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Quite possibly there isn't a
single city in the whole world that can possibly claim as
much charm and historic importance as Rome. Rightly
referred to as the eternal city, Rome was for
centuries the centre of the western world. As we would
quite naturally expect, its foundation is lost in the
many pages of legend, dating back, according to
tradition, to the 21st of April 753 BC. The bulk of
legends that have arrived to us is rich with anecdotes
that have become part of the cultural heritage of the
whole country, but documented history tells us that, for
the first two centuries and a half, Rome was governed by
seven kings. The founding of the city and its population
was attributed to the first of them, Romolo. He also
receives the merit of having united the Romans and the
Sabines. Since then the city was always at the centre
of Europe's historical, political and social life,
preserving its prestige and its extraordinary beauty,
made of monuments and works of art that are unique in the
whole world. Everybody arrives in Rome with a wealth of
knowledge, images and stories accumulated in the course
of a lifetime. Anybody is able to mention, maybe with a
slight effort, its most famous monuments and the
protagonists of its history. This is perhaps the key to
the charm of a city that seems to invite every visitor to
feel part of its complex reality and its millennial
history. This is an invitation to explore Rome and to
build an image of it as complete as possible, that can be
confronted with the city of our imagination in an
exciting and evocative journey.
If you are planning a brief stay in Rome and would
like to see much as possible, select the recommended
itineraries on the left.
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The possible trails to visit Rome
are countless. In order to be sure not to miss anything,
the best way to go about it is to divide your stay in
thematic itineraries. You can start with ancient Rome
setting off from Trajan's column, continuing with the
famous Forums and with the Capitol, the Coliseum
and the Arch of Constantine. The itinerary can
continue with a visit to the Domus Aurea and the beauty
of the Monti district, one of the most ancient, with the
church of Santa Pudenziana and that of San Pietro in
vincoli, where you can see Michelangelo's Moses. |
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Alternatively you might choose to visit
the many squares and fountains of the capital,
starting from the Quirinale, where you can see the
monumental fountains of Castore and Polluce, continuing
with the historic Trevi Fountain, right under
Palazzo Poli. From there you can easily reach Piazza
di Spagna, with the famous staircase of Trinità
dei Monti. Don't miss Piazza Navona, a
masterpiece of baroque, with the fountain of the four
rivers by Bernini, and Piazza della Rotonda, where
you can see the Pantheon. |
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If you visit Rome you cannot
neglect the beauty of the Vatican City; as well as
the famous museums you must absolutely visit the Basilica
di San Pietro, and in it Michelangelo's Pietà,
and Piazza S.Pietro, surrounded by Bernini's
colonnade and the destination for Christian believers
from the world over. |
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The Vatican Museums originated as a
group of sculptures collected by Pope Julius II
(1503-1513) and placed in what today is the “Cortile
Ottagono” within the museum complex. The popes were
among the first sovereigns who opened the art collections
of their palaces to the public thus promoting knowledge
of art history and culture. As seen today, the Vatican
Museums are a complex of different pontifical museums and
galleries that began under the patronage of the popes
Clement XIV (1769-1774) and Pius VI (1775-1799). |
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In fact, the Pio-Clementine Museum
was named after these two popes, who set up this first
major curatorial section. Later, Pius VII (1800-1823)
considerably expanded the collections of Classical
Antiquities, to which he added the Chiaromonti Museum and
the “Braccio Nuovo” gallery. He also enriched
the Epigraphic Collection, which was conserved in the
Lapidary Gallery. |
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Gregory XVI (1831-1846) founded the
Etruscan Museum (1837)
with archaeological finds discovered during excavations
carried out from 1828 onwards in southern Etruria. Later,
he established the Egyptian
Museum (1839), which houses ancient artifacts from
explorations in Egypt, together with other pieces already
conserved in the Vatican and in the Museo Capitolino, and
the Lateran Profane Museum (1844), with statues,
bas-relief sculptures and mosaics of the Roman era, which
could not be adequately placed in the Vatican Palace. The
Lateran Profane Museum was expanded in 1854 under Pius IX
(1846-1878) with the addition of the Pio Christian
Museum. This museum is comprised of ancient sculptures
(especially sarcophagi) and inscriptions with ancient
Christian content. In 1910, under the pontificate of
Saint Pius X (1903-1914), the Hebrew Lapidary was
established. This section of the museum contains 137
inscriptions from ancient Hebrew cemeteries in Rome
mostly from via Portuense and donated by the Marquisate
Pellegrini-Quarantotti. These last collections (Gregorian
Profane Museum, Pio Christian Museum and the Hebrew
Lapidary) were transferred, under the pontificate of Pope
John XXIII (1958-1963), from the Lateran Palace to their
present building within the Vatican and inaugurated in
1970. |
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The Museums also include the
Gallery of Tapestries, a collection of various 15th and
17th century tapestries; the Gallery of Maps, decorated
under the pontificate of Gregory XIII (1572-1585) and
restored by Urban VIII (1623-1644); the Sobieski Room and
the Room of the Immaculate Conception; the Raphael Stanze and the Loggia,
which were decorated by order of Julius II and Leo X
(1513-1521); the Chapel of Nicholas V (1447-1455),
painted by Fra Angelico; the Sistine Chapel, which
takes the name of its founder, Pope Sixtus IV; the Borgia
Apartment, where Pope Alexander VI lived until his death
(1492-1503); the Vatican
Pinacoteca, created under Pius XI (1922-1932) in a
special building near the new entrance to the Museums;
the Missionary-Ethnological
Museum which was founded by Pius XI in 1926, arranged
on the upper floors of the Lateran Palace and later
transferred, under Pope John XXIII, to the Vatican where
it has been opened again to the public in the same
building which housed the former Lateran collections. In
1973 the Collection of Modern and Contemporary Religious
Art was added and inaugurated by Pope Paul VI (1963-1978)
in the Borgia Apartment. The Vatican Historical Museum,
founded in 1973 and transferred in 1987 to the Papal
Apartment in the Lateran Palace, houses a series of papal
portraits along with objects of the past Pontifical
Military Corps and of the Pontifical Chapel and Family
and historic ceremonial objects no longer in use. The
Carriage and Automobile Museum is a section of the
Vatican Historical Museum. In the year 2000, the Vatican
Museums opened a new
large entrance that provides visitor information and
other services; on display are many new artworks, two of
which were specially created for this grand entrance hall |
