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Rome Monuments There are many ancient monuments of Rome that deserves a place in history and civilizations. Some of the more famous ones are as follows: Rome churches and basilicas There are more than 20 churches and 19 basilicas in Rome. Many of the churches hailed from the baroque and neo-classical era, a good number of them were Paleo-Christian and Medieval churches.
Most of the famous basilicas are Patriarchal such as St Peter's Basilica in Vatican, St John in Lateran (San Giovanni in Laterano), Santa Maria Maggiore. Rome great squares The great squares of Rome are a must visit, and oftentimes one inadvertendly be on it to get to other places of interest. Rome squares are meeting places for the Romans to mingle, relax, and even make political decisions.
Rome Fountains Rome Museums and Galleries - Museum Galleria Borghese
- Galleria Colonna
- Barberini Palace and National Gallery of Antique Art
- Doria Pamphili Gallery
- Modern National Gallery
- Gallery of the National Academy of St. Luca
- Corsini Gallery
- Spada Gallery
- Musei Capitolini
- Etruscan National Museum of Villa Giulia
- The Palatine Museum
- National Museum of Castel Sant'Angelo
Rome Palaces Rome gardens and villas Colosseum  Roman Colosseum  Roman Colosseum at night Piazza del Colosseo
Information and reservation phone 06 39 96 77 00 On-line booking: www.pierreci.it
Hours: 9 - 1h before sunset. Admission Euro 8,00 - ticket also valid for the Palatine.
Roman Pantheon Also known as Church of Santa Maria ad Martyres - the Roman "temple of all the gods", it is one of the most magnificent Roman buildings with its gradiose domed interior, which has survived almost intact up to the present day. Designed by the Emperor Hadrian in AD 118, this building was dedicated in 609 to St. Mary ad Martyres, it holds the tombs of the painter Rapahel and of the Kings of Italy.
Piazza della Rotonda - phone 06 68 30 02 30
Hours: 8.30 - 19.30, Sun and holidays 9 - 17.30. Admission free. Roman Forum  Roman Forum Via dei Fori Imperiali
Information and booking of guided visits phone 06 39 96 77 00
Hours: 9 - 1h before sunset. Admission free.
Roman Pantheon
 Roman Pantheon  Also known as Church of Santa Maria ad Martyres - the Roman "temple of all the gods", it is one of the most magnificent Roman buildings with its gradiose domed interior, which has survived almost intact up to the present day. Designed by the Emperor Hadrian in AD 118, this building was dedicated in 609 to St. Mary ad Martyres, it holds the tombs of the painter Rapahel and of the Kings of Italy. Piazza della Rotonda - phone 06 68 30 02 30
Hours: 8.30 - 19.30, Sun and holidays 9 - 17.30. Admission free. St John in Lateran (San Giovanni in Laterano) Also known as the Basilica of St. John Lateran, it is the official cathedral of the Diocese of Rome, of which the Pope is bishop.
It is also named by The Catholic Church as "The Mother of All Churches" and the cathedral of the holy redeemer, St John the baptist and the evangelist.
This was the offical residence of the Popes until Clement V transferred the papal seat to Avignon, and the Vatican was chosen instead as the papal residence in 1377.
This basilica have been through a number of restorations and rebuilts.
After the basilica was vandalized and restored by Pope St Gregory the Great in the 5th century, the first
major restoration was ordered by Pope Saint Sergius I in 687, it was subsequently restored again within a century, by Pope Hadrian I (772 to 779).
The basilica was completely rebuilt (though old foundations were reused) under Pope Sergius III(904 to 911) because of the earthquake damage.
Thereafter the basilica was formally dedicated to St John the Baptist and later Pope Lucius II (1144 to 1145) dedicated it to
St John the Evangelist. St Peter's Basilica in Vatican This is Christianity's greatest and largest church nested in the heart of the Vatican City, it stood over the tomb of St. Peter, the founder of the Church of Rome, Emperor Constantine commisioned its contruction in 320 by and opened in the year 326.
It was during the Renaissance period that it was torned down and work begun to build a magnificent new basilica directed by Pope Niccolo V, who entrusted the task to Leon Battista Alberti and Bernardo Rossellino,
and subsequently to Raphael, B. Peruzzi, Antonio da Sangallo and, lastly, Michelangelo, who designed the dome which became the dominating element of the church.
But Michelangelo only completed part of dome called Tamburo, leaving the rest to Giacomo Dalla Porta, while Bernini did most of the positioning of most of interior furnishing in the twenty years that he dedicated his life to.
Evidences of his work can be found both inside and outside of the basilica; in the arrangement of the St Peter's square in front of the Basilica;
tens of thousand of mosaics pieces, Michelangelo's Pieta, the papal canopy and the monument to Urbano VIII;monument of Cristina of Sweden by Carlo Fontana; monument to the countess Matilda by Canossa (under drawing of Bernini);
ellipsis of Bernini's portico in the piazza, balcony of Pope's blessing; canopy over the high altar;the gilt bronze Chair of St. peter;monument to Clement XIII by Canova, and Michelangelo's Famous Pietà. Santa Maria Maggiore. Santa Maria Maggiore is an ancient Catholic basilica of Rome. It is one of the four major Patriarchal basilicas of Rome.
This basilica is the largest and most important dedicated to the worship of the Blessed Virgin Mary, as the true Mother of God.
The construction of Santa Maria Maggiore was commissioned by Pope Liberius in 360, in the location where a local patrician witnessed the apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary after a snow fall.
It was rebuilt in the 4th c. by Sixtus III, and modified in the 12th c. and its exterior was transformed during the Baroque period.
The interior architecture of the Santa Maria Maggiore maintains a simple, linear apperance reminicent of paleochristain artifacts consisting of Athenian marble columns;16th century coffered ceiling designed by Giuliano da Sangallo with Incan gold; the tallest medieval bell tower (240 feet); cycle of splendid apse mosaic depictinf stories from the old testament;
the Coronation of the Virgin;frescoes by Giovanni Baglione;ceiling by Giuliano da Sangallo;Marian column designed by Carlo Maderno; Cappella Paolina, the altar of precious stones, and the crèche by Arnolfo di Cambio.
To the side of the aisles, you can find the Sistine Chapel commissioned by Pope Sisto V;the Paoline Chapel where the famous Virgin Mary icon can be found;Cesi Chapel of the XVI century, depicting the martyrdom of Saint Catherine of Alessandria; Sforza Chapel of XVI century by Giacomo dalla Porta based on the original plan designed by Michelangelo. Basilica Di San Clemente Al Laterano Also known as S. Francesca Romana, the present San Clemente on Piazza Saint Clement(next to Saint John in Lateran) was built around 1100, and was completely restructured in 1216 by honorius III. This church was built on three levels of different epochs.
The lowest level and oldest is thought to be the titulus Clementis, one of the first parish churches in Rome, adjacent
to a pagan temple, a Mithraeum, which is also preserved. The main building of the proper church was build occupying about half of the area after the Edict of Milan in 313,allowing Christians to practise their religion openly.
In 395, when all pagan cults were outlawed, the property was taken over by the clergy of San Clemente, who filled it in as a foundation for an apse to the church.
The church was rebuilt under Cardinal Anastasius after it was severely damaged by the Normans. Subsequently, Pope Clement XI (1702 to 1715) had the church restored,
commisioning Carlo Fontana as architect, who was responsible for the late baroque decorations.
The interior architecture of the church are decorated with apse mosaics from the 12th century that are among the finest in Rome, with styles that is
reminiscent of its roots in the Garden of Paradise and its fruit, the Cross of Christ;gilded ceiling and the rectangular windows that are from the 18th century;choir-enclosure dates to the 6th century;Cosmatesque work was added in the 12th century.
Over the high altar is the 12th c. panel of the "Madonna and Child", while in the sacristy is kept the "Madonna Glycophilusa" icon (5th c.).
Beneath the high altar are the tombs of St Clement, St Flavius Clement and St Ignatius of Antioch.
Behind the altar is an ancient throne.
The church also has a number of noteworthy chapels - Sts Cyril and Methodius, the apostles of the Slavs;chapel of St John the Baptist has a 16th century statue;chapel of St Catherine of Alexandria is in the Gothic style, an unusual style in Rome.
Piazza del Campidoglio
Piazza del Campidoglio seats on the Capitol Hill (this hill is next to Piazza Venezia), the privileged seat of divinity and power.
It serves as a bridge between the Ancient World represented by the Forum and Colosseum, and the modern headquarter of the Italian Government.From here, it offers the best overview of the
Roman Forum.In Temple of Jupiter on the Capitol Hill is where religious ceremonies and political discussions took place.
Today the Rome City Council meets in Palazzo Senatorio, a wonderful example of Renaissance architecture.
The square, which is dominated by the Capitoline Museum, and the "Cordonata" staircase were both designed by Michelangelo in the 16th century.
Piazza Venezia
Piazza Venezia located at the foot of Capitol Hill; it was named in honor of the Republic of Venice and today seats the Venice Embassy.
The Piazza Venezia was also made famous when Mussolini pronouced Italy invlovement in the World War II from the facist balcony on the side of the building.
Another building worth mentioning is the Vittoriano, dedicated to Vittorio Emanuele II.
Piazza Colonna
Piazza Colonna represents the 'heart of the city'; It derived its name from the marble Column of Marcus Aurelius which was erected
celebrating the victories of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius over the Germanic people.
The piazza is rectangular in shape with it's north side is taken up by Palazzo Chigi, previously the Austro-Hungarian empire's embassy, but is today,
it is the centre of Italian political life, the seat of the Prime Minister.
Piazza Navona
This is perhaps the most wonderful square to see because of it spectacular Baroque triumphant architecture, the pride of Baroque Rome.
It has sculptural and architectural creations: by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, the famous Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi
(Fountain of the Four Rivers, 1651) in the center; by Francesco Borromini and Girolamo Rainaldi, the church of Sant'Agnese in Agone; and by Pietro da Cortona, ho painted the gallery in the Pamphilj palace.
Piazza Navona was defined as a square in the last years of 15th century, when the city market was transferred here from the Campidoglio, with unusual elongated oval shaped structures that is reminicensed of an ancient Roman circus of 1st Century Stadium of Domitian, here the Romans came to watch the "games". The predominating style is Baroque and there are so many monuments and buildings to admire such as the Fontana dei Fiumi by Bernini, hich is the base of the Egyptian obelisk in the center; Palazzo Pamphili and Fontana del Moro.
Piazza di Spagna
Piazza di Spagna is a masterpiece of the XVIII century, it is the the longest and widest staircase in all Europe build with French diplomat Étienne Gueffier funds, is a monumental stairway of 138 steps, climbing a steep slope between the Bourbon Spanish Embassy located in Palazzo Monaldeschi in the piazza below to the Holy See (Trinità dei Monti church) up above.
Piazza di Spagna is shaped like the wings of a butterfly, since the 17th Century it has been the favourite meeting place for travellers coming from all over the world. At one time, with the great number of English visitors staying in this area, it acquired the nickname the " English Ghetto".
Piazza San Pietro
Saint Peter's Square, or Saint Peter's Piazza (Piazza San Pietro) designed by Bernini, from 1656 to 1667, under the direction of Pope Alexander VII, is the majestic access to the front of St. Peter's Basilica, in Vatican City, the center of papal enclave within Rome.
It was designed in such a way so that the greatest number of people could see the Pope give his blessing, either from the middle of the façade of the church or from a window in the Vatican Palace".
The Saint Peter's Square is actually round. It is lined by 2 huge colonnades, the roofs of these colonnades are supported by four rows of 60 feet high Doric columns.
The long axis of the eclipse that runs parallel to the basilica's façade reminiscent of Baroque monumental approach symbolizes Saint Peter's, the mother church of Christianity, embracing the world.
In the center of the square stood the Egyptain obelisk where Saint Peter was crucified, Saint Peter was constructed over the tomb of St Peter in 324. Trevi Fountain
Located in the rione of Trevi, the Trevi Fountain designed by Nicola Salvi(1732 to 1762), inspired by Roman triumphal arches,
is most famous, beautiful, and largest, measuring 25.9 meters (85 feet) high and 19.8 meters (65 feet) wide and most
ambitious of the Baroque fountains of Rome.
Pope Urban VIII commisioned Bernini to renovate the fountain to add more dramatic sequences to it. Bernin sketched a few renovation plan but when the Pope died the project was abandoned.
Bernini's artistic touches can be readiily identified on the Trevi fountain though Salvi was the one that won the competition and build it.
Palazzo Poli serves as the backdrop for the fountain with the giant order of Corinthian pilasters that link the two main stories.
The main theme of the fountain is taming of the waters that tumbles forward, mixing water with rockwork, creating two constrasting mood of the sea.
Tritons guide Neptune's shell chariot, taming seahorses (hippocamps).In the center is superimposed a robustly modelled triumphal arch.
The center niche or exedra framing Neptune has free-standing columns for maximal light-and-shade.
In the niches flanking Neptune, Abundance spills water from her urn and Salubrity holds a cup from which a snake drinks. Above, bas reliefs illustrate the Roman origin of the aqueducts.
The tritons and horses provide symmetrical balance, with the maximum contrast in their mood and poses
The tradition has it that one would gaurantees ones return to Rome, if a coin is thrown into the fountain,
Other interpretations of the coin throwing exists and some involves three coins.
If three coins were thrown by three different individuals, two coins will ensure a marriage will occur soon, while three coins leads to a divorce.
Another current version is that it is lucky to throw three coins with one's right hand over one's left shoulder into the Trevi Fountain. Museum Galleria Borghese
Villa Borghese
The Borghese Mansion was commissioned by Cardinal Scipione Borghese in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries.
The Borghese Gallery's collection were from Cardinal Scipione Borghese, its extraordinary masterpieces contributed by major artists like Raphael, Rubens, Titian, Caravaggio, Bernini, Antonello da Messina and Canova,makes it renowned all over Europe.
During the whole of the 19th century, new material was added;the in 1902, the Italian State bought the villa and it's content including it's collection.
The mansion was recently reopened after a fourteen-year renovation program, the architecture and decoration of the gallery create the perfect setting for the magnificent paintings and sculptures.
Opening: 9:00 am - 7:00 pm Tuesday to Saturday,
9:00 am - 1:00 pm Sunday.
October to April: 9:00 am - 2:00 pm Tuesday to Sunday
Galleria Colonna
Via della Pilotta
The construction of the magnificent Galleria Colonna in the huge complex of Palazzo Colonna began in 1654 and took 50 years,
its grandeur reflecting the nobility of the Colonna family.
The gallery was conceived as a work of art in itself and the magnificent Baroque setting contributes to the presentation of the displayed masterpieces by artists
including Lorenzo Monaco, Bronzino, Ghirlandaio, Salviati, Veronese, Palma il Vecchio, Jacopo and Domenico Tintoretto, Pietro da Cortona, Annibale Carracci, Francesco Albani,
Guercino, Guido Reni, Carlo Maratta, Gaspard Dughet, Crescenzio Onofri, Girolamo Muziano, and Pompeo Batoni.
Opening: 9:00 am - 1:00 pm Saturday, closed August
Barberini Palace and National Gallery of Antique Art
Via Quattro Fontane 13
Newly renovated, this museum offers paintings from Italian artists , as well as Dutch and Flemish works.
Barberini Palace - one of the grandest palaces in Rome, built in the early seventeenth century - was designed by both Bernini and Borromini, this palace contains one half the National Gallery of Art and the other half remains in the Corsini Palace on the far side of the Tiber. The paintings range from the Middle Ages to the 18th century, and include masterpieces by Raphael, Caravaggio, and Pietro da Cortona, who also painted the spectacular ceiling fresco, "The Triumph of Divine Providence."
Opening: 9:00 am - 7:00 pm Tuesday to Saturday
9:00 am - 1:00 pm Sundays and holidays
Doria Pamphili Gallery
Piazza del Collegio Romano
The recently refurbished Galleria, inside the majestic Palazzo Doria Pamphili dating from the fifteenth century, houses one of Rome's most distinguished private art collections, including works by Caravaggio, Titian, Raphael, Velázquez, Lippi, Lotto, Rubens, Guercino, Reni, Parmigianino, Bellini and Brueghel.
Opening: 10:00 am - 5:00 pm, closed Thursday
Modern National Gallery
Viale delle Belle Arti
The Modern National Gallery houses the most important Italian collection of paintings and sculptures of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Works by artists belonging to most of the contemporary art movements are represented as well as neo-classicism, romanticism and Tuscan Macchiaoli impressionism. The gallery's exhibits include works by Goya, Géricault, Delacroix, Blake, Renoir, Rossetti, Courbet, Van Gogh, Degas, Monet, Cezanne, Modigliani, Mondrian, Duchamp, de Chirico, Cara, Miró, Kandinsky and Klimt.
Opening: 9:00 am - 7:00 pm Tuesday to Saturday
9:00 am - 1:00 pm Sundays and holidays
Gallery of the National Academy of St. Luca
Via dell'Accademia di S. Luca
One of Rome's most prestigious galleries, Galleria dell'Accademia di San Luca was founded as an art academy in 1478 with the statute that "every member should donate a work to its perpetual memory". Through these gifts, combined with other bequests and donations, the gallery contains an eclectic collection of classical works by artists such as Raphael, Canova, van Dyck, Titian, Guercino, il Sassoferrato, Reni and Pietro da Cortona.
Opening: 10:00 am - 12:30 pm Monday, Wednesday and Friday, closed 1st August until September 14th
Corsini Gallery
Via della Lungara
The other site of the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica, the Palazzo Corsini was originally built in the fifteenth century, but was considerably remodelled in the eighteenth. It is a relatively small, attractive gallery containing a large oeuvre of seventeenth and eighteenth century regional Italian painting as well as works by Rubens, Murrillo, Poussin, Brueghel and Caravaggio.
Opening: 9:00 am - 7:00 pm Tuesday to Friday
9:00 am - 2:00 pm Saturday
9:00 am - 1:00 pm Sunday and holidays
Spada Gallery
Piazza Capo di Ferro
The Galleria Spada, behind the majestic sixteenth century Palazzo Spada, exhibits the Spada family collection of works mainly from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, as well as some second and third century Roman sculptures. Artists in the collection include Rubens, Durer, Caravaggio, Guercino, Domenichino, Guido Reni, Carracci, Salvator Rosa, Passarotti, Parmigianino, Solimena and del Sarto. In the General Council Chamber of the Palazzo is a colossal statue of Pompey, which is traditionally the one at the foot of which Julius Caesar was murdered.
Opening: 9:00 am - 7:00 pm Tuesday to Saturday
9:00 am - 1:00 pm Sundays and holidays
Musei Capitolini
Piazza del Campidoglio 1
The collection of the Musei Capitolini is one of the oldest in the world. It was started in 1471 by Pope Sixtus IV who presented the city with a number of bronze statues. It now houses a collection of Roman sculptures, such as the famous 'Lupa Capitolina', inscriptions, coins, mosaics, and objects connected with everyday life. The collection also contains Greek, Etruscan and Egyptian works of art. The museum's collection of marble sculptures and inscriptions was greatly enlarged in the 17th and 18th centuries by gifts from private collections. After Rome became Italy's capital in the 19th century, a great number of artefacts, found whilst digging the foundations for the city's new quarters, joined the collection. The collection is exhibited in two palaces: the 17th-century Museo Capitolino and the 15th-century Palazzo dei Conservatori, which also houses the famous Conservatori Apartment well known for its large frescoes. The Palazzo dei Conservatori has been enlarged twice this century, once in 1925 and again in 1950. An underground gallery, excavated in the 1940s, houses a collection of Latin and Greek inscriptions. The painting gallery or Pinacoteca is famous for its Italian and foreign masterpieces by such artists as Titian, Veronese, Tintoretto, Caravaggio and Rubens.
Opening: Tuesday-Sunday 09.00-19.00 Closed: Monday
Etruscan National Museum of Villa Giulia
p.le di Villa Giulia, 9
Villa Giulia was built for pope Julius III between 1550 and 1555, and many of the most important architects, painters and decorators of the period, from Vasari to Vignola and Ammannati contributed to its execution. The complex of the villa includes two courtyards divided by a nymphaeum which originally was a proper water theatre. The interiors of the villa were richly decorated with frescoes, stuccoes, polychrome marbles, and statues. After the pope's death the villa was inherited by his brother and later confiscated by Paul IV in 1557. The first restoration works started under Pius IV's pontificate, and the villa was destined to be residence of illustrious guests. New restoration works were carried out in the second half of the 18th-century by Clement XIV and Pius VI. Villa Giulia officially became a museum in 1889. After 1910, following some changes of the urban planning of the area, two new wings of the museum were built, and later on they were connected to the hemicycle of the villa by a hanging gallery.
Today, Villa Giulia is the most representative Etruscan museum in Italy. The pieces on display are arranged according to a topographic criterion and grouped by their place of origin, except for some collections which are exhibited according to a typological viewpoint. The Hall of Venus is devoted to the material from Pyrgi including remarkable evidences from the great Etruscan sanctuary of Leucotea-Ilizia; among the numerous sculptures from the precious polychrome terracotta decoration covering the wooden structure of the two temples of the sanctuary, remarkable are the famed pediment high relief portraying the Greek legend of the Seven against Thebes, and the late 6th-century B.C. gold leaves with Etruscan and Phoenician inscriptions. New exhibition rooms displaying ceramics, bronzes and gold-works from the Castellani Collection as well as a section devoted to the Villa of pope Julius III and the history of the museum are being arranged.
Opening: Tues. to Sun. 8.30-19.30
(ticket office closed at 18.30) - closed Mon
The Palatine Museum
via di San Gregorio
Re-opened to the public after 13 years, this museum displays detached frescos and finds which span the history of Rome from her origin to the Imperial age. On the first floor: Iron age and Republican period finds. On the second floor: detached frescos and inlaid works coming from the Domus Transitoria, the Imperial age statues of Augustus, Adrian and Anthony, a Polycletus' lance-bearer fragments and the superb clay architectural elements once belonging to Augustan buildings.
Opening: Daily 9-18
National Museum of Castel Sant'Angelo
lungotevere Castello, 50
Originally intended as a mausoleum by the Emperor Hadrian (117-138 AD), Castel Sant'Angelo became, in later centuries, the bastion of the Papal State, both literally and metaphorically. It is now possible to visit the interior of the fortress, which also used to be a sadly renowned prison. It is possible to visit the various rooms decorated with 16th-century frescos (the Apollo Hall, the Paul's Hall, the Perseus Hall, the Cupid and Psyche Hall), the prison, the collection of antique weapons, and the picture gallery (works by Carlo Crivelli, Luca Signorelli, Bartolomeo Montagna)
Opening: daily 9.00-20.00
(ticket office closed at 19.00)- closed Mon.
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