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Historic Churches in Rome Italy

Three churches are the highlights of this walk, two of them major basilicas with roots in the ear ly centuries of Christianity. Not farfrom Piazza Venezia and the Roman Forum off Via Cavour is G the church of San Pietro in Vincoli. Look for Via San Francesco da Paola, a street staircase that passes under the old Borgia palace and leads to the square in front of the church.

Inside are St. Peter's chains (under the altar) and Michel¬angelo's Moses, a powerful statue almost as famed as his frescoes in the Sistine Chapel. The Moses was destined for the tomb of Julius II, but Michelangelo was driven to distraction by the interference of Pope Julius and his successors, and the tomb was never finished.

The statue, in¬tended as part of the tomb, is a remarkable sculpture and a big tourist attraction, but crass commercialism has ruined the starkly majestic effect of this memorial. The church is usually jammed with tour groups, and the monument it¬self is a front for a large and ugly souvenir shop.

G Continue along Via Cavour to Santa Maria Maggiore, one of Rome's oldest and most beauti¬ful churches. Built on the spot where a 3rdcen¬tury pope witnessed a miraculous midsummer snowfall, it is resplendent with gleaming mosaics those on the arch in front of the main altar date from the 5th century; the apse mosaic dates from the 13th century and an opulent carved wood ceiling supposed to have been gilded with the first gold brought from the New World.

Via Merulana runs straight from Santa Maria Maggiore to the immense cathedral of Rome, San Giovanni in Laterano, where the early popes once lived and where the present pope still officiates in his capacity as Rome's bishop. The towering facade and Borromini's cool Ba¬roque interior emphasize the majesty of its pro¬portions.

The adjoining Lateran Palace, once the popes' official residence and still technically part of the Vatican, now houses the offices of the Rome Dio¬cese and the Vatican Historical Museum Restoration of the frescoes in the Bene¬diction Loggia, damaged by a 1993 terrorist bomb, continues.

Across the street, opposite the Lateran Palace, a small building houses the Scala Santa (Holy Stairs), claimed to be the staircase from Pilate's palace in Jerusalem. Cir¬cle the palace to see the 6thcentury octagonal Baptistery of San Giovanni, forerunner of many similar buildings throughout Italy, and Rome's oldest and tallest obelisk, brought from Thebes and dating from the 15th century Be. One more church awaits you just down Via Carlo Felice. Santa Croce in Gerusalemme, with a pretty Rococo facade and Baroque interior, shelters what are believed to be relics of the True Cross found by St. Helena, mother of the emperor Constantine and a tireless collector of holy objects.

The Quirinale and Piazza delia Repubblica

Although this tour takes you from ancient Ro¬man sculptures to early Christian churches, it's mainly an excursion into the 16th and 17th cen¬turies, when Baroque art and Bernini tri¬umphed in Rome. The Quirinale is the highest of Rome's seven original hills (the others are the Capitoline, Palatine, Esquiline, Viminal, Celian, and Aventine) and the one where an¬cient Romans and later the popes built their res¬idences in order to escape the deadly miasmas and the malaria of the lowlying area around the G Forum. Palazzo del Quirinale, the largest on the square, belonged first to the popes, then to Italy's kings, and is now the official residence of the nation's president. The fountain in the square boasts ancient statues of Castor and Pol¬lux reining in their unruly steeds and a basin salvaged from the Roman Forum.

Along Via del Quirinale (which becomes Via XX Settembre) are two interesting little churches, each an architectural gem. The first you'll come upon is Sant'Andrea, a small but imposing Ba-roque church designed and decorated by Berni¬ni, who considered it one of his finest works and liked to come here occasionally just to sit and enjoy it.

The second is the church of San Carlo aile Quattro Fontane (Four Fountains) at the in¬tersection. It was designed by Bernini's rival, Borromini, who created a building that is an intricate exercise in geometric perfection, aU curves and movement. Turn left down Via delle Quattro Fontane to a G splendid 17thcentury palace, Palazzo Barber¬ini. Inside, the Galleria Nazionale offers fine works by Raphael (the Fornarina) and Cara¬vaggio and a salon with gorgeous ceiling fres¬coes by Pietro da Cortona. Upstairs, don't miss the charming suite of rooms decorated in 18th¬century fashion.

Via delle Quattro Fontane

Down the hill, Piazza Barberini has Bernini's graceful Tritone Fountain, designed in 1637 for the sculptor's munificent patron, Pope Urban VIII, whose Barberini coat of arms, featuring bees, is at the base of the large shell. Time Out Located on Via Barberini, next to a movie house, Italy Italy offers the Italian version of fast food, tasty and inexpensive (Via Barberini 19. Closed Sun.)

Via Veneto winds its way upward from Piazza e Barberini past Santa Maria della Concezione, a Capuchin church famous for its crypt, where the skeletons and assorted bones of 4,000 dead monks are artistically arranged in four macabre chapels. Via Veneto The avenue curves past the American Embassy and Consulate; the luxurious Excelsior Hotel; and Doney's and the Cafe de Paris, famous from the days of la dolce vita in the 1950s. At the U.S. Embassy, take Via Bissolati to Piazza San Bernardo.

The church of Santa Maria delia Vittoria, on the corner, is known for Bernini's sumptuous Baroque decoration of the Cornaro Chapel, an exceptional fusion of architecture, painting, and sculpture, in which the Ecstasy of St. Theresa is the focal point. The statue repre¬sents a mystical experience in what some regard as very earthly terms. This could be a good point at which to rest.

An interesting side trip from Piazza San Bernardo takes you to the Early Christian churches of Sant'Agnese and Santa Costanza, about a mile beyond the old city walls. Take bus No. 36, 37, 60, or 136 along Via Nomentana to get there. Santa Costanza, a church ¬the round, has vaults decorated with bright 4thcentury mosaics. The custodian of the cata¬comb of Sant'Agnese accompanies you up the hill to see it.

Art buffs should make this side trip; others may find it unrewarding. Via di Sant'Agnese Admission to Sant'Agnese catacombs: From Piazza San Bernardo, it's not far to Piazza delia Repubblica, where the pretty Fountain of the Naiads, a turn of the century addition, fea¬tures voluptuous bronze ladies wrestling happi¬ly with marine monsters.

On one side of the square is an ancient Roman brick facade, which marks the church of Santa Maria degli Angeli, adapted by Michelangelo from the vast central chamber of the colossal Baths of Diocletian, built in the 4th century AD. The baths were on such a grandiose scale that the church and its former monastery, around the corner to the right, account for only part of the area they oc¬cupied. Inside the church, take a good look at the eight enormous columns of red granite; these are the original columns of the baths' cen¬tral chamber and are 45 feet high and more than 5 feet in diameter.

The collections of ancient Roman art of the Museo Nazionale Romano are now divided among the old museum in the former monastery of Santa Maria degli Angeli (entrance behind the church); a new museum in the Palazzo Massimo (the peach colored building across the square from the old museum); and the small Planetario annex (next to the church in a build¬ing that was part of the ancient baths but served more recently as a movie theater). Another an¬nex, Piazza Navona, will open this year. In addi¬tion to the statues in the Planetario, most of the museum's sculpture, including the Ludovisi Throne, the Lancellotti Discus Thrower, and the Castelporziano Discus Thrower, is destined for Palazzo Massimo.

A delightful fresco from Empress Livia's villa outside Rome, depicting a garden in bloom, is being restored and is not on view. Museo Nazionale Romano: Monastery of Santa Maria degli Angeli, Viale E. De Nicola 79, The Villa Borghese to the Ara Pads.

A half mile walk northwest from Piazza delia Repubblica up Via Orlando and Via Vittorio Ve neto leads to Porta Pinciana (Pincian Gate), one of the historic city gates in the Aurelian Walls surrounding Rome. The Porta itself was built in the 6th century AD, about three centuries after the walls were built to keep out the barbarians. These days it is one of the entrances to the Villa Borghese, Rome's large 17thcentury park, built as the pleasure gardens of the powerful Borghe¬se family.

Once inside the park, turn right up Viale del Museo Borghese and make for the Galleria Borghese, which holds the family art collection. At press time, the gallery was undergoing ex-tensive renovations, so parts of it may be closed. There is a sculpture collection on the first floor, where you can see Canova's famous statue of Pauline Borghese, wife of Camillo Borghese and sister of Napoleon. Officially known as Venus Vincitrix, it is really a depiction of a haughty (and very seductive) Pauline, lying provocative¬ly on a Roman sofa. The next two rooms hold two important Baroque sculptures by Bernini:

David and Apollo and Daphne. In each you can see the vibrant attention to movement that marked the first departure from the Renais¬sance preoccupation with the idealized human form. Daphne is being transformed into a laurel tree while fleeing from a lecherous Apollo:
Twigs sprout from her fingertips while her pur¬suer recoils in amazement. The gallery's impor¬tant picture collection has been moved to the large San Michele a Ripa complex in Trastevere, where the paintings are now hung in a former church; it will probably be there through 1995. San Michele a Ripa complex: Via di San Mi¬chele.

Viale delle Belle Arti , tel Close by is the Museo di Villa Giulia, housing one of the world's great Etruscan collections. The villa is a former papal summer palace set in lovely gardens. This is the place to study the strange, half understood Etruscan civilization for here are magnificent terracotta statues' figurines, jewelry, household implements, sar: cophagla whole way of life on display.

Among the most precious gems are the Apollo of Veio and the Sarcophagus of the Sposi. When you have had your fill of these treasures, step out into the nymphaeum (the architectural term for this place of cool recesses and fern softened fountains) and take a close look at the full-scale reconstruction of an Etruscan temple in the gar¬den. Piazza di Villa Giuiia , The Pincio is an extension of Villa Borghese, with gardens on a terrace overlooking much of Rome. It was laid out by the early 19thcentury architect Valadier as part of his overall plan for Piazza del Popolo. The Pincio offers a superb view, absolutely spectacular when there is a fine sunset, and it's also a vantage point from which you can study Valadier's arrangement of Piazza del Popolo.

This is one of Rome's largest squares and a tra¬ditional place for mass meetings and rallies. At the center, four dignified stone lions guard an obelisk relating the life and times of Ramses II the Jewish Ghetto and Trastevere 61 in the 13th century BC. Next to the 400yearold Porta del Popolo, Rome's northern city gate, stop in at the church of Santa Maria del Popolo to see a pair of Caravaggios and some Bernini sculptures in a rich Baroque setting.

From here, it's a short walk down Via Ripetta to the large Augusteum, the mausoleum Augustus built for himself and his family. Next to it is an unattractive modern edifice that shelters the Ara Pacis (Altar of Augustan Peace), erected in 13 BC to celebrate the era of peace ushered in by Augustus's military victories. The reliefs on the marble enclosure are magnificent.

The Jewish Ghetto and Trastevere For the authentic atmosphere of Old Rome, ex¬plore the old Jewish ghetto and the narrow streets of Trastevere, two tightly knit communi¬ties whose inhabitants proudly claim descent ¬whether real or imagined from the ancient Ro¬mans. Then climb the Janiculum, a hill with views over the whole city, a vantage point be¬loved of all Romans.

The shadowy area bounded by Piazza Campitelli and Lungotevere Cenci constituted Rome's old Jewish ghetto. Within this cramped quarter, until 1870, all Rome's Jews (and they were many, tracing their presence in the city to an¬cient Roman times) were confined under a rigid all night curfew. At the little church opposite Quattro Capi bridge, they were forced to attend sermons that aimed to convert them to Catholi¬cism, and to pay for the privilege.

Many Jews have remained here, close to the G bronze roofed synagogue on Lungotevere Cenci and to the roots of their community. Among the most interesting sights in the ghetto are the pretty Fontana delle Tartarnghe (Turtle Foun¬tain) on Piazza Mattei; the old houses on Via Portico d'Ottavia, where medieval inscriptions and ancient friezes testify to the venerable age of these buildings; and the Teatro di Marcello, hardly recognizable as a theater now, but built at the end of the 1st century BC by Julius Caesar to hold 20,000 spectators.

Time Out Stop to indulge in American and Austrian baked goods at Dolceroma Cross the Tiber over the ancient Ponte Fabricio to the Tiberina Island, where a city hospital stands on a site that has been dedicated to heal¬ing ever since a temple to Aesculapius was erected here in 291 BC. If you have time, and if the river's not too high, go down the stairs for a different perspective on the island and the Tiber, which has begun to undermine the island in recent years, threatening its structures.

Then continue across Ponte Cestio into Trastevere, a maze of narrow streets that, de¬spite creeping gentrification, is still one of the city's most authentically Roman neighborhoods (for another, explore the jumble of streets be¬tween the Roman Forum, Santa Maria Maggio¬re, and the Colosseum). Among self-consciously picturesque trattorias and trendy tearooms, you'll also find old shops in alleys festooned with washing hung out to dry and dusty artisans' workshops.

Trastevere's population has become increasingly diverse, and it has acquired a repu¬tation for purse snatching and petty thievery, so keep purses and cameras out of sight as you stroll these byways. Be sure to see Piazza Santa Maria in Trastevere, the heart of the quarter, with one of Rome's oldest churches, decorated inside and out with 12th and 13thcentury mo¬saics.

Follow Via della Scala to Via della Lungara, where Raphael decorated the garden loggia of Villa Farnesina for extravagant host Agostino Chigi, who delighted in impressing guests by having his servants clear the table by casting precious gold and silver dinnerware into the Tiber. Naturally, the guests did not know he had nets stretched under the water to catch everything. Via delta Lungara 230, From Porta Settimiana you can follow Via Gari¬baldi as it curves up to the Janiculum, past the church of San Pietro in Montorio, known for its views and for the Tempietto, Bramante's little temple in the cloister. Beyond the impressive Acqua Paola Fountain, you'll come upon the Ja¬niculum Park, which offers splendid views of Rome.
The Catacombs and the Appian Way this tour offers a respite from museums, though it's no easier on the feet.

Do it on a sunny day and take along a picnic or have lunch at one of the pleasant restaurants near the catacombs. The Rome EPT office offers a free, informative pamphlet on this itinerary. Take Bus 18 from San Giovanni in Laterano to the VIa Appla Antica (the Queen of Roads), completed in 312 BC by Appius Claudius, who also built Rome's first aqueduct. (Stay on the bus until you reach the catacombs; the most interesting walk along the ancient road lies beyond them.) You pass Porta San Sebastiano, which gives you a good idea of what the city's 5thcentury fortifications looked like and farther along you'll see the little church of Domine Quo Vadis, where tradition says that Christ appeared to St. Peter, inspir¬ing him to return to Rome to face martyrdom.

There are two important catacombs on the Via Appia Antica. The first you come upon is that of San Callisto, one of the best preserved of these underground cemeteries. A friar will guide you through its crypts and galleries.

The 4thcentury catacomb of San Sebastiano, a little farther on, which was named for the saint who was buried here, burrows underground on four levels. The only one of the catacombs to re-main accessible during the Middle Ages, it is the origin ofthe term catacomb, for it was located in a spot where the road dips into a hollow, a place the Romans called catacumbas (near the hollow). Eventually, the Christian cemetery that had existed here since the 2nd century came to be known by the same name, which was applied to all underground cemeteries discovered in Rome in later centuries.

Via Appia Antica On the other side of Via Appia Antica are the ruins of the Circus of Maxentius, where the obe¬lisk now in Piazza Navona once stood. Farther along is the circular Tomb of Cecilia Metella, mausoleum of a Roman noblewoman who lived at the time of Julius Caesar. It was transformed into a fortress in the 14th century.

Time Out There are several trattorias along the Via Appia Antica, most of them moderately priced . For a sandwich or a snack, the bar on the corner of Via Appia Antica and Via Cecilia Metella, just beyond the tomb, can provide sustenance and a relaxing pause in the adjoining garden. The Tomb of Cecilia Metella marks the begin¬ning of the most interesting and evocative stretch of the Via Appia Antica, lined with tombs and fragments of statuary. Cypresses and umbrella pines stand guard over the ruined sepulchers, and the occasional tracts of ancient paving stones are the same ones trod by trium¬phant Roman legions.

Most of Rome's sights are either inexpensive or, more commonly, free of charge. You could con-struct several memorable itineraries devoted exclusively to architecture and religious art taking in dozens of piazzas, churches, streets, and fountains and not part with a single lira. Museums and galleries, of course, usually do charge admission, but it's rarely steep, and there are some surprising exceptions, such as the following: The ColosseumLower Level (Ancient Rome). The Tombs ofthe Popes (The Vatican). The Vatican Museums on the Last Sunday of the Month (The Vatican Museums). The Pantheon (Old Rome). Villa Farnesina (The Jewish Ghetto and Trastevere).

The Vatican

While the ancient Roman emperors presided over the decline of their empire, a vibrant new force emerged. Christianity came to Rome, the seat of the popes was established over the tomb of St. Peter, and the Vatican became the spiritu¬al focus of the Roman Catholic Church. There are two principal reasons for seeing the Vatican.

One is to visit St. Peter's, the largest church in the world and the most overwhelming architec¬tural achievement of the Renaissance. The other is to visit the Vatican Museums, which contain collections of staggering richness and diversity, including, of course, the Sistine Chapel. There's little point in trying to take it all in on just one visit. See St. Peter's first, and come back later to see the Vatican Museums.

Start at Castel Sant'Angelo, which guarded the Vatican for hundreds of years. One of Rome's most beautiful bridges, Ponte Sant' Angelo, spans the Tiber in front of the fortress and is studded with copies of the graceful angels de¬signed by Giovanni Lorenzo Bernini The distinctive silhouette of Castel Sant' Angelo is a throwback to its original func¬tion; it was built as a mausoleum, or tomb, for the Emperor Hadrian in AD 135. By the 6th cen¬tury, it had been transformed into a fortress, and it remained the military stronghold of Rome and a refuge for the popes for almost 1,000 years.

According to legend, the castle got its name dur¬ing the plague of 590, when Pope Gregory the Great, passing by in a religious procession, had a vision of an angel sheathing its sword atop the stone ramparts. He interpreted this as a sign that the plague would end immediately, and, af¬ter it did, he had a chapel built on the highest level of the fortress, where he had seen the an¬gel. Visit the lower levels, the base of Hadrian's mausoleum, and then climb ancient ramps and narrow staircases to explore the castle's court¬yards and frescoed halls; the collection of an¬tique arms and armor; and the open loggia, where there's a cafe.

Climb to the upper ter¬races for views of the city's rooftops and the low¬er bastions of the castle, as well as of the Passetto, the fortified corridor connecting Cas¬tel Sant' Angelo with the Vatican. Lungotevere Castello 50.From Castel Sant' Angelo, turn right onto Via della Conciliazione, a broad, rather soulless ave¬nue conceived by Mussolini in the 1930s to cele¬brate the conciliation between the Vatican and the Italian government under the Lateran Pact of 1929. The pact ended 60 years of papal protest against the Italian state, which the Vatican had never recognized. Indeed, after Italian troops wrested control of Rome from the pope in 1870 to make it the capital of a newly united Italy, the popes refused to leave the Vatican.

The Via delIa Conciliazione approach to St. Pe¬ter's gives your eye time to adjust to the enor¬mous dimensions of the square and the church, although the intent of Baroque artist Bernini, who designed the square, was to surprise the visitor emerging suddenly from shadowy alleys into the square's immense space and full light.

Piazza San Pietro (St. Peter's Square) is one of Bernini's masterpieces, completed after 11 years' works relatively short time in those days, considering the vastness of the job. The square can hold as many as 400,000 people and is surrounded by a pair of quadruple colonnades, which are topped by a balustrade and 140 stat¬ues of saints. Look for the two stone disks set into the pavement on each side of the obelisk, between the obelisk and the fountains. If you stand on one disk, the colonnades seem to con¬sist of a single row of columns.

The history of St. Peter's goes back to the year AD 319, when the emperor Constantine built a basilica here over the site of the tomb of St. Peter. The original church stood for more than 1,000 years, undergoing a number of restora¬tions, until it threatened to collapse. Recon¬struction began in 1452 but was soon abandoned due to a lack of funds. In 1506 Pope Julius II in¬structed the architect Donato Bramante to raze the existing structure and build a new and greater basilica, but it wasn't until 1626 that the new church was completed and dedi¬cated. Five of Italy's greatest Renaissance art¬ists died while working on it Bramante, Raphael, Peruzzi, Antonio Sangallo the Young¬er, and Michelangelo. Bramante outlined a basic plan for the church and built the massive pillars that were to support the dome.

After his death in 1514, his successors made little progress with the work and altered his master plan. In 1546 Pope Paul III more or less forced the aging Mi¬chelangelo to take on the job of completing the building. Michelangelo returned to Bramante's ground plan and designed the dome to cover the crossing, but his plans, too, were modified after his death. Still the result is breathtaking.

As you approach the church, look at the people go¬ing in and out of the portico, and note the con-trast between their size and the immense scale of the building. Now climb the broad steps and enter the portico. Notice Filarete's 15thcentu¬ry bronze doors, salvaged from the old basilica.
Persons wearing shorts, miniskirts, sleeveless T-shirts, or other revealing clothing (it's advisa¬ble for women to carry a scarf to cover bare up¬per arms) will not be allowed into St. Peter's. If you pass inspection, pause a moment, once in¬side, to consider the size of this immense tem¬ple.

Look at the massive pillars, the holy water stoups borne by colossal cherubs, the distance to the main altar. Look for the brass inscriptions in the central marble pavement, indicating the approximate length of the world's principal Christian churches, all of which fall far short of St.
Peter's. The chapel immediately to your right holds Michelangelo's Pieta, one of the world's most famous statues. It is now behind shatterproof glass, after a serious incident of vandalism (and a masterful restoration in the Vatican workshops). This is the only sculpture Michelangelo ever signed, although the signa tureon the sash across the Virgin's chest is too high up behind the glass to be seen.

Four massive piers support the dome at the crossing, where the mighty Bernini baldacchi¬no (canopy), made of bronze stripped from the Pantheon by order of the Barberini Pope Urban VIII, rises high above the papal altar. The pope celebrates mass here, over the grottoes holding the tombs of many of his predecessors and over what is believed to be the tomb of St. Peter, deep in the excavations under the foundations of the original basilica.

A very old bronze statue of the saint stands at the last pillar on the right be¬fore the crossing, its foot worn and burnished by the kisses of the faithful over the centuries. Beautiful bronze vigil lights flicker around the ceremonial entrance to the crypt in front of the papal altar.
In the niche below is an antique cas¬ket containing the pallia (bands of white wool conferred by the pope on archbishops as a sign of authority). The splendid gilt bronze throne above the altar in the apse was designed by Ber¬nini and contains a wooden and ivory chair that St. Peter was supposed to have used, though in fact it dates back no further than the Middle Ages.

A copy of the chair is in the Treasury. Stop in to see the small collection of Vatican treasures in the little museum in the sacristy, among them priceless antique chalices and the massive 15thcentury bronze tomb of Pope Six¬tus V by Antonio Save the visit to the Vatican Grottoes, to see the tombs of the popes, for last. The only exit from the grottoes leads outside St. Peter's, near the entrance to the roof and dome.

Entrance at St. Longinus Pier but alternatively at one of the other piers
Take the elevator or climb the stairs to the roof of the church, an interesting landscape of domes and towers. From here, climb a short interior staircase to the base of the dome for a dove'seye view of the interior of the church. And from here, it's a taxing climb to the lantern the architectural term for the delicate structure crowning the dome; the stairs are steep and nar¬row and one-way only, so there's no turning back. We emphasize that it's a strenuous, claus¬trophobic climb. Those who make it are re¬warded with views embracing the Vatican gardens and all Rome.

Entrance to roof and dome in courtyard on left as you leave the church
For many, a papal audience is a highlight of a trip to Rome. The pope holds mass audiences on Wednesday mornings at 11, in a modern audi¬ence hall. Rarely, on special occasions during the summer, a second audience may be held in St. Peter's Square. You must apply for tickets in advance, and it may be easier to arrange for them through a travel agency. Of course, you can avoid the formalities by seeing the pope when he makes his weekly appearance at the window of the Vatican Palace, every Sunday at noon when he is in Rome, to address the crowd and give a blessing. On summer Sundays he may give the blessing at his summer residence at Castel Gandolfo.

For audience tickets, apply in writing well in advance to the Prefettura della Casa Pontificia, Vatican City, indicating the date you prefer, the language you speak, and the hotel where you will be staying; or go to the prefecture yourself through the bronze door in the right-hand colonnadeThe Vatican Museums.

The Vatican Palace, the residence of the popes on and off since 1377, is made up of several inter-locking buildings containing 1,400 rooms, chap¬els, and galleries. The pope and his household occupy only a small part of the palace, most of which is given over to the Vatican Library and Museums. The main entrance to the museums, on Viale Vaticano, is a long walk from Piazza San Pietro, but there is bus service between the square and a secondary museum entrance. It goes through the Vatican gardens and costs 2,000 lire, and although it deposits you at a side entrance, it saves a lot of walking and allows a glimpse of some of Vatican City that would be off-limits otherwise.

A two-hour jaunt through the pope's backyard, half by bus and half on foot, is possible by taking the Vatican gardens tour
Time Out Borgo Pio, a street near St. Peter's Square, has several trattorias offering economical tourist menus. For about 20,000 lire you can have a sim¬ple meal at II Pozzetto (Borgo Pio 167. Closed Mon.). 4& The collections of the Vatican Museums are im¬mense, covering about 4% miles of displays. Special posters at the entrance and throughout the museum plot a choice of four color coded itineraries, the shortest taking approximately 90 minutes and the longest five hours.

You can rent taped English commentary explaining the Sistine Chapel and the Raphael Rooms.You're free to photograph what you like, although if you want to use a flash, tripod, or other special equipment, you have to get permission. The main entrance is on Viale Vaticano and can be reached by the No. 49 bus from Piazza Cavour, which stops right in front; on foot from the No. 81 bus or No. 19 tram, which stop at Piazza Ri¬sorgimento; or from the Ottaviano stop on the Metro Line A. Pick up a leaflet at the main en¬trance to the museums in order to see the overall layout.

The Sistine Chapel, the main attraction for most visitors, is at the far end of the com¬plex, and the leaflet charts two abbreviated itin¬eraries through other collections to reach it. Don't miss the collections en route to the Sistine Chapel; below we give some of the highlights. Viale Vaticano, Among Vatican City's many riches, probably the single most important is the Sistine Chapel. However, unless you're following of the two abbreviated itineraries, you'll begin your Visit at the Egyptian Museum and go on to the Chiaramonti and Pio Clemen¬tino Museums, which are given over to classical sculptures (among them some of the best-known statues in the world the Laoco On, the Belve¬dere Torso, and the Apollo Belvedere works that with their vibrant humanism, had a tre¬mendous impact on Renaissance art). Next come the Etruscan Museum and three other sec-tions of limited interest.

All itineraries merge in the Candelabra Gallery and proceed through the Tapestry Gallery, which is hung with magnifi¬cent tapestries executed from Raphael's de¬signs.The Gallery of Maps is intriguing; the Apart¬ment of Pius V, a little less so. After them you'll enter the Raphael Rooms, second only to the Sistine Chapel in artistic interest. In 1508, Pope Julius II employed Raphael Sanzio, on the rec¬ommendation of Bramante, to decorate the rooms with biblical scenes. Of the four rooms, the second and third were decorated mainly by Raphael; the others, by Giulio Romano ad oth¬er assistants of Raphael. The lovely LoggIa (cov¬ered balcony) was designed and frescoed by the master himself.

Next you pass through the Chiaroscuro Room to the tiny Chapel of Nicholas V, aglow with frescoes by Fra Angelico the Florentine monk whose sensitive paintings were guiding lights for the Renaissance. If your itinerary takes you to the BorgIa Apartments, you'll see their elaborately painted ceilings, designed and partially executed by Pinturicchio The BorgJa Apart¬ments have been given over to the Vatican's large, but not particularly interesting, collection of modern religious art, which continues at a lower level.

Once you've seen the Borgia Rooms, you can skip the rest in good conscience and get on to the Sistine Chapel. In 1508, while Raphael was put to work on his series of rooms, Pope Julius II commissioned Michelangelo to fresco the more than 10,000 square feet of the Sistine Chapel ceiling single-handedly. The task took four years of mental and physical anguish. It's said that for years af-terward Michelangelo couldn't read anything without holding it up over his head. The result, however, was the masterpiece that you can now see, its colors cool and brilliant after recent res-toration. Bring a pair of binoculars to get a bet¬ter look at this incredible work, and if you want to study it, try to beat the tour groups by get¬ting there early in the day.

Some 20 years after completing the ceiling, Michelangelo was com¬missioned to paint the Last Judgment on the wall over the altar. The aged and embittered artist painted his own face on the wrinkled hu¬man skin in the hand of St. Bartholomew, below and to the right of the figure of Christ, which he clearly modeled on the Apollo Belvedere. Like the ceiling, the Last Judgment has been cleaned surprising viewers with its clarity and color al ter restorers unveiled their work in April 1994.

After this experience, which can be marred by the cr0'Ys .of tourists, you pass through some of the exhibition halls of the Vatican Library. Look m on Room X, Room of the Aldobrandini Mar-riage, to see its beautiful Roman frescoes of a nuptial rite. You can see more classical statues in the new wing and then, perhaps after taking a break at the cafeteria, go on to the Pinacoteca (Pctre Gallery). It .displays mainly religious paintings by such artists as Giotto, Fra Angeli¬co, and Filippo Lippi. The Raphael Room holds his exceptional Transfiguration Coronation and Foligno Madonna. ' , In the Pagan Antiquities Museum, modern dis¬play techniques enhance another collection of Greek and Roman sculptures.

The Christian An¬tiquities Museum has Early Christian and medi¬eval art, while the Ethnological Museum shows art and artifacts from exotic places throughout the world. The complete itinerary ends with the Historical Museum's collection of carriages, uni¬forms, and arms, which may still be temporarily closed in 1995.

In all, the Vatican Museums offer a staggering excursion into the realms of art and history. It's foolhardy to try to see all the collections in one day, and it's doubtful that anyone could be inter-ested in everything on display. Simply aim for an overall impression of the collections' artistic and cultural riches.

Time Out Neighborhood trattorias that are far better and far less touristy than those opposite the Vatican Museum entrance include Hostaria Dino e Toni (Via Leone IV 60. Closed Sun.), where you can dine on typical Roman fare at reasonable prices, and La Caravella, which serves Roman special¬ties and has pizza on the lunch menu (Via degli Scipioni 32, corner Via Vespasiano, off Via Leone IV. Old Rome A district of narrow streets with curious names, airy Baroque piazzas, and picturesque court-yards, Old Rome (Vecchia Roma) occupies the horn of land that pushes the Tiber westward to-ward the Vatican.

It has been an integral part of the city since ancient times, and its position be-tween the Vatican and the Lateran palaces, both seats of papal rule, put it in the mainstream of Rome's development from the middle Ages on¬ward. Today it's full of old artisans' workshops, trendy cafes and eating places, and offbeat bou¬tiques. On weekends and summer evenings Old Rome is a magnet for crowds of young people.

Start at Piazza Venezia and take Via del 41 Plebiscito to the huge Baroque II Gesii, compa¬rable only to St. Peter's for sheer grandeur. In¬side it's encrusted with gold and precious marbles and topped by a fantastically painted ceiling that flows down over the pillars to be¬come three-dimensional, merging with painted stucco figures in a swirling composition glorify¬ing the Jesuit order. Then head for nearby Piazza della Minerva to see Santa Maria Sopra Mi¬nerva, a Gothic church with some beautiful fres¬coes, in a side chapel, by Filippo Lippi the monk who taught Botticelli. The tomb of another great artist monk, Fra Angelico stands to the left of the altar.

Bernini's charming elephant bearing an obelisk stands in the center of the piazza. The huge brick building opposite is the Pan¬theon, one of the most harmonious and best-preserved monuments of antiquity. It was first elected in 27 bc by Augustus's general Agrippa and completely redesigned and rebuilt by Ha¬drian, who deserves the credit for this fantastic feat of construction.

At its apex, the dome is ex¬actly as tall as the walls, so that you could imag¬ine it as the upper half of a sphere resting on the floor; this balance gives the building a serene majesty. The bronze doors are the original ones; most of the other decorations of gilt bronze and marble that covered the dome and walls were plundered by later Roman emperors and by the popes. The Pantheon gets light and air from the apex of the dome another impressive feature of this remarkable edifice. Piazza delta Rotonda Time Out The area is ice-cream heaven, with some of Rome's best gelaterie (ice-cream parlors) within a few steps of one another.

Romans consider nearby Giolitti superlative and take the counter by storm. Remember to pay the cashier first and hand the stub to the man at the counter when you order your cone. Giolitti has a good snack counter, too From Piazza della Rotonda in front of the Pan¬theon, take Via Giustiniani onto Via della Dogana Vecchia to the church of San Luigi dei Francesi. In the last chapel on the left are three stunning works by Caravaggio the master of the heightened approach to light and dark. A light machine provides illumination to view the paintings.

In the church of Sant' Agostino, close by (Piazza di Sant'Agostino), there is another Caravaggio over the first altar on the left. Just beyond these 4& churches is Piazza Navona, a beautiful Baroque piazza that traces the oval of Emperor Domi¬tian's stadium. It still has the carefree air of the days when it was the scene of Roman circus games, medieval jousts, and 17thcentury carni-vals. Bernini's splashing Fountain of the Four Rivers, with an enormous rock squared off by statues representing the four corners of the world, and makes a fitting centerpiece.

Behind it stands the church of Sant' Agnese in Agone. Its Baroque facade is by Francesco Borromini , a contemporary and sometime ri¬val of Bernini. One story has it that the Bernini statue nearest the church is hiding its head be¬cause it can't bear to look upon the inferior Bor-romini facade; in fact, the facade was built after the fountain, and the statue hides its head be-cause it represents the Nile River, whose source was unknown until relatively recently.

Time Out The sidewalk tables of the Tre Scalini cafe offer a grandstand view of the piazza. This place in¬vented the tartufo, a luscious chocolate ice-cream specialty (Piazza Navona 30. Closed Wed.).Leaving Piazza Navona by way of the Corsia Agonalis, the street opposite Tre Scalini, you'll see the 17thcentury Palazzo Madama, now the Senate, on Corso Rinascimento. To the right, at the end of the street, the huge church of G Sant'Andrea della Valle looms mightily over a busy intersection. Puccini set the first act of his opera Tasca here.

Now make your way through side streets to G Campo dei Fiori. Once the scene of public execu-tions (including that of philosopher monk Giordano Bruno, whose statue broods in the center), it now holds one of Rome's busiest, most colorful morning food markets.

Continue on to Piazza Farnese, where Michelan G gelo had a hand in building Palazzo Farnese, now the French Embassy and perhaps the most beautiful of the Renaissance palaces in Rome. (Puccini set the second act of Tasca here.) The twin fountains in the piazza are made with ba¬sins of Egyptian granite from the Baths of Cara¬calla. Behind Palazzo Farnese, turn onto Via Giulia, where you'll see some elegant palaces (step inside the portals to take a look at the courtyards), old churches, and a number of an¬tiques shops.

The Spanish Steps and the Trevi Fountain

The walk up Via del Corso from Piazza Venezia takes you to Rome's classiest shopping streets and to two visual extravaganzas: the Spanish Steps and the Trevi Fountain. e Start at the Vittorio Emanuele Monument in Pi¬azza Venezia. Rome's most flamboyant land¬mark, it was erected in the late 19th century to honor Italy's first king, Vittorio Emanuele II, and the unification of Italy. This vast marble monument, said to resemble a wedding cake or a Victorian typewriter, houses the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, with its eternal flame. Al¬though the monument has been closed to the public for many years, plans are in the works to reopen it; the views from the top of the steps are among Rome's best.

On the left, as you look up the Corso, is Palazzo Venezia, a blend of medieval solidity and Renais¬sance grace. It contains a good collection of paintings, sculptures, and objects d'art in hand¬some salons, some of which Mussolini used as his offices. Notice the balcony over the main portal, from which II Duce addressed huge crowds in the square below. Via Del Plebiscito

Along the Corso are some fine old palaces and a church or two. Detour to the left to the church of G Sant'Ignazio, where what seems to be the dome is really an illusionist canvas. Put some coins in the light machine to illuminate the dazzling fres¬coes on the vault of the nave. Next you'll come to e Piazza Colonna, named for the ancient Column of Marcus Aurelius, with its extraordinarily de¬tailed reliefs spiraling up to the top.

Time Out Alfio, on the corner of Via Bergamaschi, is popu¬lar for a standup lunch of sandwiches at the counter or a more relaxing meal in the upstairs dining room (From Largo Goldoni, on Via del Corso, you get a head-on view of the Spanish Steps and the church of Trinita dei Monti as you start up Via Condotti, an elegant and expensive shopping street. Look for the historic Caffe Greco on the left. More than 200 years old, it was the haunt of Goethe, Byron, and Liszt; now it's a hangout for well dressed ladies carrying Gucci bags.

G Piazza di Spagna and the Spanish Steps get their names from the Spanish Embassy to the Holy See (the Vatican), opposite the American Ex¬press office, though they were built with French funds. This was once the core of Rome's bohemi¬an quarter, especially favored by American and British artists and writers in the 18th and 19th centuries. At the center of the square is Bernini's Fountain of the Barcaccia (Old Boat) and just to the right of the steps is the house where Keats and Shelley lived. Sloping upward in broad curves, the Spanish Steps are perfect for socializing, and they draw huge crowds on weekend and holiday afternoons. From mid¬ April to early May, the steps are blanketed with azaleas in bloom.

From the narrow end of the piazza, take Via Propaganda Fide to Sant'Andrea delle Fratte, swerving left on Via del Nazareno, then cross¬ing busy Via del Tritone to Via delia Stamperia.This street leads to the Trevi Fountain, one of Rome's most spectacular fountains when it's gushing. It was featured in the 1954 film Three Coins in the Fountain. And legend has it that you can ensure your return to Rome by tossing a coin in the fountain. Unfortunately, legend doesn't tell you how to cope with the souvenir vendors and aggressive beggars who are looking for a share of your change.

Ancient Rome

Rome was built on seven hills. Its legendary founders, the twins Romulus and Remus, were abandoned as infants but were suckled by a she wolf on the banks of the Tiber and adopted by a shepherd. Encouraged by the gods to build a city, the twins chose a site in 735 be, fortifying it with a wall that has been identified by archae¬ologists digging on the Palatine, the first hill of Rome to be inhabited. During the building of the city, the brothers quarreled, and in a fit of anger Romulus killed Remus.

Excavations on the Palatine and in the Forum area have re¬vealed hard evidence of at least some aspects of the city's legendary beginnings. The ruins on the two most historic hills the Capitoline and the Palatine mark the center of ancient Rome, capital of the classical world and center of a vast empire. The former hill held the seat of government, the Capitol, whose name is commemorated in every capital city in the world, as well as in government buildings, such as the Capitol in Washington, DC.

If you stand on the Capitoline and gaze out over the ruins of the Forum to the Palatine, with the Colosseum looming in the background, you can picture how Rome looked when it was the center of the known world. Imagine the Forum filled with immense, brightly painted temples.

Pic¬ture the faint glow from the temple of Vesta, where the vestal virgins tended their sacred fire, and the glistening marble palace complex on the Palatine, its roof studded with statues, where the emperors and their retinues lived in incredible luxury. Then think of how the area looked in the Dark Ages, when Rome had sunk into malaria ridden squalor.

The Capitoline hill is a good place to begin when exploring the city. Rome's first and most sacred temples stood here. The city's archives were kept in the Tabularium (hall of records), the tall, gray stone structure that forms the foundations of today's city hall, the Palazzo Senatorio. By the Middle Ages, the Campidoglio, as the hill was then known, had fallen into ruin. In 1537, Pope Paul III called on Michelangelo to restore it to grandeur, and the artist designed the ramp, the buildings on three sides of the Campidoglio Square, the slightly convex pave¬ment and its decoration, and the pedestal for the bronze equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius.

A work of the 2nd century AD, the statue stood here from the 16th century to just recently, when it was removed for restoration and rein¬stallation in a more friendly environment inside the Palazzo dei Conservatori Even¬tually, a copy of the statue will occupy the origi¬nal pedestal outdoors.

The palaces flanking the Palazzo Senatorio con¬tain two museums, the Museo Capitolino and the Palazzo dei Conservatori, whose collections were assembled in the 15th century by Pope Six¬tus V, one of the earliest of the great papal pa¬trons of the arts. Those with a taste for Roman and Greek sculpture will appreciate both muse¬ums; others may find the collections dull but the setting impressive. Many of the statues were re¬stored by over conscientious 18th and 19thcen¬tury collectors who added heads and limbs with considerable abandon.

Originally, almost all these works were brilliantly colored and gilded. Many of the works here and in Rome's other mu¬seums are copies of Greek originals. For hun¬dreds of years, craftsmen of ancient Rome prospered by producing copies of Greek statues on order; they used a process called pointing, by which exact copies could be made.

Portraiture, however, was one area in which the Romans outstripped the Greeks. The hundreds of Roman portrait busts in the Museo Capitolino are the highlight of a visit here. In the court¬yard, the reclining river god is one of the talks Ancient Rome ing statues to which ancient Romans affixed anonymous political protests and satirical barbs.

The most interesting pieces, on display upstairs, include the poignant Dying Gaul and the delicate Marble Faun, which inspired novel¬ist Nathaniel Hawthorne's tale of the same name. Then you'll come upon the rows of por¬trait busts, a kind of ancient Who's Who, though rather haphazardly labeled. Look for cruel Car¬acalla, vicious Nero, and haughty Marcus Aure¬lius.

Across the square is the Palazzo dei Conserva¬tori, which contains similar treasures. The huge head and hand in the courtyard are fragments of a colossal statue of the emperor Constantine; these immense effigies were much in vogue in the later days of the Roman Empire. The re-splendent Salone dei Orazi e Curiazi upstairs is a ceremonial hall with a magnificent gilt ceiling, carved wooden doors, and 16thcentury fres¬coes.

The Capitoline's church of Aracoeli was one of the first in the city built by the emerging Chris-tians. It's known for Pinturicchio's 16thcentury frescoes in the first chapel on the right and for a much revered wooden figure of the Christ Child, kept in a small chapel in the sacristy.

The Campidoglio gardens offer the best view of the sprawling ruins of ancient Rome. Caesar's Forum lies below the garden, to the left of Palazzo Senatorio. It is the oldest of the Imperial Fora, those built by the emperors, as opposed to those built during the earlier, Republican peri¬od (6th1st centuries BC), as part of the original Roman Forum. Across Via dei Fori Imperiali, the broad avenue created by Premier Benito Mussolini for his triumphal parades, are, from the left, Trajan's Column in the base of which the emperor Tra¬jan's ashes were buried, Trajan's Forum, with its huge semicircular market building, and the ruins of the Forum of Augustus.

Now turn your attention to the Roman Forum, in what was once a marshy valley between the Capitoline and Palatine hills. The shortest way down is Via San Pietro in Carcere actually a flight of stairs descending to the church that e stands over the Mamertine Prison, a series of gloomy, subterranean cells where Rome's van¬quished enemies were finished off. Legend has it that St. Peter was held prisoner here and that he miraculously brought forth a spring of water in order to baptize his jailers. Donation re¬quested.

From the main entrance on Via dei Fori Imperiali, descend into the extraordinary archaeological complex that is the Roman Forum. This was the civic heart of Republican Rome, the austere Rome that preceded the hedonistic society that grew up under the emperors in the 1st to the 4th century AD. Today it seems no more than a baffling series of ruins, marble fragments, isolated columns, a few, worn arches, and occasional paving stones. Yet It once was filled with stately and extravagant buildings temples, palaces, shop sand people from .all corners of the world.

What you see are the rums of almost 900 years, from about 500 be to AD 400. As the original buildings became too small or old-fashioned, they were pulled down and re¬placed by more lavish structures. Making sense of these scarred stones is not easy; you may want just to wander along, letting your imagina¬tion dwell on Julius Caesar, Cicero, and Mark Antony who delivered the funeral address in Caesar' honor from the rostrum just left of te Arch of Septimius Severus. Entrance on Vta dei Fori Imperiali, Piazza Santa Marta Nova, and Via di San Gregorio,
Leave the Forum by the exit at Arco di Tito (Arch of Titus), which is at the end of the Forum away from the Capitoline. From here, the Cli¬vus Palatinus, an ancient path, leads up the Pal¬atine hill, where the emperors built their palaces.

From the belvedere you can see the Circus Maximus, where more than 300,000 specta¬tors could watch chariot and horse races while the emperors looked on from this very spot. The Italian garden on the Palatine was laid out dur¬ing the Renaissance. Leaving the Palatine by way of the Via di San Gregorio exit, you'll come upon the imposing Arch of Constantine, erected in AD 315 to commemorate Constantine's victory over Maxentius.

Just beyond is the Colosseum, the most famous monument of ancient Rome. Begun by the Flavian emperor Vespasian in AD 72, it was inau¬gurated by Titus eight years later with a 100¬day program of games and shows. On the open¬ing day alone, 5,000 wild beasts perished in the arena.

More than 50,000 spectators could crowd into the 573yard circumference, which was faced with marble and boasted an ingenious sys¬tem of awnings to shade them from the sun. Originally known as the Flavian Amphitheater, in later centuries it came to be called the Colos¬seum, after a colossal gilded bronze statue of Nero that stood nearby.

It served as a fortress during the 13th century and then as a quarry from which materials were filched to build sumptuous Renaissance churches and palaces. Finally it was declared sacred by the popes, in memory of the many Christians believed mar¬tyred there. You must pay admission to the up¬per levels.

Exploring Rome by car hire

From ancient times, Romans have been piling the present on top of the past, blithely building, layering, and overlapping their more than 2,500 years of history to create the haphazard fabric of modern Rome. The result is a city where antiq¬uity is taken for granted, where you can have coffee in a square designed by Bernini and go home to a Renaissance palace. Normal life in Rome is carried on in an extraordinary setting. Don't be self conscious in your wanderings about the city. Poke and pry under the surface of things.

Walk boldly through gates that are just ajar to peek into the hidden world of Roman courtyards. But do it with a smile, to show the people you meet that you're truly interested in them. Warm and straightforward, the Romans are pleased to show you the nooks and crannies of their hometown.

The good-humored Romans have their prob¬lems, of course. The city is noisy, polluted, af¬flicted with hellish traffic, and exasperatingly inefficient. But at least the traffic problem is be¬ing tackled. Sizable areas of the city center have been designated for pedestrians only. The pol¬lution problem is less easy to cure, and far too many of the monuments you will want to see are shielded in fine green netting, while work pro¬ceeds on cleaning and repairing them.

Keep your sightseeing flexible. You'll have to plan your day to take into account the wide di-versity of opening times which will mean mix¬ing classical sites with Baroque, museums with parks, the center with the environs. However you do it, be sure to take plenty of time off for simply sitting and observing the passing pag¬eant of the city's teeming streets.
Inevitably, the environs of Rome are overshad¬owed by the five star attractions of the Eternal City.

However, the surrounding region, known as Lazio (Latium), has plenty to offer in its own right ancient art and archaeology, medieval hill towns and abbeys, Renaissance pleasure gardens, lake and mountain scenery, and an easygoing pace, not to mention great local wines and homemade pasta. Intersperse city sightseeing with jaunts into the countryside. A breath of country air and a change of scenery can enhance your enjoyment of Rome and give you a new perspective on its many delights.

Our exploration of Rome is divided into 10 tours. where Rome itself began, amid the ancient rums, and follow with a look at the Vatican and its museums two separate tours. The next six tours explore various places of interest in central Rome, while Tour 10 takes you on a short trip outside the city walls. With the exception of Tours 2 and 3, which concentrate on the Vatican Tour?, which explore the Villa Borghese, which crosses the Tiber to the Trastevere dis¬trict, and Tour 10, out the Appian Way to the Catacombs, these Rome tours begin in or around Piazza Venezia.

The Museidon Card, valid for two, four, or seven days and costing from 13,000 lire to 48 000 lire provides entrance to city museums and some monuments. It's sold at participating museums, APT offices, and some hotels and tobacconists but think twice before buying it because not many of the major museums are city run. At the end of the chapter are three excursions into the surrounding countryside.

Although all the places we suggest visiting could be seen on a day's trip from Rome, some itineraries combine several destinations and could be broken by an overnight stop somewhere along the way, to maintain an easy pace. If you're driving, you'll find good roads, but you may run into pockets of local traffic in the suburbs. Try not to schedule your excursions for Sundays, when the Romans make their weekly exodus and create traffic jams on their return.

A word of caution: Gypsy children, present around sites popular with tourists throughout Europe, are rife in Rome and are adept pickpockets. One modus operandi is to approach a tourist and proffer a piece of cardboard with writing on it. While the unsuspecting victim at¬tempts to read the message on it, the gypsy children’s hands are busy under it making like piranhas with the contents of a purse.

If you see such a group (recognizable by their unkempt appearance, often with cigarettes hanging from prepubescent mouths), do not even allow them near you they are quick and know more tricks than you do.

Also be aware of Italian perpetra¬tors who ride by on motorbikes, grab the shoul¬der strap of your bag, and step on the gas. Keep your bag well under your arm, especially if you're walking on the street edge of the side¬walk, or wear a money belt. Don't carry more money than you need, and don't carry your pass¬port unless you need it to exchange money. Numbers in the margin correspond to points of interest on the Exploring Rome map.

The Colosseum Rome

The first sight of the Colosseum is highly gratifying. It reassures the most bewil¬dered visitor. No one could mistake it for any¬thing but a large shambles designed with the utmost skill to focus the attention of many thousands of people upon a small field of ac¬tion, then to disperse them with the greatest possible efficiency. The amazing thing about the Colosseum is the fact that it is built in a marsh, and that its stupendous weight has been resting for all these centuries upon artificial foundations set in water.

This part of Rome is still water¬logged with springs which trickle down from the Esquiline Hill, as you can see today in the underground churches beneath S. Clemente. How the Colosseum was built on such a soil is a wonder of engineering, and I can well imag¬ine that any architect might forsake all else in Rome to study the problems of this trium¬phant mass.
In the year 1864 one of the peri¬odic stories about buried treasure in the Colosseum was revived with success by a cer¬tain Signor Testa.

He claimed to have a clue to the Frangipani treasure believed to have been concealed there in the middle Ages when that family turned the amphitheatre into a fortress. Pope Pius IX became inter¬ested and gave permission for the excava-tions, which were followed with breathless interest by everyone in Rome. Nothing of in¬trinsic value was found, though the effort was not wasted as it gave Lanciani his only chance to examine the foundations of the Col¬osseum.

He wrote that he saw the upper belt of the substructures, arched like those of the ambulacra above ground; and underneath them a bed of concrete which must descend to a considerable depth. So beneath the visible The Colosseum the arches of the Colosseum are others, carry¬ing the weight of the building on cores of the indestructible Roman concrete sunk into the water.

It was the Venerable Bede, writing in his monastery at Jarrow somewhere about AD 700, who first addressed the building as the Colosseum in the famous proverb that Byron translated as:

While stands the Colosseum, Rome shall stand;
When the Colosseum, Rome falls shall fall; And when Rome falls the world. Bede had never been to Rome, but no doubt he had heard of the Colosseum from Saxon pilgrims and may even have preserved a say¬ing current in Rome in those days. I climbed all over the mighty monument, thinking that it is the most comprehensible ruin in Rome.

It demands little imagination to rebuild it in its splendour and fill it with 80,000 spectators, with Caesar in the royal box, the senators in their privileged seats near the rails, the aristocracy, and the Vestal Virgins; then, ascending, to the mob in the highest seats of all, for the audience in the Colosseum was seated in strict rotation. There was an official called a designator who saw to it that people kept in their proper places.

There were at various times dress regulations which had to be obeyed. Roman citizens were obliged to attend the games in the toga, and the magistrates and senators came in their official dress. This enormous gathering, rising in tiers and mostly clothed in white, must have presented a mighty spec¬tacle, with the senators in their striped togas and red sandals, the consuls in their purple tunics, the ambassadors and members of the diplomatic corps in the dress of their various countries, the praetorian guard in full dress, and the emperor in his royal robes. High above the gallery protruded stout masts where sailors from the fleet at Misenum, who had been trained in the manipulation of a vast awning, swarmed among the ropes and pul¬leys as in some gigantic galley.

Even with a slight wind the sound of this velarium was like thunder, and on gusty days it could not be used at all. One can imagine what it must have been like to walk through the deserted Forum on a day of the games and to hear the flapping of this great awning, then to be pulled up by a savage roar of sound from eighty thousand voices.

Such a gathering of people assembled to enjoy suffering and death must have been a fearful sight, and I remembered the story of St. Augustine's friend, Alypius, who was taken to the games against his will by a number of fellow students. At first Alypius shut his eyes and refused to look, but, hear¬ing a sudden savage shout, he opened his eyes to see a gladiator beaten to his knees.

His heart filled with pity for the man, then as the death blow was delivered he drank down a kind of savageness and sat there, open-eyed and initiated. With the exception of Sene¬ca, not one of the writers of antiquity, not even the kindly Horace and the gentle Pliny, condemned the degradation of the amphi¬theater, and the world had to wait for Chris¬tianity before men had the courage and the decency to close such places.

As I climbed about the broken tiers and ledges, I thought of the organization which fed this monstrous circle of savagery. All over the empire officials trapped and brought wild animals for the arena, and in the course of centuries the number of noble beasts that died to please the mob is said to have almost exterminated certain species from the Ro¬man world. It is said that the elephant disap¬peared from North Arica, the hippopotamus from Nubia, and the hon from Mesopotamia.

The Colosseum 25 Long before the Colosseum was built this slaughter of animals used to be the popular prelude to the combat of gladiators; one dis¬play occupied the morning and the other the afternoon. Sulla once exhibited 100 lions in the arena and this, Cicero says, was the first time these animals were allowed to roam about instead of being tethered to stakes. In 58 BC several crocodiles and the first hippo¬potamus to be seen in Rome were exhibited in a trench of water in the arena, and during a venatio attended by Cicero in 55 BC, 600 lions were slain and 18 elephants tried to break down the barriers in an attempt to escape.

The only animal which roused any compas¬sion in the heartless Roman mob was the elephant. Cicero says that this was due to a notion that it had something in common with Mankind; and the elder Pliny says that these animals, which had been procured by Pompey, implored the compassion of the multitude by attitudes which surpass all description, and with a kind of lamentation bewailed their unhappy fate, until the whole assembly rose in tears and showered curses on Pompey.

Unfortunately, such pity did not go very deep, and for centuries to come the mob continued to watch the slaugh¬ter of elephants and every other kind of ani¬mal; indeed, as the empire declined these fearful shows became even more extrava¬gant.

There were schools in Rome where men were trained to fight animals and to de¬vise tricks to amuse and thrill the mob. Such men, known as bestiarii or venatores, were lower in rank than the gladiators. Criminals could be sentenced to join such establish¬ments and to be trained in an arena with the animals. After the Colosseum was built, the animals destined for the amphitheater were kept in a zoo known as the Vivarium, on the neighboring Celian Hill. On the day of the games they were taken under the amphi¬theater and placed in lifts, worked by pulleys and windlasses, which pulled the cages up to the arena.

The death of animals merely stimulated the palate for the afternoon combat of men. In imperial times there were four state schools in which gladiators lived under strict discipline. They were fed on a special diet and trained in every kind of weapon from the sword and the lance to the net and lassoo.

The professional gladiator, like the modern film actor, was the idol of the crowd and, of course, of some women. There is a wall scribble in Pompeii which describes a certain glad¬iator as the maiden's sigh. With good fortune their popularity lasted longer than that of a film star today, for we hear of old warriors, the heroes of a hundred fights, winning the wooden sword, which was handed to them in the arena as a badge of honorable retirement. There was also a great deal of money to be made.

In addition to the state schools, there were numerous private ludi, where gladiators were maintained at the expense of rich ama¬teurs or businessmen, who hired them out to fulfill engagements all over the country, as the promoters of bullfights today engage matadores with their cuadrilla. The Colos¬seum could also be rented.

A rich man, or a politician anxious to curry favor, could orga¬nize games to take place in the Colosseum and while they were in progress he occupied place of honor, the editoris tribunal, a special seat which has now disappeared.

The Vestal Virgins were the only women allowed in the official seats, and if the em¬press attended the games, she sat with them. Women were not encouraged, however, to at¬tend the amphitheater, and could sit only in the upper tiers with the plebs. In later times they were allowed to fight and were some¬times pitted against each other as gladiators; but this, like the woman matador of today, was not usual.

How the Vestal Virgins, who were so care¬fully protected against the harder facts of life, were expected to endure the games, I do not know, and I have read that it was sometimes necessary to move them to the higher parts of the Colosseum where they could not see so much. From the first moment until the last, when a ghastly figure dressed as Charon, or a denizen of the underworld, appeared and tapped with a wooden mallet the heads of those not yet dead, the enter¬tainment can hardly have been fit for their eyes, and that these cloistered women were required to be officially present indicates one of the great differences between the pagan and the Christian world.

The gladiators paraded in carriages on a day of the games, just as modern bullfighters do. Arriving at the Colosseum, they lined up and took part in the paseo to the sound of music, and marched around the arena, with attend¬ants following, bearing their weapons. When they reached a point opposite the royal box, they would fling up their right hands and give their famous cry: Hail Caesar, we about to die salutes you!

The weapons were then inspected, and any that had been tampered with were thrown out. Sometimes the duelists were selected by lot; sometimes experts in the use of differ¬ent weapons would be matched against each other, a swordsman against a man with a net and a trident, and so forth.

At a signal from the emperor a series of life and death duels began, while the band of trumpets, horns, flutes, and a hydraulic organ, struck up and added to the noise of excited thousands, and the shouts of the instructors, who urged on the fighters with bloodthirsty incitements and, if they were not really trying, used a whip on them.

The most merciful combats were those in which the beaten gladiator had the right to appeal for his life. If he had fought well; the crowd might save him from death, as they leaned forward with their thumbs up, a sign meaning Mitte! (Let him go), but if they wished to see him die, the thumbs would be turned down Jugula! (Kill him!); and the master of the world, glancing around to inter¬pret the wishes of the multitude, would give the signal of life or death.

No mercy, however, was possible in the com¬bats known as the fight to the death, in which a company of gladiators fought until only one survived; and even more horrible than this were the noon interludes, before the serious contests began, when a crowd of miserable robbers, highwaymen, murderers, and oth¬ers condemned to death, were driven into the arena and given weapons with which they were compelled to kill each other.

The deaths of Christians in the arena in Nero's time, and later, were of this character, but as the Christians could not be expected to slay one another, wild beasts were let loose to do the killing. It is extraordinary to contrast the gravity and dignity of Roman life at its best with the hideous degradation of mind exhib¬ited in the public amusements of Rome.

One of the most vivid impressions of the Col¬osseum is the account by Dion Cassius of an occasion when the crazy young Emperor Commodus, who wanted to be worshipped as the royal Hercules, appeared as a bestiarius in the arena. Dion Cassius was present in his official capacity as a senator, dressed in his robes and wearing a laurel wreath. He de¬scribes the young emperor, dressed as Mer¬cury, shooting bears with his bow and arrow as he darted about the galleries of the amphi¬theater. Then, descending into the arena, Commodius slew a tiger, a sea lion, and an el-ephant.

At intervals during these exploits the senators, ashamed to see the son of Mar¬cus Aurelius lowering the imperial dignity, were nevertheless obliged to give certain rit¬ual shouts or acclamations: You are the mas¬ter!; You are always victorious! Then, says Dion Cassius, the emperor advanced to¬wards the senatorial benches holding up the head of an animal he had just killed, and, with his dripping sword held aloft, he shook his head without saying one word, as if by that action he intended to threaten us in the same manner as he had served the beast.

Many of the senators were convulsed with laughter, but, as this might have cost them their lives, Dion Cassius says he quietly pulled some of the laurel leaves from his crown and chewed them and advised those sitting near me to do the same.

Reading these ancient authors I had an idea that many of them disliked the games, but accepted them as a national insti¬tution and one that had the blessing of the head of the state. The Emperor Tiberius dis¬liked them and made no secret of it, and so did Marcus Aurelius, who caused great offence by talking and dictating letters while he was seated in the royal box: but it was not until Christian times that opposition could make any real headway and the games gradually fell into disuse.

The last games were probably a mere memory of the past, for Cassiodorus says that the wild beasts imported by Theod¬oric in 519 were a novelty to his contemporar¬ies. The games held by Anicius Maximus in 523 are the last to be recorded. If the bones of horses and bulls discovered by professors in the Colosseum in 1878 belong to this occa¬sion, it would appear that in later times it had become a bullring.

And so it became in the Middle Ages, with oc¬casional plays and pageants. Then, with trees and weeds gaining upon it, robbers and hermits took up residence there, while witches and sorcerers made it the headquar¬ters of the Black Art. It was here on a dark night that Benvenuto Cellini experienced his celebrated encounter with devils. With a Si¬cilian priest and a young boy from his studio, he went to the Colosseum to hold a séance. A magic circle was drawn, the proper incanta-tions were made, and perfumes burnt; then, visible to the priest and the terrified boy, but not apparently to Cellini, the amphitheater became filled with demons.

A million warlike men surrounded them, said the frightened lad, and his terror was shared by the priest, who trembled like a reed. Cellini says he also was afraid, but told them that all they saw was smoke and shadows. The boy shouted The whole Colosseum is on fire, and the fire is upon us!, and refused to look again. Even¬tually they left as Matin bells were ringing, and on the way home the boy reported that a couple of the demons were still following them, sometimes frisking ahead or capering on the rooftops.

Centuries later the Georgians and Victori¬ans claimed this same site to be the most romantic ruin in Rome. Upon the ancient stage stained with the blood of innumerable men and beasts our great grandmothers put up their easels and sketched a shepherd and his goats near a broken marble pedestal. By that time trees and shrubs were growing where senators had once sat in official digni¬ty, and hermits in the upper circles now added a touch of romance.

A botanist wrote a book on the flora of the Colosseum, noting 266 species, which investi¬gators later increased to 420. It became the fashion to see the Colosseum by moonlight. Leaving the candlelight and the card tables, the ices and the after dinner sweetmeats, satin and velvet would crowd into carrozze and go by the light of a full moon to the fallen giant.

It is not possible to express the solemn gran¬deur of it, wrote Lady Knight in 1795. The moon entered the broken part and struck full upon that which is most perfect, and as by that light no small parts were seen, you could almost believe that it was whole and filled with spectators.

Here, later, Byron heard the owl's long cry. Dickens and Dr. Arnold, and a hundred more, added their tributes to a scene of mel¬ancholy that had no equal in the world. Then, as soon as Rome became the capital of Italy, the Colosseum was weeded by archaeologists and the 420 varieties were heartlessly torn from their crevices.

So it stands today, still arousing wonder and incredulity: a colossus in stone with a gash in its side from which thousands of tons of travertine crashed in the middle Ages. If all the stones which once filled that gigantic gap could fly back to their original positions, the Palazzo Venezia, the Palazzo Farnese and the Palazzo delia Cancelleria, and many more, would suddenly disintegrate and vanish.

Things to do in Rome

Coming off the auto strada at Fiano Roma¬no or Roma Sud exit, you know by the convergence of heavily trafficked routes that you are entering a grand nexus: All roads lead to Rome. And then the interminable sub¬urbs, the railroad crossings, the inter sections no wonder they call it the Eternal City.

Nearer the center, Rome begins to have the air of a city socially divided. On one side, com¬pact masses of old tenements crowd above mean streets. On the other, soaring yellow washed apartment blocks, five stories high with inner courtyards, are geometrically aligned. Poor or not so poor, your Roman likes living in a crowd, in the thick of things. The residential suburb, out at Monte Sacro or Garbatella, has little appeal for him.

In the urban sprawl a few features that match your expectations of Rome begin to take shape: a bridge with heroic statues along its parapets; a towering cake of frothy marble decorated with allegorical figures in extrava¬gant poses; a piazza and an obelisk under an umbrella of pine trees; a fountain pitted with age, bearing the notice ACQUA NON POTABILE which doesn't prevent street urchins from dashing up to drink at it. Street names touch a chord of school room memories:
Via Appia Nuova, Via Aurelia Antica. The very gratings and manhole covers are stamped SPQR, The Senate and Populace of Rome, an expression that links the citizen with his ancestor of 22 centuries ago and gives the stranger the eerie feeling that the dust he stirs has been stirred by the togas of Cato, Cicero, and Seneca. In Rome, 22 cen¬turies are just a few generations back.

You have arrived. You are in the city's heart. Your automobile is parked in the shadow of a stone she wolf, along with automobiles which have ROMA on their license plates. Italian in¬dex letters are abbreviations of the vehicle licensing towns, MI for Milan, GE for Genoa and so on except in Rome.

The Roman mo¬torist wears ROMA, spelled out in full. Like the SPQR, that was Mussolini's doing. He re¬asserted the grandeur that was ROME. He made Romans understand that they were the children of heroes and demigods. Up north, they tell us that Turin with its industry and Milan with its commerce are the true capital cities of Italy.

Rome is badly planned, badly sited, too far south, too enervating in summer, a town of lawyers, civ¬il servants, and tourists. But the Romans can smile at that. They know they inhabit the fountainhead of the Western world, not solely of Italy. They know that their town, and no other, collected the wisdom of Egypt and Greece, refined and enriched it, and supplied the nations which arose afterward with their laws, systems of government, religions, mili¬tary arts, and the foundations of their language and literature.

Those black-eyed urchins at the wall fountain, that gross wom¬an bawling from her tiny balcony, that grand¬father snoring on a cane chair at street level, that white robed child emerging from the side door of the church, that pallid waiter polishing the restaurant window with yester¬day's newspaper all can say, as their dis¬tant ancestors said, Civis Romanus sumI am a Roman citizen.

If they should travel to other parts of Italy they will note without surprise that most main streets are called Via Roma; that every medieval walled town has its Porta Romana, the gate that faces Rome; and that, on posts beside every main road, the distance to Rome is recorded every tenth of a kilometer.

Rome was not built in a day, though much of superficial Rome was built in less than a century. The old city grew organically, and still grows, and its growth is chronicled in its stones. When you look into this city you see how, like Troy, it exists on several levels. Un¬like the levels of Troy, these have each been a spiritual metropolis for whole societies of human beings, most of whom never set eyes on Rome. Under the swarming traffic lie traces of Etruscan Rome; ancient Veii and Caere, strongholds of Etruscan princes, are virtual¬ly part of modern Rome.

There is a Rome of the Republics and the Em¬perors, outcropping in unexpected places like barbershops, garage forecourts, and railroad sidings. There is an early Christian Rome, tunneling away in the catacombs, and a Dark Age Rome, when the pampered citizenry fled to Carthage and, on arrival, immediately wanted to know what was playing at the the¬ater. Engineers working on sewers or boring for extensions to the metro politana (the sub¬way) run afoul of the relics. A constant war is waged between archaeology departments and the town planners.

There are gaps in history's stratification. In the middle Ages the city was reduced to a ru¬ral slum on the banks of an evil smelling Tiber, and the malarial heirs of imperial grandeur borrowed classical pillars to repair their hovels. There is also Rome of the papa¬cies, and Rome of a period when the popes were hunted in and out like criminals. There is evidence of Byzantine Rome, of the dark little brick and tile churches that incorpo¬rated Rome's name in an architectural style (Romanesque), and of the sumptuous flower¬ing of the later Renaissance styles which are called Roman Baroque.

Rome, however, though rich in florid sculp¬tures, intricate ornamental motifs, and neo Introduction classical effects, cannot show us galleries of famous paintings the way many provincial centers can. For a capital city, it lacks a capi¬tal display of national artists. The Italian heritage is spread over the whole country; all major cities and many small towns and vil-lages have their share of the treasure.


Closer to the present day and to the sur¬face of Rome lies the early 19thcentury city, destination of Grand Tourists. That is the Rome of Gioacchino Belli, dialect poet and satirist, and of Goethe's and Stendhal's travel books. In the English quarter, at the foot of the Spanish Steps, the poet John Keats died and Mrs.

Babington kept her teashop. Students of the Risorgimentothe resur¬gence and reunification of Italy in the 19th century know a Rome of Garibaldi and his insurgents. From a vantage point on the Ja¬niculum, the hero on horseback surveys the terrain in bloody skirmishes and betrayals. Pigeons from St. Peter's Square love to fly up and perch on the saddle of that equestrian statue, so that it often looks as though Gari¬baldi is carrying the birds to market.

Toward the end of the last century, the Eter¬nal City spread its wings. On September 20, 1870 (Via Venti Settembre is one of the most durable of Italian street names), General Cadorna's regiment of bersaglieri breached the Porta Pia, proclaimed Rome capital of It¬aly, and made Pope Pius IX the prisoner of the Vatican.

The gold rush of merchants and contractors from the north, the arrival of hordes of bureaucrats from Florence, briefly the former capital, and of poor immigrants from Naples and Calabria, doubled the popu¬lation of 100,000 in days, and took it to half a million in months. The Via Nazionale and the Via Venti Settembre were christened and the city center slums were cleared for public buildings more in keeping with Rome's dignity. But the new city council rejected Garibaldi's scheme for diverting the Tiber. Without the Tiber, floods and all, Rome would not have been Rome.

Much of modern Rome, therefore, went up in a few years in the 1880s, decade of the gran febbre di Roma (great fever of Rome)a fever that ended with the pa¬tient's total collapse. Through greed and childish dreams, a newspaper said, the bankers have promoted building in a manner devoid of all prudence.... Every stage of construction depended on promissory notes .... When foreign bankers refused to discount notes, the paper tower crumbled.

The so-called building yard of Italy in the later 1880s was a field of ruins among the classical ruins, infested by provincials whom the promise of work had drawn in by the thousand. Rome grew dirtier and more de¬crepit, littered with shacks and cardboard tents until well into the present century. Of the 1920 population of 800,000, it was re¬ported that nearly one fifth of all citizens lived in abusive dwellings.

Then came Fas¬cism, which ruthlessly swept them away. Wreckers moved into Trastevere and the slums near the Capitol, homes of those who could most truly claim Roman citizenship. A new central thoroughfare, the broad Via dei Fori Imperiali, was laid down from Musso¬lini's Palazzo Venezia to the Colosseum of the Caesars. One human touch was the rebuild¬ing of the old rione (district) fountains, the sculpted wells of the different parishes an important feature of tourist Rome today.

Monumental architecture of the past 50 years has not much disturbed the shabby but styl¬ish buildings of central Rome. No skyscraper out tops the 450 foot dome of St. Peter's. New look architecture, by exponents of the Introduction xiii school of Gio Ponti and Nervi, is almost wholly confined to the EUR complex, site of the aborted Universal Exposition of Rome in 1942 and Olympic venue of 1960a suburb bigger than Florence. On the whole, modern buildings look pretentious and ephemeral, and they fall far short of tradition.

Through the '50s and the '60s there was an uncon¬trolled expansion of building along the main exit roads, but this has now long since been checked and many who can't find reasonably priced housing in Rome have moved to satel¬lite towns in the Alban and Sabine hills. Rome has once again its Gypsy encampments among the arches of the old aqueducts, espe¬cially on the eastern approaches, Via Casilina and the Cinecitta area. But it is decreed that the city itself beautiful and pleasing in spite of everything shall be confined within its present limits.