Sunday, April 2nd A walk through Ancient Rome

Sunday Apr 1st - 8:30am out the door

to follow on Google Maps:  

      Hop on- hop off bus going the full circuit around the city, enjoying that wonderful introduction to the city, in English!  

       Get off at top of Spanish steps.  We begin high up, and will slowly make our way down. 

The Pincio offers some of the most beautiful, and usually uncrowded, views of Rome's rooftops.

It just gets better as we walk along.

When the road forks, we'll take the one going up, so we can get another beautiful view.   Just behind you is the Villa Borghese park.

If you walk back into it, you will come to a carousel, a café, places for bike and other rentals, and lots of fun things to do, for adults and kids alike.  

After enjoying the views from up there, we'll go down to Piazza del Popolo next.

That Egyptian obelisk in the middle, with its original hieroglyphs, is one of the oldest and largest in the Eternal City.  Rome's first emperor, Augustus, brought it back from Egypt in 10 BCE as a sort of war trophy.

This obelisk stood in the middle of Circus Maximus in Ancient Rome, and was moved to this piazza in the late 1500's.

Pop into Santa Maria del Popolo, the church at the edge of the piazza.  This Renaissance church is home to a treasure-trove of art, including works by Caravaggio, Bernini, Raphael, Pinturicchio, Carracci, Bramante, and others.  The exhibit of Leonardo DaVinci's inventions underneath the church is extraordinary, and much larger and more interesting than it appears from the outside.

We are going to make our way back towards the bottom of the Spanish Steps cutting back to this sweet little street, via Margutta.  It's a great street for escaping the crowds of Rome.   It's mostly an artists' street, filled with art galleries, antique shops, one-off artisan shops, and lots of local ambiance.

It also happens to be where Gregory Peck's character lived in the 1960's classic movie "Roman Holiday." Swoon!

Once at the plaza called Piazza di Spagna, we can take some nice photos of the whole panorama. The Spanish Steps neighborhood is central Rome's primary shopping zone.

The most famous street in the area, lined with many of the most notable fashion brands in the world, is via Condotti. We may prefer to walk down via Frattina, as it's less crowded, but we can decide when we get there.

At the bottom we stop at the Pantheon in Rome's city center. Can you believe it's still standing after 2000 years?  Built by the emperor Hadrian around 120 C.E., it has the world's largest un-reinforced concrete dome. 

The Pantheon was originally built as a Roman temple to worship the Roman gods in the early days of the Roman Empire, but in the 7th century it was turned into a Catholic church.

It's also a mausoleum for Italy's kings and queens, and the artist Raphael is buried here too.

There is free entry to the Pantheon, but on weekends and holidays, you must book in advance.

A great way to get the most out of this visit is with a self-guided audio tour.

Monday Apr 3rd  - Day trip to Tivoli  (All sites are free the 1st Monday of the month)