WELCOME ΤΟRome

Santa Maria Maggiore is one of the four Papal Basilicas in Rome and one of the most significant Rome churches that was built in 432 by order of pope Sixtus III on Esquiline Hill, one of the historic seven hills of Rome. Many of the mosaics in the basilica date back to the early days of the basilica and the large marble columns of the basilica are even older and probably came from an ancient Roman building. Unique in this church is the golden, coffered ceiling, commissioned by Pope Alexander VI and built with the first of the gold Columbus brought back from America. The patriarchal basilica contains the funerary monuments of Pope Clement IX, Paul V and Nicolas IV. A number of other famous Catholics are buried here as well, including the saint Jerome and the artist Gian Lorenzo Bernini.

Located 40 meters above the Roman Forum, the Palatine Hill is the most central of the seven hills of Rome and forms one of the oldest parts of the city. Legend holds that it was here in 753 B.C. that Romulus, after killing his brother, Remus, built a defensive wall, set up a system of government and started the settlement that would grow to become the greatest power of the ancient Western World. Of course, he named the city after himself. Today, the Palatine Hill is part of the main archaeological area of ancient Rome and is adjacent to the Colosseum and the Roman, where you can see hundreds of ruins of the imposing buildings that were created for high Roman society in ancient times.

Rome’s Baroque Piazza Navona, also called the Square of the Fountains, is one of the city’s most emblematic places. The piazza owes its elliptical shape to the stadium built in this space by Emperor Domitian in 86 AD for sporting competitions and gladiatorial contests. In the 17th century Pope Innocent X commissioned the construction of the church Sant’Agnese in Agone, a palace, and he commissioned Bernini to build the fountain called ‘The Fountain of the Four Rivers’. The 16-meter high obelisk of the fountain originally came from the Circus of Maxentius located on the Via Appia. In addition to this fountain, the square also has two smaller fountains by Giacomo della Porta, an apprentice of Michelangelo. They are called the Fontana del Moro (the Fountain of the Moor) and the Fontana del Nettuno (Fountain of Neptune)

St. Peter’s Basilica, one of the holiest temples for Christendom, was built between 1506 and 1626 on the site of a church dating from the time of emperor Constantine the Great (324). According to tradition, this church stands on the site where Saint Peter, the apostle who is considered the first pope, was crucified and buried. One of the most impressive aspects of the Basilica are its dimensions – 136 meters high and 186x123 meters wide. Inside, visitors will find extremely impressive pieces of art, including St. Peter’s Baldachin, a large bronze baldachin designed by Bernini, The Pietà, a sculpture by Michelangelo and the statue of St Peter on his throne.

The Pantheon is one of the most recognisable Roman buildings and the best-preserved monument of Roman antiquity. The rectangular facade hides an enormous dome with a diameter greater than the one of the St. Peter's Basilica. The name Pantheon comes from Greek and means ‘devoted to all gods’. The construction of the Pantheon was done in the time of Hadrian, in 126 AD. It receives the name of Agrippa for having been built where previously, in the year 27 AD, was the Pantheon of Agrippa destroyed by a fire in 80 AD. In 609 the building was donated to Pope Boniface IVwho transformed it into a church and dedicated it to the Virgin and all the Christian martyrs, and since then, it has become the burial place of Italian kings (Victor Emmanuel II is in the second niche on the right) and other famous Italians, including the painter Raphael.

Villa Borghese of Rome is one of the largest urban parks in Europe. The State acquired the gardens from the Borghese family in 1901 and opened them to the public on 12 July 1903. The estate had its first existence in 1580 as a small vineyard of the Borghese family. In 1605, Cardinal Scipione Borghese, nephew of Pope Paul V and patron of Bernini, began turning this previous chateau into the most extensive gardens built in Rome since antiquity on the hill of Piniciano. Over the years, the Borghese family bought surrounding lands to expand their estate. In 1633, the Villa Borghese Pinciana was built to house the art collections of the Borghese family. Today the Galleria Borghese contains one of the largest private art collections in the world, particularly from the Renaissance, including the statues ‘Apollo and Daphne’ by Bernini and paintings by Caravaggio, Rubens, Leonardo da Vinci and Sanzio Raphael.

Next to the Piazza Venezia square there is the remarkable white monument honoring Italy's first king Vittorio Emanuele II. The monument commemorates the unification of Italy in 1861 and the first king of Italy, Victor Emmanuel II. Although this monument was built in his honour, he is not buried there. Instead, he is buried in the Pantheon. The impressive building was built between 1895 and 1911 on top of Palatine Hill and was designed by Giuseppe Sacconi. The Altare della Patria contains a lot of white marble from the region of Brescia. Because of how large it is (135 meters wide and 70 meters high) the building was also given several nicknames, ranging from the wedding cake, the dentures, to the typewriter.