king of Italy, all over Italy.  He was a very popular subject.

Equestrian statue of Victor Emmanuel II in Milan 
(in front of the giant shopping mall I've mentioned before, 
which is also named after Victor Emmanuel II.)

Equestrian statue of Victor Emmanuel II in Venice.

Equestrian statue of Victor Emmanuel II in Perugia.

The Trevi Fountain

The Trevi Fountain is another iconic structure in Rome that shows up in all kinds of movies and TV shows.  It was finished in the late 18th century, although the planning and construction took over 200 years.  It is built on top of one of the ancient aquaducts that used to supply ancient Rome with water, until it was cut off by the Goths (one of the invading German tribes) in the 6th century.  You can see a 360 degree panorama of the square where the fountain is, right here.

The fountain is so famous that it has its very own website, which you can see here.  The website is pretty interesting as it has a history of the fountain, interesting facts about it, and stories about the statues and images used in the fountain and what they symbolize--the main statue, for instance, is of Ocean, flanked by Health and Abundance, which seem quite appropriate for the commemoration of a fresh water supply.

The fountain is built on the back of the Palazzo Poli, which used to be a center of social activities but which now houses a museum and a library.

(All pictures are from Wikimedia Commons.)

The Spanish Steps and English Romantic Poets

The Spanish Steps are iconic.  They show up in TV shows and movies all the time, everything from Roman Holiday to Everybody Loves Raymond.  They were built in the early 18th century, as a convenient way for the Spanish and French officials at the top of the hill to get to the church at the bottom of the hill.  If you go to this website, you can see an interactive panorama of the Piazza, including the "Ugly Boat" fountain at the bottom, and including a little of the history of the Steps.  You can see that it is quite crowded with tourists although, apparently, it is illegal to eat your lunch while sitting on the steps, probably as a way to minimize congestion.

This is a very old picture of the Spanish Steps.

From the edge of the Piazza.  The cream colored house in the middle is now the Keats-Shelley Museum, named after two English romantic poets.  John Keats used to live in the house.  I have added his poem on December, below, since it seems to fit.  It is like History and English are coming together!

This picture, taken from the top of the Steps, at night, really makes me wish I had actually gone to see the Steps.

John Keat's 

In Drear Nighted December

In drear nighted December, 

   Too happy, happy tree, 

Thy branches ne'er remember 

   Their green felicity—

The north cannot undo them 

With a sleety whistle through them 

Nor frozen thawings glue them 

   From budding at the prime.

In drear-nighted December, 

   Too happy, happy brook, 

Thy bubblings ne'er remember 

   Apollo's summer look; 

But with a sweet forgetting, 

They stay their crystal fretting, 

Never, never petting 

   About the frozen time.

Ah! would 'twere so with many 

   A gentle girl and boy—

But were there ever any 

   Writh'd not of passed joy? 

The feel of not to feel it, 

When there is none to heal it 

Nor numbed sense to steel it, 

   Was never said in rhyme.

I admit that I have never been good at literature analysis, but I don't think that he was as excited about winter time as I am.

(All of the pictures are from Wikimedia Commons, since I never actually got there).

Rome: Things I Didn't See, But Should Have

I didn't see a lot of things in Rome.  There is lots of stuff to see and I only had a few (very hot) hours to see stuff.  Before I went to Rome, I made a map of all of the things that would be fun to see, just in case I got an opportunity,although I knew I wouldn't get to see most of it.  (You can see the interactive map here, if you would like.)  Even that wildly ambitious list left out a lot of sites.  You can see the little blue points below are all of the things that seemed like you out to see.  All of the little red dots are all of the other museum and historical sites that you could visit around the city.

The map below shows the things that I actually saw.  (You can see the interactive version of the map here.) I am not sure that this is the map of a really good tourist.

So, there are lots of things that I missed.  Some because I wasn't in a site-seeing mood, and some that were just not feasible to get to, given my time constraints.  But I thought, since I had done the research for this already, that I might share some of these places with you in any case.  I will add some more info later about different places that I would have seen if I had had the time and inclination--such as the Spanish Steps, the Trevi Fountain, etc.