The day began with breakfast on the fourth floor terrace – getting very warm at 08.30
Too hot to contemplate walking around to see the sights,besides which they are spread around the city of Rome. ANSWER? An open top bus tour.
There are several companies competing for city tours
The Circus Maximus is the largest building for public entertainment in antiquity and one of the largest of all time (600 metres long by 140 metres wide) and is related by a legend to the very origins of the city: the Rape of the Sabine Women took place here.
Via dei Fori Imperiali ,
Piazza Venezia derives its shape from the renovations of the area which took place between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries for the construction of the
Monument to Vittorio Emanuele II .
Three fountains adorn the square: Fontana del Moro, so-called for the statue of the Ethiopian fighting with a dolphin, Fontana de ‘Calderari, also known as the Fountain of Neptune, by Giacomo della Porta and, in the centre, the imposing Fountain of the Four Rivers, by Gian Lorenzo Bernini. Close by is the Vatican City.
The Villa Borghese Park occupies a vast area in the heart of the city.
The villa contains buildings, sculptures, monuments and fountains, the work of illustrious artists of baroque, neoclassical and eclectic art , surrounded by centuries-old trees, lakes, Italian gardens and large open spaces, created with great care.
The square is on the site of the ancient circus of Flora, where floral games took place in May to celebrate springtime. Placed in a depression and inhabited already in the first centuries of the Empire, it filled with villas and gardens during the 16th century. With the Strada Felice (today Via Sistina) inaugurated by Pope Sixyus V in 1586, it became an urban space and between the last decade of the 19th century and the first of the 20th century, it took a modern look thanks to the opening of the Via Veneto and the Via Regina Elena, now Via Barberini.
It is one of the nerve centres of the city. The square owes its name to Palazzo Barberini, here located. At its centre is the beautiful Fontana del Tritone by Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1632-37) on behalf of Pope Urban VIII Barberini. Represented in the centre of an enormous shell, with the erect bust and scaly legs of a sea monster, the Triton stands imposing. Its head bent backwards in an effort of blowing into the large spiral shell from which the water flows. Expression of the new baroque concept of space, the sculptural part of the fountain includes and completely absorbs the architectural structure: the shell, on which the Triton rests, constitutes, in fact, the upper basin of the fountain, and the baluster at the base is replaced by four dolphins with intertwined tails, among which are the papal coats of arms with bees, the heraldic symbol of the Barberini Family.
Roma Termini is Rome’s biggest train station, and one of Europe’s largest as well. There are 29 platforms and daily service to cities all over Italy as well as elsewhere in Europe. The name “Termini” comes from the station’s location in Rome. In the ancient city, the Baths of Diocletian (the Latin word for baths is “thermae”) were across the street from where the train station is today.
One of the distractions along the route was the interweaving of scooters and motorbikes between the cars, coaches and buses – it must be in the Roman genes, but at least they didn’t ride along the pavements like they do in Naples. We noticed a heavy police presence in the city, too. But the single biggest presence were the crowds – everywhere.
It was with relief we got back to Domus Sessoriana in good time and the refreshment of air conditioning. I think that our 16 days adventure along the Via Francigena caught up with me today.
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