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Vittoriano
The National Monument to Victor Emmanuel II - a memorial to which there are varying reactions, of approval or disapproval - was built between 1885 and 1911 to celebrate the winning of Italian unity in 1870 and to commemorate the first king of united Italy, Victor Emmanuel II (d. 1878). The monument is 135m/440ft long by 130m/425ft deep and rears up to a height of 70m/230ft. Half-way up are the "Altar of the Fatherland" (Altare della Patria) and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, which regularly feature in city tours.
Picture by iessi
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San Clemente Church
San Clemente is one of the most venerable and beautiful of Rome's churches. On a site previously occupied by a house containing a shrine of Mithras - now far below street level - an early Christian church was built at some time before A.D. 385 and dedicated to St Clement, third bishop of Rome after Peter. After the destruction of this church by the Normans in 1084 a new basilican church was built over its ruins at the beginning of the 12th century.
Picture by juandesant
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Basilica of St. John Lateran
Before the Popes established their residence in the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican after their return from exile in Avignon they lived mainly in the Lateran; and St John Lateran has remained the episcopal church of the Pope. Various additions and alterations were carried out in the fifth, eighth, 10th, 13th and 15th centuries, and in the 16th and 17th centuries the church was almost completely rebuilt.
Picture by gaspa
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Catacombs of St. Calixtus
The Catacombs of St Calixtus were called by Pope John XXIII "the sublimest and most famous in Rome". These underground burial places in the Via Appia Antica extend over an area of 300x400m/330x440yd, with an intricate network of passages and chambers hewn from the soft Roman tufa on four levels. Some 20km/12.5mi of passages have so far been explored, and the total number of burials is estimated at around 170,000. In six sacramental chapels, constructed between A.D. 290 and 310, are both pagan and early Christian wall paintings. In the "Papal Crypt", are the tombs of most of the martyred Popes of the third century identified by Greek inscriptions (Urban I, Pontius, Antherus, Fabian, Lucius, Eutychianus).
Picture by ndarchitecturelibrary
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Marcellus Theater
The desire to display Roman power, artistic achievement and technological skill, led Pompey to erect a free-standing theatre in 55 B.C. and Augustus followed his example in the theater built for his nephew and son-in-law Marcellus, predestined to be the Emperor's successor had he not died before his time. The theater, originally planned by Caesar, was begun in 13 B.C. and completed two years later.
Picture by bendemey
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Baths of Carcalla
The Baths of Caracalla to the south of Rome, begun by Septimus Severus in A.D. 206 and completed by Caracalla in 216, were much more than public baths. Nowadays they would be called a "leisure center", containing as they did a whole system of baths (hot and cold baths, a swimming pool, sweat baths with both dry and damp heat), facilities for gymnastics and sport, pleasant rooms for social intercourse, gardens to walk in, lecture rooms and libraries, hairdressers and shops.
Picture by teandkb
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Baths of Diocletian
Diocletian built these baths to serve the northern districts of the city, the southern districts having been catered for by the Baths of Caracalla. The Baths of Diocletian, measuring 356m by 316m, were even larger than those of Caracalla. Their huge scale can be appreciated when it is seen how widely separated from one another are the surviving parts of the structure, many of them now incorporated into later buildings - the Museo Nazionale Romano or Museo delle Terme.
Picture by antmoose
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Gesu Church
The Gesù in Rome is the principal church of the Jesuits. The initiative for its construction came from Ignatius Loyola, founder in 1540 of the Society of Jesus, an order which spread quickly throughout the Roman Catholic countries of Europe and organized the Counter-Reformation. Adjoining the church is a house (now a Jesuit college) in which Ignatius was living at the time of the church's foundation.
Picture by darrencopley
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Palazzo dei Conservatori
The Palazzo dei Conservatori, built by Giacomo della Porta in 1564-75 to the design of Michelangelo, contains reception rooms used by the municipality of Rome on ceremonial occasions, and also houses part of the Capitoline Museum. Notable exhibits in the museum include fragments of a colossal statue of the Emperor Constantine, two statues of captive Barbarian princes, and the Capitoline She-Wolf, an Etruscan work of the sixth century.
Picture by nikonphotoslave
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Palazzo Venezia
The Palazzo Venezia, begun in 1451 by Cardinal Pietro Barbo, later Pope Paul II, continued under a number of architects and completed in 1491, stands next to the church of San Marco in the Piazza Venezia, one of the busiest traffic intersections in the world. The palace is now occupied by the Palazzo Venezia Museum and the National Institute of Archeology and Art History, and is also frequently used for temporary art exhibitions.
Picture by gaspa
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Palatine Hill
The Palatine occupies a leading place among the seven hills of Rome. It is associated with the legend of the foundation of the city, and has yielded evidence of the earliest settlement in the area, strategically situated 50m/165ft above the Tiber, near the Isola Tiberina. Under the Empire palaces (the very word "palace" comes from the Palatine) were built here by the Emperors and great aristocratic families of Rome.
Picture by iessi
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Colosseum
The Colosseum, or Flavian Amphitheatre, is the largest structure left to us by Roman antiquity, and has provided the model for sports areas right down to modern times; the football stadia of the present day have basically the same form as this monument created by the architects of the Flavian Emperors, Vespasian and Titus. The object of the Emperors in raising the Colosseum was to satisfy the appetite of the Roman populace for circenses (games), and there is no doubt that they achieved their aim.
Picture by wtlphotos
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Trevi Fountain
Rome's largest fountain, the Fontana di Trevi, stands in a small square closely hemmed in by buildings. It is supplied by an aqueduct originally constructed by Agrippa, the great art patron of the first century B.C., to bring water to his baths, and later restored by the Popes. The fountain was created for Pope Clement XII between 1732 and 1751 by Nicolo Salvi, whose masterpiece it is.
Picture by scubabeer
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Pantheon
The architectural form of the Pantheon, the largest and best preserved monument of Roman antiquity, is so simple that the structure has survived the hazards of the centuries almost intact. The name of its builder is inscribed above the entrance: Marcus Agrippa, son-in-law of the Emperor Augustus, who dedicated it to the "most holy" (Greek pantheon) planetary gods - hence the dome, representing the firmament, with its opening for the sun - and not to all the gods as the name seems to imply.
Picture by cogitoergoimago
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St. Peter's Square
The square represents the core of the Vatican City, the smallest state in the world. In the origins, the square used to be the place where Nerone Circus and Gardens where located, and where many Christians, including Saint Peter, suffered from martyrdom. In the centre of the square stands out an Egyptian obelisk (built during the Ramsez II dynasty) brought to Rome by Emperor Caligola in 37 B.C.
Picture by davidohmer
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St. Peter's Basilica
The world’s largest Basilica of Christianity, nested into the heart of the Vatican city, with its 186 metres of length, a height of 46 metres in the central aisle, a main dome 136 metres high and 42 metres large in diameter. It was constructed by will of Emperor Constantine around 320 AD in the area where Saint Peter had been martyrized. The plan of the dome belongs to Michelangelo who managed to finish only the portion of the dome basement called Tamburo. It will be Giacomo Dalla Porta to complete the dome according to Michelangelo’s drawings in 1588-89.
Picture by scottdenham
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Santa Maria Maggiore
Santa Maria Maggiore is one of the four Patriarchal Basilicas of Rome and the largest of the 80 Roman churches dedicated to the Virgin. Its construction was ordered by Pope Liberius who in 356 saw the Virgin Mary in his dreams. Internally, in spite of the various interventions, the church has maintained the 3 aisles of the V century, separated by 40 monolithic marble and granite columns.
Picture by onefromrome
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Musei Vaticani
Vatican Museum houses fabulous masterpieces in palaces originally built for Renaissance popes such as Julius II, Innocent VIII and Sixtus IV. Most of the later additions were made in the 18th century, when priceless works of art, accumulated by earlier popes, were put on show. Vatican Museum is home to the Sistine Chapel and Raphael Rooms as well as to one of the world's most important art collections.
+39 (0) 669 883 041
Picture by argenberg
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Roman Forum
The Roman Forum (Forum Romanum) was the central area of the city around which ancient Rome developed. It was here where the commerce, business, cult and the administration of justice took place. The Roman Forum was designed by the architect Vitruvius and was the site of the city's most important public buildings, such as the Arch of Septimius Severus, built in AD203 and the Roman Forum Rostra or platforms for public speeches.
Picture by amishah
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Piazza di Spagna
A masterpiece of the XVIII century, the square, with its irregular shape, extends itself at the feet of Pincio hill; on top of it the French Church Trinita dei Monti (1502) is located. The square and the church are connected by the monumental Spanish steps, built between 1723-1726 (designed by Francesco de Sanctis). The most glamorous Rome streets lead to Piazza di Spagna (via Condotti e via del Babuino).
Picture by amishah
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Borghese Gallery
Galleria Borghese is Rome's finest art gallery; a museum displaying some of the world's greatest works of art in an exquisite setting. The man behind this elegant villa and the art it contains was Cardinal Scipione Borghese, nephew of a pope and wealthy man of taste. He built this lavish villa to show off his incredible, constantly-growing collection of antiquities, paintings by the leading artists of his day, and specially-commissioned pieces by the likes of Bernini.
Piazza Scipione Borghese 5
Picture by mykaul
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Piazza Navona
The Piazza Navona is one of the most characteristic Baroque squares in Rome, constantly filled with crowds of visitors as well as Romans. The palaces and churches around the square still mark out the area of the stadium (240m/790ft long, 65m/215ft across) constructed here by Domitian. During the Middle Ages the arena was used for water festivals and horse races.
Picture by ruthl
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