Living a few months in Rome has been one of the best ideas I’ve had in the last few years.
I have learnt so much that I’d like to share with you what I’ve seen & felt through my senses & of course, books.
I did write a couple of post of another visit with my mom, I’ll try not to repit myself.
I’d like to start from the well-known Coliseum, I already told you about my visit to its insides. In this ocasion I passed near it many times to admire it, it’s so beautiful. One of the coolest moments was at twilight, with that blue light I love so much.
From the big boy, walking towards Piazza Venezia, I passed near the Roman Forum, one of my favourite places. In the street there’s a balcony where to admire it from a higher plane. Some ruins are below modern Rome, that’s why every time they dig a hole one appears.
I imagine my loved Scipione, whom I will tell you about at the end of the post, strolling its streets & visiting its temples.
Opposite the Forum there’s the Trajan Market, the first shopping mall in history. It was covered, with its little shops, I can imagine it.
Next to this well preserved semicircle there’s the remains of the Trajan Forum, a great Roman emperor, who guess what was originally Spanish.
Right there it raises the majestic Trajan Column, decorated with all its battles, which base houses its ashes & crowned a posteriori with the statue of Saint Peter by Pope Sixto V.
Besides some churches, in front to the column you’ll see the monument to Vittorio Emanuele II & the unknown soldier, it’s majestic but personally I don’t like it, you can see it from many places of Rome.
The best thing it has are the views from its terraces. You can go up to the top one for 10 euros, or stay on the lower one for free where they are also beautiful. The market looks impressive from up here.
Following the same street, you’ll find two flights of steps, one leads to a church, the other to the Musei Capitolini, which consist of three buildings, with two alleys between them. If you take the left one you’ll see a balcony with nice views of the Forum.
But I prefer the views from the right handside balcony, every time I pass near by I come up to see them, I love them, whether it’s sunny, raining, cloudy or at night. Don’t leave Rome without having spent a while there contemplating the magnificent Imperial Forum.
I also loved the visit to the museum, I totally recommend it. I bought the ticket together with another museum, it worked out cheaper & I avoided the queues. Because if Rome is full of fountains, ruins & churches, it is also filled with visitors. Its tourism is historical, cultural, archeological, gastronomic & religious, amongst others. It’s infinite & I believe we’d need two lives to fully see it.
The museum houses fabulous & colossal statues like the head of Constantine II, or Marco Aurelio’s one on his horse.
Many statues, collections of coins, jewels & paintings live in a stunning palazzo.
In its ground floor you’ll find walls that were part of the Forum as well as another balcony with more beautiful views of it. You can’t miss its roof terrace-café, it’s one of the magnificent lookouts of Rome.
A few meters away there’s the Teatro di Marcello, a circular structure which will remind you to the Coliseum.
To its left there’re the ruins of three pagan temples, on them they built the Basilica San Nicola in Carcere.
I loved this visit, if you enter the church you’ll be able to visit its entrails & find ruins of the temples, bones, columns… it was so exciting, I love getting lost in the inside of this city.
Next to the city there’re three big columns & a way which will lead you to Portico d’Ottavia.
This fabulous gate, used to be a library, is the entrance of the Jewish ghetto I told you about.
It leads to the main street where many of its restaurants are, like Giggetto, ideal to go for dinner. I love this neighbourhood, it’s the little jewel of Rome.
In it we also find a fountain decorated by our friend Bernini. Its mark is in the whole city, in this case in the shape of four turtles, which live now in a museum as one was stolen, the actual ones are replicas.
I promised to talk about Scipione, protagonist of the the trilogy by Santiago Posterguillo. “Africanus, the son of the Consul” the first one narrates how the great Carthaginian general Hannibal, after the deaths of his father swears he’ll destroy Rome. With that goal he attacks Hispania. In Rome there’re the consul Publio C. Scipione & his brother Cneo, who will fight against him trying to stop him reaching the italic peninsula, as well as try to preserve their seat in the Senate, where they have a very clever enemy.
During this first part we’ll meet Africanus, son of Publio & nephew of Cneo. Witness how he gets instructed & trained to go in to battle & politics.
Scipione’s story is linked to Hannibal’s. Whilst I was reading this great & entertaining narrative, pure history in the form of a novel, I learnt so much about Rome & the characters described in it, I thought it was ideal book to read during my Roman adventure.
