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Rome is the city of art par excellence.
It is rich in history, monuments, piazzas and art that is
permanently on display. Walking around the historical centre,
visitors encounter numerous museums. There is an extensive choice of museums including the majestic Vatican Museums with more than 4 million visitors each year. Additionally, there are the very central and ancient Capitoline Museums, as well as noteworthy museums such as the Borghese Gallery and the Archaeology Museums There are also scientific museums such as the Planetarium, which in recent times have attracted many visitors including children, and contemporary art museums, which often have important exhibitions. The variety of museums also includes a large quantity of activities. Numerous guided visits are organised to provide a better understanding of their collections. The instruction offered for school children and the general public help them approach the world of culture in a fun and light-hearted manner. There are also many bookshops which offer exhibition catalogues and books for in-depth study as well as gifts and souvenirs. Special “cards” are offered to complete the cultural panorama, helping tourists move around museums and make payments. THE ROMAN FORUM The Forum Romanum is situated in the valley between the Palatine Hill and the Capitol and consists of an almost trapezoid-shaped square that stands between the Regia and the Rostra on the short sides and the Basilica Aemilia and the Basilica Julia on the long ones. An extension of the northern part is represented by the Comitium. The squarewas conceived as a place for commercial exchanges and political and judicial activities, situated in a point where important roads (Via Sacra, Vicus Tuscus, Vicus Iugarius, Clivus Capitolinus, and Argiletum) converged. Originally the zone was partly marshy and used as a cemetery starting from about the tenth century BC, as testified by tombs discovered in 1902 in the burial ground. Ruins of huts and ceramic material found next to the archaic burial ground lead to think that dwelling places were disseminated there already in the second half of the eighth century. The most ancient monuments of sacred character, attributed by tradition to the first kings of Rome, date back to the second half of the sixth century BC. The temple of Saturn and the temple of the Dioscuri were built at the beginning of the Republic (509 BC). The first tribune for speakers situated between the Forum and the Comitium probably dates back to the fifth century BC. Four basilicas intended for the administration of justice and the conduction of business were built in the second century BC. The Forum was submitted to further changes under Caesar and later Augustus. The travertine floor that is still visible dates back to the Augustan Age. Many honorary monuments were erected in the area of the Forum in the Imperial Age; the last of which is the column dedicated in 608 AD to emperor Foca. The Forum was then abandoned and filled in by a thick layer of earth, becoming a pasture known as Campus Vaccinus. Some temples were transformed into churches, allowing their preservation in the course of time. During the Renaissance the area of the Forum Romanum was used as a marble and stone quarry. Arch of Titus - This arch was erected in 81 AD by emperor Domitian in memory ofhis brother Titus to celebrate his victories against the Judaeans. Decorated with Greek marble slabs, the monument has a single opening flanked by four semicolumns with capitals. Basilica of Maxentius - This basilica was built between 306 and 312 AD by emperor Maxentius and completed by emperor Justinian. Originally five wide passageways led to a huge hall consisting of a nave and two aisles separated by marble columns. The only column that survived was! removed in 1613 and placed in front of the Basilica of St. Mary Major. In the apsis of the central nave Constantine erected a gigantic statue of himself with arms, legs and head made of white marble and the rest of gilded bronze. The head and one foot are exposed in the Capitoline Museums. Temple of Venus and Rome - This temple was built in 135 AD by emperor Hadrian who probably also designed it and then completed by emperor Antoninus Pius. Rich in columns, it occupied an area of 330 by 480 feet and enclosed two cells that were rebuilt by Maxentius in 310 AD after a fire. Balnea - This is a complex of small thermae situated near the Temple of Heliogabalus and Vigna Barberini, just off Via Sacra. Temple so-called of Romolus - This building was once considered a temple dedicated to the memory of Romolus, the son of emperor Maxentius who died very young in 309 AD and was deified by his father. Today it is indicated as theTemple of Jupiter Stator. Temple of Antoninus and Faustina - This temple was built in 141 AD by Antoninus Pius in honor of his dead wife Faustina and after the death of the emperor itwas dedicated also to his memory. It stands on a high podium preceded by stands (rebuilt with bricks) at the center of which are the ruins of the altar. The atrium consists of ten marble columns. The cell was consecrated as the Church of San Lorenzo in Miranda in the eleventh century. Temple of Caesar (of of Divine Julius) - This temple was built by emperor Augustus in the place where Julius Caesar’s body was burned and where Marcus Antonius pronounced his famous funeral oration. Only a few ruins remain, including a round altar that was probably built in the place where the funeral pire was arranged. Regia - Attributed by tradition to king Numa Pompilius and probably a residence of the Tarquinii. In the Republican Age the Rex Sacrorum, the Pontifex Maximus and the other Priests performed their duties here. The Regia was destroyed by a fire in 64 AD and rebuilt on its original design in 36 AD by Domitius Calvus to demonstrate its sacredness. Round Temple of Vesta - This building was built as the "hut of the sacred fire" probably with wood, straw and wickers and reconstructed in 191 AD by Julia Domna, wife of emperor Septimius Severus. It had a circular plant and was covered by a roof with a hole on the top to let out the smoke of the sacred fire. It was encircled by twenty columns, three of which remain today. Here were kept the sacred objects bound with the fortunes of Rome, which by tradition Aeneas had brought from Troy. Temple of the Castores (or Dioscuri) - Dedicated to the cult of Castor and Pollux, this temple was inaugurated in 484 AD and restored several times. The facade faced the Forum and the temple consisted of nineteen columns (three of which remain today). In this building where the Senate once met, weights and measurements were controlled. Bankers, exchangers and barbers had shops at the foot of the podium, among the plinths of the columns. Basilica Julia - This basilica was built by Julius Caesar in 54 BC on the site of the Basilica Sempronia after its destruction and then dedicated to him. It was completed later by emperor Augustus. It was rebuilt after a fire in the year 2 BC and restored for the last time in 416 AD. The Basilica consisted of a two-story building with a nave and four aisles and a huge central hall. It hosted the four sections of the Roman Court of Assizes held by 105 judges, called the Centumviri. Santa Maria Antiqua and the Domitian Buildings - This complex constitutes the link between the Forum and the Palatine Hill. It consists of a huge hall of Domitian’s Age, “tabernae” of Hadrian’s Age and another uncovered square room from which three entrances lead to a hall formed by a central room with a quadriportico and three rooms behind it. This last part was transformed into the church of Santa Maria Antiqua in the sixth century AD. Horrea Agrippiana - This work is dated back to! the Augustan Age and consists of a square two-story monumental tuff building with wide rooms that face a huge courtyard with porticoes and other smaller rooms. It was built by Agrippa to be used as storerooms (horrea), as commemorated by an inscription that can still be seen in one of the central rooms. Basilica Aemilia - This is the only Republican Basilica to survive. It was built in 179 BC by the censors Marcus Aemilius Lepidus and Marcus Fulvius Nobilior. It was initially called Fulvia or Fulvia Aemilia and was restored several times by members of the Aemilia Gens, from which it took its definitive name. The facade consisted of a two-story portico with sixteen arches on pillars with semicolumns. Behind the portico were the shops, from which three arched entrances (the one that is complete is of the modern age) led to a majestic hall divided in naves by marble columns. The plaster cast of a tract of the frieze that decorated the trabeation with scenes of the legendary origin of Rome is placed next to the outer wall. The ruins of the more ancient Basilica are still visible on the western side. Curia - By tradition this building was founded by king Tullius Ostilius and rebuilt in 80 BC by Silla. It was moved from its original site to its current position by Caesar. It was completed by Augustus in 29 BC and restored by Domitian in 94 AD. It was last redone by Diocletian around 283 AD. The facade presents three large windows and a monumental door whose wings are a copy of the original ones moved in 1660 to the Basilica of St. John Lateran. Arch of Septimius Severus - This arch was erected at the foot of the Capitol in 203 AD, on the tenth anniversary of the ascent of emperor Septimius Severus to the throne and dedicated by him to his son Caracalla. The two facades are encircled by a high attic (originally surmounted by a quadriga with the emperor and his son), inside which are four rooms that can be accessed through a staircase. On the two sides of the attic there is a large inscription wi th a dedication to Septimius Severus and Caracalla. Scenes of the two campaigns against the Partii are represented on the panels above the smaller arches. Portico of the Consenting Gods - This building consists of eight rooms placed side by side and preceded by a portico with twelve columns and Corinthian capitals. The statues of the most important Gods of the Greek and Roman pantheon were probably situated in some of the rooms. The building dates back to the Flavian Age and was restored in 367 AD. Rostra - The semicircular stands used as a tribune for the orators were decorated with the rostra, the bronzer arms removed from the ships after the victorious battle of Antium (338 BC). They were moved here from the area of the Comitium during the demolitions made by Caesar and inaugurated in 44 BC, shortly before his death. The building today consists of part of the semicircular stands at the entrance, some ruins of the interior and the facade. On the northern side there is a brick addition that dates back to 470 AD. Temple of Saturn - This temple was started around the end of the Royal Age and was inaugurated between 498 and 497 BC and entirely rebuilt in 42 BC. A forepart leaned on the front of the facade (all that remains is the threshold of the door that opened towards the Forum) where the State Public Treasure was kept. Temple of Vespasianus and Titus - All that remains of this temple are three columns on the north-eastern side. The staircase leading to the entrance and part of the podium date back to the nineteenth century. Emperor Titus started the construction of the temple in honor of his father Vespasianus, but died before it was completed. His brother the emperor Domitian completed the works of the temple and dedicated it to Vespasianus and Titus. Column of Foca - This is the last monument of the Forum Romanum. The column was dedicated in 608 AD to Nicephorus Foca, the Byzantine emperor who donated the Pantheon to Pope Boniface the Sixth. The Column is more ancient in origin (it dates back to the second century AD) and is surmounted by a Corinthian capital. Via Sacra - This Via (Sacred Road) was the path followed by the victorious leader (dux) through the Forum towards the Capitol. It was called Sacra because according to the legend it was covered by Romolus and Titus Tatius after entering the pact of alliance at the end of the war between the Romans and the Sabines. Solemn religious ceremonies with sacrifices were held there every month. Address: Via della Salara Vecchia, 5/6 Opening hours from 8.30 am to one hour before sunset: 8:30am-4:30pm from January 2 to February 15 8:30am-5pm from February 16 to March 15 8:30am-5:30pm from March 16 to 24 8:30am-7:15pm from last Sunday of March to August 31 8:30am-7pm from September 1 to September 30 8:30am-6:30pm from October 1 to last Saturday of October 8:30am-4:30pm to last Sunday of October to December 31 Closed January 1, December 25 Notes: The ticket office closes one hour before closing time. Price: Full: € 9.00 Reduced: € 4.50 free under 18 and over 65 years old UE Telephone: 0039 06 699841 - 06 39967700 Fax: 0039 06 6786689 COLOSSEO The emperors of the Flavia Family built this large amphitheatre for gladiatorial shows and hunts of wild animals, which in the following centuries became the symbol of the Eternal City. The building, called Colosseum starting from the Middle Ages perhaps due to the vicinity of an enormous statue of Nero (Colossus), rose on the area covered by the artificial lake of the Domus Aurea. The works started under Vespasian and were terminated in the year 80 A.D. by Titus that promoted a magnificent inauguration with games that lasted apparently one hundred days, during which five thousand beasts were killed. The construction was completed under Domitian (81-96).The building has an elliptical plan and consists externally of a triple series of eighty travertine arches lined by Tuscanic semicolons in the first order, Ionic in the second and Corinthian in the third. We can still see on the top the shelves and the holes for the poles that sustained the large curtain that protected the spectators from the sun and the rain. Instead the numerous holes visible all over the outside surface were made during the Middle Ages with the purpose of recuperating the metal plates that kept the stone blocks together. The arches on the ground floor gave access to the steps and stands for the public. Above the arches the Roman numbers that indicated the various sectors of the cavea are still visible. Only the main entrances, situated in correspondence of the main axes, were not numbered because reserved to privileged categories: magistrates, vestals, religious colleges, etc.. The northern entrance lead to the tribune reserved to the Emperor. The underground basements where used to keep the machinery and the cages for the beasts, or as storage and service rooms. They are still visible today at the center of the amphitheater, but were originally covered with wooden boards that formed the surface of the arena. Four corridors located under the main entrances connected the basements with the outside: one led to the Ludus Magnus, the main barracks of the gladiators. The shows were free of charge and the seats were assigned according to the class of belonging: some stands in the lower sector that were reserved to the senators bear inscriptions with the names of 195 personalities of the senatorial order belonging to the period of Odoacer (476-483). The gladiatorial games were definitively forbidden b! y Valent inian the Third after the year 438 A.D., while the shows with hunts of wild beasts continued until 523. In the Middle Ages the Colosseum was transformed into a fortress that belonged firstly to the Frangipane and then to the Annibaldi family. After becoming a quarry of construction material and being unceasingly dispoliated for centuries, in 1749 it was consecrated by Benedict the Fourteenth to the Passion of Jesus and "reutilized" as a monumental Via Crucis. At the beginning of the nineteenth century the first interventions to statically reinforce the structure were performed and the large brick walls that still retain what remains of the external perimeter were built. Address: Piazza del Colosseo Opening hours: 8:30am-4:30pm from January 2 to February 15 8:30am-5pm from February 16 to March 15 8:30am-5:30pm from March 16 to 24 8:30am-7:15pm from last Sunday of March to August 31 8:30am-7pm from September 1 to September 30 8:30am-6:30pm from October 1 to last Saturday of October 8:30am-4:30pm to last Sunday of October to December 31 Closed January 1, December 25 Notes: The ticket office closes one hour before closing time. Price: Full € 9.00 Reduced € 4.50 free under 18 and over 65 years old UE ROMA PASS: 23 euro GALLERIA NAZIONALE D'ARTE ANTICA - Palazzo Barberini It was conceived as the self-celebration of the rise of a papal family. The huge complex of Palazzo Barberini was established by the Florentine Pope Urban VIII. In 1625, two years after his nomination, Pope Urban VIII took advantage of the financial difficulties of the Sforza di Santa family and acquired their estate located between the Quattro Fontane and Pia (today XX Settembre) streets and the related magnificently decorated buildings in order to carry out the project of a palace-villa able to compete with the luxurious dwellings of the Roman nobility. The mansion was in fact appropriate for the twofold functions of “villa of the delights” opened on the green belt surrounding the ancient inhabited area and city palace. The mansion originally overlooked Piazza Barberini. The qualities which were already intrinsic to the Palazzo Sforza, were reinforced by the new project which refused the traditional model of the city-palace with a quadrangular plan and courtyard, instead the project of the architect Maderno was based on an H-shaped open plan with two parallel wings joined by a central septum with arcade entrance and false upper open gallery. The work of Bernini is mostly concentrated in this connecting body which is the official and public part of the palace common to both residential wings. Bernini became the head of the work being done after the death of Maderno in 1629. Bernini was assisted by Borromini, who was the grandson of Maderno and had already been working on the construction site. Some of the most notable structures of the palace are tied to these two names such as, the ovoid staircase of the right wing by Borromini, which echos the similar wide staircase of the Palazzo Farnese in Caprarola; the monumental staircase with a quadrangular plan projected by Bernini beside the oval hall and the impressive double height hall where Pietro da Cortona would paint the famous fresco “The Triumph of the Divine Providence”, an allegorical celebration of the glories of the Barberini dynasty, between 1633 and 1639. The palace was acquired by the Italian State in 1949 and, in spite of the difficult cohabitation with other institutions ! which we re already tenants of the Barberini, the state decided that it would be the location of the National Gallery of Ancient Art which had already been established in 1895 but had never been set up. The museum was closely tied to the other collection located in Palazzo Corsini, therefore the Gallery was initially divided in accordance with a chronological criterion that assigned the more ancient works (until end of Seventeenth century) to Palazzo Barberini and the more recent ones to Palazzo Corsini: such a rigid division was finally discarded with the 1984 reorganisation of both museums. Justice was finally rendered to the Corsini collection on that occasion, it was re-assembled and brought back to its historical site. Instead, Palazzo Barberini would host, in accordance with chronological criteria, the various works acquired by the State either by purchase on the market or as bequests and donations which came from various collections which were otherwise dispersed. The same remarkable Barberini collection is now reduced to a minor portion of the original acquired by the State in 1934, because of a law which, gave the family back part of the collection in exchange for the right to have possession of the remaining part. The pieces returned to the family was incredibly dispersed. The current property of the museum, without taking into account the so-called “third gallery” constituted by the works in external warehouses, state agencies and ministries, boasts approximately 1500 paintings and more than 2000 items of decorative arts including furniture and objects from the former Industrial Artistic Museum. The core of the collection is however represented by paintings that include several masterpieces especially dating from the Seventeenth and Eighteenth centuries. The collection, in which significant works by specific artists are often represented, dates back to the Thirteenth century; it includes, the icon coming from S. Maria in Campo Marzio and some Fourteenth century crucifixes, grotesque works of the! Fifteenth century and the famous Madonna di Corneto Tarquinia by Filippo Lippi. The core of the gallery is represented by the masterpieces which date from the Sixteenth and Seventeenth centuries. The famous painting by Raffaello called the “Fornarina” deserves special mention besides the works by Andrea del Sarto, Beccafumi, Sodoma, Bronzino, Lotto, Tintoretto, Tiziano and El Greco. While Caravaggio’s Judith cutting off the head of Oloferne opens the superb itinerary of the Seventeenth century art which includes paintings by Reni, Domenichino, Guercino, Lanfranco, Bernini, Poussin, Pietro da Cortona, Gaulli and Maratta. The Eighteenth century is also very well represented. The paintings displayed by schools, offer a rather exhaustive view of the Italian art of that period that is complemented by an interesting group of French paintings coming from the Cervinara collection. The final touch to complete the visit is the evocative apartment set up and furnished by Cornelia Costanza Barberini in the second half of the century using rare and precious decorations. This little jewel is the expression of the taste of that age and it also exhibits some of the most interesting decorative artworks which belong to the museum. Address: Via delle Quattro Fontane, 13 Tue-Sun 8.30am-7.30pm Closed Monday, 25 December, 1 January The ticket office closes 30 minutes before closing time. Telephone: 0039 06 4824184 - 06 4814591 Telephone: 06 32810 Tickets reservation Fax: 0039 06 4880560 Sito web: www.galleriaborghese.it/barberini/it/ Price: Full: € 5.00 Reduced: € 3.00 Guided Visit: € 5.00 free under a 18 and over 65 anni UE MUSEI DI VILLA TORLONIA- Casina delle Civette e Casino Nobile The Museo della Casina delle Civette a Villa Torlonia was opened to the public in 1997. It is situated within the park of Villa Torlonia on Via Nomentana. CASINA DELLE CIVETTE The building, which is positioned on a hillock, presents an original architectonic structure rich in decorative elements; the construction dates back to 1840 when the Venetian architect Giuseppe Jappelli designed a strange building called “Capanna Svizzera” covered in rough squared stones with an “L-shaped” plan and a small octagonal main body; in 1908 Prince Giovanni Torlonia, the owner of the villa, decided to live in the building and ordered its expansion and decoration with Neo-Medieval and Art-Nouveau elements, and he entrusted its design to the architect Gennari: in fact indented attics, turrets, small loggias and arcade balconies and a series of decorative elements such as majolicas, trought iron, mosaics, stuccoes and sculpted marble were added to the building. The building underwent further transformation between 1916 and 1920 through the work of the architect Vincenzo Fasolo who added another building on a vast portico with a cross vault that supports a terrace room to the structure. It is owing to these two phases of work that more than forty polychrome glass walls bound with lead, created by master glassworker Cesare Picchiarini were added to the design of famous artists like Duilio Cambellotti, Paolo Paschetto, Umberto Bottazzi and Vittorio Grassi. The very presence of this rich collection led to the suggestion of using the building as a museum of glass walls: other examples of glassworks, over a hundred preliminary sketches, cartoons and drawings are exhibited together with the originals which have been restored and replaced in their original positions. The glass walls of the Casina which are particularly important are those by Cambellotti, like the one called “the nail” with a rich portrayal of vine leaves and bunches of grapes, the picture of the Owls, with the stylised images of the nocturnal bird which obsessively recurs in the decoration of the whole building and those with the dynamic flights of birds of the “Migratory” series. The glass windows by Paolo Paschetto with the series “Roses and Butterflies” and those by Bottazzi entitled “The Peacocks” are also worth mentioning. When the Prince died in 1939 the Casina was abandoned and from 1944 to 1947, during the occupation of the villa by Anglo- American military command, all the decorative sets which are particularly delicate and precious sustained considerable damage. CASINO NOBILE The Casino Nobile owes its appearance to the work of Giuseppe Valadier, in about 1802, and, from 1835-1840, that of Giovan Battista Caretti who added the facade’s majestic porch. Many painters worked on the decoration, among them Podesti and Coghetti, as well as sculptors and plasterers of the schools of Thorvaldsen and Canova. From 1925 to 1943, the house and grounds were rented to Benito Mussolini. During this time an anti-gas shelter and an anti air-raid bunker were created in the basement. The restored building holds, on its two display floors, the Museo della Villa, with period sculpture and furnishings. On the second floor is the Museo della Scuola Romana, displaying paintings, sculpture and drawings by the artists of that group. The Roman School did not represent a single artistic current, but rather identified a common conception of what a work of art was. The conception was held by those artists and writers (mostly from Rome or who took up residence there) who rejected the rhetorical vision of the Novecento movement founded in Milan by Margherita Sarfatti and who embraced contemporary ideals and manners of representation. However, their production differed: there was the purism of Donghi, Trombadori and Francalancia, who worked within the current of the ‘Return to Order! ’ after World War I and avantgardism that typified the decade 1910–20, the expressionism of Mafai and Scipione, whose research was for vibrant signs and vivid luminosity (often, in Scipione’s case, with emphasis on the Neo-Baroque), the tonalism of Cagli, Cavalli and Capogrossi (and Mafai in the 1930s), the strong realism of Ziveri, Pirandello and the early Guttuso, and the technical experimentation and symbolism/metaphysics of Ferruccio Ferrazzi. The background was therefore extremely varied and marked by different experiences, all of which however derived from the desire for a new realism. Another important aspect of those years was the renewal that took place in sculpture, which also occurred with notable differences between the sculptors themselves but who the shared the desire to escape rhetoric and monumentalism. Mirko, Leoncillo, Mazzacurati, Fazzini and Antonietta Raphaël fully represented this attempt to break away, both in the techniques they used and subjects they portrayed. Their works were very often marked strongly by expressionism or, in portraiture, by the search for a more effective form of realism. It was, therefore, an anti-celebrative and anti-academic form of sculpture. Address: via Nomentana 70 Visiting Hours: From February 27 to March 29 and from October 1 to 25 2008 from 9 am to 5.30pm, From October 26 to February 26 2008 to 9 am to 4.30 pm Open 24 e 31 December 9:00 to 14:00; Easter 9:00-17:30 Closed on Mondays, Jan. 1, May 1, December 25. Price: : € 4,50 Reduced: € 2,50 Telephone: 0039 060608 Sito web: www.museivillatorlonia.it MUSEO DELLA CIVILTA' ROMANA The Museum has both documentary and educational value, in that the material on display is essentially made up of reproductions of examples of classical archaeology which have either been lost or destroyed or of works, which have been pieced back together. There are mainly moulds of statues, busts, inscriptions, reliefs and of life-size parts of buildings, of plastic models of monuments and architectonic complexes of Rome and of the provinces of the Roman Empire, as well as evidence of the so-called “material culture” such as furnishings, objects of domestic use and work tools. The Museum is divided into 59 sections that cover a surface area of 13,000 square metres, for a wall development of 3 kilometers and a height of about 10 meters: such dimensions obviously make it possible to reconstruct, completely or partly, buildings and monuments of the ancient Roman world. The first fourteen rooms house an historical summary of the origins of Rome until VI century A.D., which includes a map that illustrates the progressive expansion of the Roman Empire, the portraits of emperors and illustrious men including Caesar, Augustus, Claudius, Nero, Brutus, Pompeus, Cicero, and plastic models of numerous Augustan, Trajan, Severian and Aurelian monuments. There are moulds of inscriptions and early Christian reliefs and sarcophagi including that in porphyry of Costantina, the daughter of emperor Constantine, that of urban prefect Giunio Basso and that of St. Ambrose on exhibit in the section dedicated to Christianity. Among the numerous other sections that reconstruct Roman civilization in its varying aspects in detail, from public life to everyday life, there are those dedicated to the military sectors of the army and navy, that of the ports and provinces of the empire, a section dedicated to baths, aqueducts, nymphet and reservoirs and a section illustrating theatres, amphitheatres, circuses and arenas with plastic models of the Coliseum and the Theatre of Marcello in Rome. The complete series of moulds of the Trajan Column deserves a special mention, there are reliefs that illustrate the two military campaigns of the emperor Trajan against the Dacians (101-102 and 105-106 A.D.) and the plastic model of Rome (scale: 1:250; surface: 200 meters squared), created by architect Italo Gismondi, which reproduces the city as it was presented at the time of the emperor Constantine, and it is reconstructed on the basis of results and research and excavation campaigns carried out over the years. It’s construction had started for the Augustan Exhibition of the Roman World in 1937, it was completed in the seventies and is a useful instrument in learning about the ancient city, in an interesting comparison with the aspects that the same presents today. Address: Piazza Giovanni Agnelli, 10 Visiting Hours: Every day from 9 am to 2 pm. Sundays from 9 am to 1.30 pm. Closed on Mondays, Dec. 25, Jan. 1 Price: € 6,50; reduced € 4,50 Telephone:060608 Fax 06 5926135 Internet: www.museociviltaromana.it MUSEO DELL'ARA PACIS The Ara Pacis is the first work of architecture built in the historical centre of Rome since the end of Fascism. The museum space was designed by the architectural studio of American architect Richard Meier, the author of some of the most notable museums of the second half of the 20th century. The Ara Pacis represents one of the highest examples of classic art. The Senate decided to build an altar to Peace dedicated to Augustus, upon its return from Gaul and from Spain where, in the course of three years, he had consolidated the power of Rome and his own power, he had opened new ways and founded colonies. The altar was built along the via Flaminia, at the border with the northernmost part of the Field of Mars, but the alluvial soil of the area and the floods of the Tiber caused the burial of the Ara, of which no memory was left. The rebuilding of the monument was decided in 1937/38 in the bimillenary of Augustus birth. It was given to archaeologist Giuseppe Moretti and was realized in the summer of 1938 inside the pavillion of via di Ripetta, hurriedly built from a project by Ballio Morpurgo. Due to the location on the banks of the Tiber, the Ara Pacis risked to be destroyed by the inappropriateness of its container that could not protect it from traffic, exhaust fumes, overheating, humidity and greasy and acidic dust that deposited all over its surface. The new complex has been for this reason planned to preserve the monument in accordance with the most up to date conservation criteria. Address: Lungotevere in Augusta Visiting Hours: Every day from 9 am to 8 pm. Closed on Mondays, Dec. 25, Jan. 1 Price: € 6,50; reduced € 4,50; Telephone: 0039 060608 from 9.00 to 22.30 Web site: www.arapacis.it MUSEI CAPITOLINI This museum was founded in 1471 by Pope Sextus IV with the donation to the Roman people of bronze statues of the Lateran (the She-Wolf, the Spinario, the Camillo and the enormous head of emperor Constantine with the hand and globe of power). It is considered to be the oldest national museum in the world; the return of these works – a sign of Rome’s former grandeur – to the people of the city, therefore made it acquire a higher symbolic value, in so far as the Campidoglio had always been the centre of the religious life of ancient Rome and, after a long period of neglect, it became the seat of the civil courts in the Middle Ages. These sculptures were at first placed on the façade and in the courtyard of the Palazzo dei Conservatori and, subsequently, many works from excavation campaigns came to be part of the collection, including the statue of Hercules in gilded bronze found in the Foro Boario, fragments of the colossal statue of Constantine originally placed in the Basilica of Maxentius in the Roman Forum, the three panels in relief with the exploits of Marcus Aurelius which were moved in 1515 from the church of Saints Luca and Martina to the Forum and the so-called Bruto Capitolino. The original historical nature of the Capitoline collection was interrupted, however, in 1566, when Pope Pius V, who wanted to remove all the images of pagan idols from the Vatican, donated over 140 ancient statues to the Campidoglio, transforming the museum into a large collection of classical sculpture. In 1654 the construction of the Palazzo Nuovo - as part of Michelangelo’s brilliant plan for the restoration of the whole square - permitted the transfer of many statues. In 1733 other collections were added, these were, the collection of Cardinal Albani which included statues and portraits and this allowed Pope Clement XII to inaugurate the Capitoline Museum in 1734. During this period numerous other statues became part of the Capitoline collections including the Capitonline Venus, the Roman copy of the Hellenistic original based on the Venus of Cnodis (II century B.C.), the Faun in ancient red, the Centaurs and the mosaic of a dove from Hadrian’s Villa at Tivoli, as well as the statue of the Dying Gaul. A large increase in the ! number o f works came after 1870 with the finds from the excavations carried out for the creation of new districts in the City of Rome, with the Castellani donation of Greek, Etruscan and Italic vases, the Cini donation of porcelain and the creation of the Capitoline collection of medals. It is possible to go from the Palazzo Nuovo to the Tabelurium through an underground tunnel which runs under the square. The Tabularium is the ancient public archive of the people of Rome which, with its great monumental arches, overlooks the Roman Forum and here it is possible to visit the ruins of the temple of Veio which is part of the foundations of the Palazzo Senatorio. Continuing on this tour, one reaches the Palazzo dei Conservatori, by crossing through a large courtyard that houses important ancient sculptures including fragments of the huge statue of the emperor Constantine described beforehand and reliefs representing arms and the conquered provinces which come from the Temple of the divine Hadrian in Piazza di Pietra; the grand staircase leads to the first floor where the original nucleus of the building is situated, here there are rooms decorated with frescoes like that of Orazi and Curiazi and this is where the series depicting the legendary origins of Rome painted by Cavalier D’Arpino and his pupils between 1595 and 1640 is located. Besides the many statues present in the Palazzo dei Conservatori - apart from those already mentioned of the She-Wolf, the Spinario, the Camillo and the Bruto Capitolino – there is also the marble statue of Pope Urban VIII Barberini, sculpted according to Bernini’s design (1640), the bronze statue of Pope Innocent X Pamphili, sculpted by Algardi 1645-1650) and the bust of the emperor Commodo in an imitation of Hercules with his head covered by a lion’s skin, a club in his right hand and the pommels of the Hesperides in his left, placed between the busts of two Tritons; the group was found in the area of the Horti Lamiani on the Esquiline and dates from the end of II century A.D. Address: Piazza del Campidoglio Telephone 060608 Fax 06 6785488 Visiting Hours: Every day from 9 am to 8 pm. Closed on Mondays, Dec. 25, Jan. 1, Price: € 6,50; reduced € 4,50; reservation € 1,50; for groups € 25,00; Internet: www.museicapitolini.org MUSEI VATICANI The first core of the Vatican Museums and Galleries was a collection of ancient sculptures created by Jules the Second (1503-13). The idea of the Museum was conceived by Clement the Thirteenth (1758-69), who set up the Profane Museum with the assistance of Winckelmann. The Clementine Pious Museum was created by Clement the Fourteenth (1769-74) and Pious the Sixth (1775-99) and the Chiaramonti Museum was set up by Canova in 1807-1810 under Pious the Seventh. In 1822 the New Wing was opened. The Etruscan Gregorian Museum was opened in 1837 and the Gregorian Egyptian Museum in 1839, the Profane Lateran Museum (now the Gregorian Profane Museum) in 1844 and successively the Pious Christian Museum, all under Gregory the Sixteenth. In the first decades of the twentieth century the Ethnological Missionary Museum was set up and the Picture-gallery was opened to the public. In 1973 Paul the Sixth inaugurates the Historical Museum and the Collection of Modern Religious Art. Clementine Pious Museum – It collects specimens of ancient sculptures such as the Apollo of Belvedere (130-140 AD), the Laocoon Group (first century AD), the Apollo Sauroktonos and the Venus Cnydia, the colossal Head of Jupiter. Of particular interest are the two porphyry sarcophagi of Constance and Saint Helen, respectively daughter and mother of Constantine. Chiaramonti Museum – It hosts several Roman sculptures, such as the statue of Ganymede, a colossal head of Athena, a portrait of Tiberius, a relief with the Three Graces (first century AD). Many Pagan and Christian inscriptions are exhibited in the Galleria Lapidaria, and statues such as the Wounded Amazon, the Spearman, the enormous statue of the Nile, and the Augustus from Prima Porta are exhibited in the New Wing. Etruscan Gregorian Museum – It contains several findings coming mainly from nineteenth century excavations performed in Southern Etruria, such as the trousseau of the Regolini-Galassi tomb. The exhibition includes sarcophagi and a rich collection of Greek, Italiot, and Etruscan vases. Of particular interest is the bilingual sepulchral stele of Todi with a double inscription in Latinand in Gallic (second century BC). Egyptian Gregorian Museum – It was conceived by father Ungarelli, one of the first Italian Egyptologists, and collects a series of statues representing divinities or personalities of the Royal family, such as the mother and sister of Ramses the Second, sarcophagi, mummies, and elements o f the funerary furnishings. Also the statue decoration of the serapeum at Villa Adriana in Tivoli has been reconstructed. Profane Gregorian Museum – It exhibits Greek and Roman sculptures such as three fragments of the Parthenon in Athens, the Head of Athena (460 BC), the Altar of the Vicomagistri (first century AD) and two great reliefs representing the Arrival of Vespasianin Rome and the Departure of Domitian. It also includes sarcophagi decorated with mythological subjects the group of Athena and Marsia stands out from the bronze copies. Christian Pious Museum – It collects materials coming from the excavations of the Roman catacombs, several sarcophagi (third-fifth century AD), one of which is a copy of the sarcophagus of Junius Bassus, and the statue of the Good Shepherd (third century AD). Ethnological Missionary Museum – It documents the religious events and the cults of other continents. Of particular relevance are the fifteenth century Aztec sculptures, the Indian sculptures of Hinduist gods, the ritual masks from Oceania and Africa. Collection of Modern Religious Art – Partly set up in the rooms of the Borgia Apartment, decorated by Pinturicchio, it exhibits works by Rosai, Boccioni, Balla, De Chirico, Guttuso, and Manzù. Upper Galleries – The Gallery of Candelabra collects archaeological material of the Roman Age, such as the sculpture group of Ganymede and the Eagle (second century AD) and the statue of Artemis. The Gallery of Tapestries exhibits tapestries of sixteenth century Flemish and seventeenth century Roman manufacture. The Gallery of Geographic Maps exhibits 40 panels dedicated to the territory of Italy made in 1580-83. Vatican Library Museum – It hosts several testimonies of sacred art: the Hall of the Aldobrandini Wedding with frescoes of the Roman Age, the Hall of Papyri with gilded glasses of the early Christian Age, the Sistine Hall with frescoes by Cesare Nebbia and other artists, the Pauline Halls, the Alexandrine Hall, and the Clementine Gallery with sketches by Bernini. Picture Gallery – It keeps works datable from the twelfth to the eighteenth century, realized by Pietro Lorenzetti, Simone Martini, Giotto, Beato Angelico, Masolino da Panicale, Filippo Lippi, Perugino, Pinturicchio, Tiziano, Paolo Veronese, Giulio Romano, Ludovico Carracci, Caravaggio, Poussin, G. Reni, Guercino, and O.Gentileschi. Clay models used by Bernini for his sculptures of the Chapel of the Sacrament and for Saint Peter’s Chair and 10 tapestries manufactured in Brussels designed by Raphael are also exhibited. Address: Viale Vaticano, 100 Visiting Hours Musei Vaticani - Cappella Sistina: from 8.30 am to 6 pm last entrance 4 pm Museo Storico Vaticano: 9.00 - 10.00 - 11.00 - 12.00 Price:€ 14,00, Reduced:€ 8,00 Open the last Sunday of every month from 8.30 am to 14 pm last entrance 12.30am Closed Jan. 1-6, 11Feb., 19 Mar, Eater an Monday of angel, 1 May, Ascenzione, Corpus Domini, 15 Aug, Nov. 1, Dec. 8-25-26 Telephone: 0039 06 69884947 - 69884676 info - 6982 Internet: www.vatican.va Markets Antiques, collectables, new and used clothing, shoes, vinyl and CDs are all up for grabs at weekend markets located along some of Rome’s most frequented streets and squares. For those who are always looking for something original, or something that is no longer fashionable, the antiques markets are the place to go. These markets offer all kinds of competitively priced goods. Below are among the most well-known: • Porta Portese is the most famous and biggest of Rome’s markets. It covers an area that runs from Piazza Ippolito Nievo to via Ettore Rolli on one axis and via Portuense to Porta Omonima on the other. The market has over 1000 stands and goods of every kind from antique furniture to imitation designer shoes and stamps to kitchen utensils as well as collectables of every kind. It is extremely crowded and requires several hours to visit. It is open every Sunday from 9:00 am to 2:00 pm. Website: www.portaportesemarket.it • The Ponte Milvio Market has antiques on every 2nd and 4th Sunday of the month. Whereas, the 3rd Sunday features handcrafted products. The market is open from 9:00 am to 6:00 pm and can be found in Piazzale di Ponte Milvio near Torretta Valadier. Call +39 335 5804254 for info. • The Antiquariato in Piazza Verdi is open every 4th Sunday of the month from 9:00 am to dusk. It is held in Piazza Giuseppe Verdi. Call +39 06 8552723 – 8552773 for info. • The Stamp market in Largo della Fontanella Borghese is held on Mondays and Saturdays from 9:30 am to 6:00 pm and features stamps and books. • The Via Sannio Market takes its name from the street that hosts it. Open Mondays to Saturdays from 9:00 am to 1:30 pm, the market offers new and used clothes, shoes and haberdashery. Via Sannio is close to San Giovanni in Lateran. • Borghetto Flaminio, one of the capital’s most noted antiques markets, is found in Piazza della Marina 32 and is open every Sunday (except in August) from 10:00 am to 7:00pm. Call +39 06 5880517 for info. For a complete list of markets call +! 39 06060 8 or visit www.060608.it Rome's talking statues From the end of the 16th and for most of the 17th century, certain statues became a focal point for cutting satires and other works by unknown writers. The so-called “Talking Statues” were those positioned on the city’s busiest roads, which were secretly posted at night with satirical verses or humanistic dialogue directed at people in power, very often the pope himself. The malcontent of the people expressed in such a way was also used as propaganda to fight protected adversaries. In a short time, Romans started to name these statues. “Madame Lucrezia,” the female bust which perhaps depicts a vestal, for example, got her name from a lady who lived in the same Piazza San Marco where the statue is located. Il “Facchino” (the porter), which depicts a man pouring water from a barrel was initially located in Palazzo De Carolis but is now in via Lata. There was also “Abate Luigi” (Friar Lawrence) and the “Babuino” (the baboon), but the most famous of all is the “Pasquino” (Pasquin), from which the name for these celebrated anonymous lampoons was taken, “Pasquinate.” Since 1501, this statue has been located in the piazza to the rear of Piazza Navona, which is now called Piazza Pasquino. It is a male bust probably dating back to the 3rd century BC. It is difficult to discern the true subject due to its battered state, but it is most likely an ancient Greek hero or king. Even the origin of its name is uncertain but it could have been derived from the fact that he was found in a barber’s shop or tavern, the owner of which was named Pasquino. One of the best known “Pasquinate” was directed at Pope Urban VIII of the Barberini family, who had pillaged metal from the Pantheon to construct the altar canopy or baldachin in St. Peters. It read, “quod non fecerunt Barbari, fecerunt Barberini.” (What the Barbarians did not do, has been done by the Barberini). Another famous statue to the rear of the Pasquino is that of “Marforio” (the reclined figure of the river god Oceanus). It is currently housed in the courtyard of Palazzo Nouv! o in the Capitoline Museums. The Papal authorities did not tolerate Pasquinate for long and soon guards stood night and day to prevent their display along with severe penalties for the authors, though none were ever convicted. During the 19th century, the statutes had a period of silence, but their protests returned during Hitler’s visit to Rome. “Poor Rome, my travertine city! They have dressed you in cardboard packed up in readiness for your next owner.” And again when Gorbachev visited the city. “I can’t swallow Perestroika; it goes down but comes back up. What do you reckon to letting it go and start looking around you?” For only 23 Euro get benefits and services across the city. Promoted by Rome Council, the Culture Ministry and working in conjunction with public transport the cit's tourist card offers discounts and services which make museum visits easier. Enjoy the beauty of Rome with greater ease. From 1 January 2009 the Roma Pass kit will offer even more! In the New Year you’ll also receive health care and access to the city’s bike sharing scheme. You already get free access to your first two museums or archaeological sites, free movement on the entire public transport network and reductions on entrance to other museums, exhibitions, shows or dance productions that take your fancy. Moreover, to get even more from your card we have recently added “Travel Health.” It allows tourists to access a dedicated health assistance service for first aid advice and direction to either private or public structures according to your needs and condition. The pass lasts 3 days after stamping it, costs 23 euro but offers services that a worth over 40 Euro and at all sites and events you have preferential access. Roma Pass is available at: • All Museums and Sites participating • Rome Council Tourist Information Points • Rome Tourist Promotion Company - APT - Via Parigi, 5 • Bioparco - Rome Zoological Garden • Complesso del Vittoriano • Trambus Open - Piazza dei Cinquecento Included in your pack are: • Roma Pass Transport: Your public transport ticket. • Roma MAP: The map shows you the Tourist Information Kiosks (PITs), metro stations, museums/sites with address, telephone number and bus, metro, coach and train numbers with timetables. • Roma Pass Guide: The list of museums/sites in the scheme. • Roma & Più News: The programme of events and tourism services for which discounts are valid and where they apply by category: art, music, theatre, dance, entertainment and public transport. Roma Pass: how to Use it Fill in the back with your name and surname. Activate it with your first visit to a site/museum by adding the date of that visit. For the second site show your card at the entrance. From the third site onwards go to the tick! et offic e to receive your discount. You must always carry the card with legal ID. The card expires 3 calendar days from activation. Roma & Pass Transport Free access to ATAC buses, metro lines A and B, Met.Ro trains, Rome – Osita Lido, Rome - Viterbo (Rome - Sacrofano section), Rome - Pantano. How to Use it The card is exclusively available with Roma & Più Pass and is valid for three zones and for an unlimited number of journeys. You activate it on the first trip by filling in your name, surname and stamping it with date and the code of the area of validity (zone A or zone B). Show it when boarding together with an identity document if requested by staff. It expires at midnight on the third calendar day of use. Roma Pass Travel Health MET Health assistance service for the first level of intervention and response. Related Costs: - the service is free to possessors of the Roma Pass. - telephoning the Medical Call Centre is based on the local telephone rates. How it works: - the number to call is +39 06 83496311 (at the local rate) - it is a multilingual Call Center (English, French or Spanish). - it registers the referral code from the Roma Pass. - provides all the information needed for the case and directs the tourist, when necessary, to the public and private healthcare facilities based an the pathology predented. - The service is available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year For information or to buy Roma Pass go to www.romapass.it |
