Old mixed with new and other Rome, Italy Off The Beaten Path Tips

One of the most wonderful things about the eminently-walkable city of Rome is seeing how, over the centuries, stones and slabs and statues and marbles from the ancient city have been scavenged and re-used.

Keep your eyes open as you wander: the evidence is everywhere. Columns re-used in buidlings, architraves used for door lintels, carved stones incorporated into walls, statues in private courtyards........

I even saw chunks of black-and-white mosaic flooring used in the huge retaining wall by S.Giovanni e Paulo.

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Interesting place this. Basically, it's a series of Roman rooms, many with frescoes, discovered underneath the church of San Giovanni e Paulo, tucked away in a remarkably quiet area near the Colosseum.

The 5th century church stands over a complex of several Roman houses which was discovered by an excavating priest in 1887. The site is said to include where the martyrs Giovanni and Paulo lived (hence the dedication of the church). Executed in the reign of Julian the Apostate, they were supposedly buried in their own house so there are various (later) altars and shrines to them within.

In the third century the houses were combined into one larger dwelling, and the whole complex is a good example of how buildings changed and adapted over the whole Roman period.

The wall frescoes are, to be honest, somewhat primitive in execution but nevertheless worth seeing, particularly if one has seen more adept frescoes elsewhere. They show more clearly what 'ordinary' well-off romans had in their houses, rather than the beautiful and laborate decorations of the super-wealthy one sees in museums and palaces.

Worth seeking out this place, I think. The little museum within is particularly well set-out.

Open every day except Tuesday and Wednesday from 10 - 1 and from 3 - 6. Admission 6 euros. Guided tours available at weekends (need booking).

The entrance is on Clivio de Scauro. Walk down Via di S. Gregorio from the Colosseum: Clivio di Scauro is on the left (with your back to the Colosseum), off the Viale del Parco del Cielo.

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Phone: +39 06 70 45 45 44
Website: http://www.caseromane.it/en/index_en.html

It might seem a bit of a trek to get to the Via Appia Antica (although you can use he Archaeobus hop-on, hop-off service if you are willing to pay a bit extra) but it really is worth going if you can.

I like to combine it with a visit to the catacombs (S. Sebastiano is the nearest). Walk from there up the ancient roadway, which becomes narrower and almost traffic-free as you leave Piazza S. Sebastiano.

You'll pass many tombs; Roman law prevented burials within towns and cities, apart from infants less than 10 days old, so all the roads were lined with tombs, mausoleums and graves.

The Circus of Maxentius is one the left: visit when it's empty (as I did) and you can still, almost, hear the roar of the crowd as they watched the chariot-racing. Look carefully and you can still see large terracotta amphorae placed above the stands: they functioned as an amplification system, to make the cheers and roars of triumph even louder.

The tomb of Cecilia Metella, with its huge brick-built drum-shape, was a Roman landmark for centuries. And then you are on the Via Appia proper, its road-stones much as they were when the hundreds of crucified slaves who took part in Spartacus' slave revolt lined it. The road leads out into the countryside: hiring a bike, or planning a long walk, will bring you eventually to the Villa Dei Quintilli.

If the weather's good, take a picnic and make a day of it (avoid weekends if you can, for Romans like to visit here too). It's a completely different side of Rome, away from the crowds and fumes, taking you back into what once was.

You can take bus 118 or 218 from P. S. Giovanni in Laterano. The 218 stops at S. Callisto catacombs (walk up through the entrance and then turn right down the main drive towards S. Sebastiano..maybe 10 minutes walk), the 118 at P. S. Sebastiano.

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Website: http://www.parcoappiaantica.it/en/testi.asp?l1=2&l2=12&l3=0&l4=0

I suspect many people don't really explore this area. Certainly every time I've been there there have been just one or two other couples/small groups pootling around.

The area has been sorted out a bit snce my last visit in 2004, although there are still piles of seemingly random stones around, safety fencing and poor signage. But it's worth a wander, not least for the typically Roman fusion of old and new. You'll see more modern structures on top of the ancient theatre (it was utilised as a fortified palace for sundry families in Medieval and later times), more buildings using what remains of the Potico d'Ottavia (a poorly-preserved gate dating from the second century BC), and what seems to be the remains of a Roman temple incorporated into the sides of San Nicola de Carcare.

Linking this area with an exloration of Rome's Jewish district (see tip) is worth an hour or so of your time.

The easiest way to find it is to walk down the Via Del Teatro di Marcello from Piazza Venezia (where the huge 'wedding-cake' monument to Victor Emmanuel is).

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A short pedestrianised street, Via Portico d'Ottavia, is now the heart of what was once Rome's Jewish ghetto. It's a fascinating and atmospheric are, a maze of narrow streets and alleyways with many Roman artefacts incorporated into its old buidlings.

There were Jews in Rome from at least the second century BC, and probably before that, but it was Pope Paul Vl whose laws (in the mid-sixteenth century) made them live in this area, effectively creating a ghetto. They had to wear yellow shawls and caps when they left the district.

Most of Rome's Jews survived the Nazi occupation, and now live all over the city. But along the Via Porto d'Ottavia you can still find kosher restaurants, butchers, bakeries etc (even a kosher fast food outlet), .

Worth wandering through, if only for the fascinating chunks of Roman masonry dotted around (see photos).

Walk from Via Del Teatro di Marcello, or from Via Arenula.

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Someone suggested we visited EUR to see a different side of Rome, so we did.

EUR stands for 'Esposizione Univerale Roma', and was built on the orders of Mussolini for the 1942 Trade Fair (which did not take place, for obvious reasons). It's laid out on a grid of streets with huge, 'blocky' buldildings.

There are some good museums here. apparently: the 'Museum of Art and Popular Tradition', the 'National Museum of Prehistory and Ethnography' and so on.

But its modern monoliths did not really appeal on a grey, damp, chilly late afternoon, so we didn't linger long. One a warm, sunny day its wide streets might have more resonance.

It's certainly worth a visit if you are interested in 20th century architecture (particularly facist-style), and I think I may well seek out one or two of its museums when I nxt return to Rome.
But EUR is not somewhere I'd advise you to bother with otherwise: ther are a myriad of other more interesting off-the-beaten-track parts of Rome to see first.

Bus 714 from Termini, or Metro line B to one of the three EUR stations.

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This church, newly restored and only recently re-opened, is unmissable. It's an entirely different experience to the magnificent grandiosity of so many Roman churches.

Tucked away between the Colosseum and San Giovanni in Laterano, it's hard to believe that this quiet (ish) area is so near the centre of the modern city. The round church really is ancient; it was built in the 460s AD.

It's a hugely atmopheric place, its two concentric rings of columns touched by the light that floods in through the 22 windows. There are four chapels (all closed off when I visited, for restoration work is ongoing, so that the structure forms a cross shape. Some of the original Roman black-and-white mosaic flooring has been left in situ, and the whole structure overlies and earlier Mithraeum (as is often the case in Rome).

Around the inner wall are frescoes of martyrs, showing in detail the manner of their deaths. Fascinatingly gruesome, and an indication of the workings of the Medieval religious mind (they date from the sixteenth century).

It's worth taking some time out to visit this church: it is really special. My travelogue has more photos:

http://members.virtualtourist.com/m/y/9e213/

Via Santo Stefano Rotondo runs from Piazza S. Giovanni in Laterano, or you can access it by walking up Via Claudia from the Colosseum (it's on the right). The church is at the Via Claudia end, but the entrance isn't very obvious (which is why I've put it as the main photo). Open usual Roman church times, roughly 7/8 - 12 and 3- 7.

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Website: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santo_Stefano_Rotondo

The Celian Hill, although within easy walking distance of the Colosseum and the forum, is an entirely different experience. remarkably quiet and peaceful, with some lovely churches (see tips on Santo Stefano Rotondo and Santi Giovanni e Paulo), the Case Romane 'hidden' Roman houses/street and the lovely, shady park of Villa Celimontana.

This is a nice place to take a picnic (there's a supermarket nearby in Largo Sanita Militaire, off Via Claudia), or a rest from the heat of midday. There are trees, and plants, and fountains (albeit rather small when I visited) , grassy slopes and a children's playground.

And rather good free toilets, hidden away behind a super construction of ancient Roman stonework which makes a very pretty rockery!

You can access the park from Clivio de Scauro, or from Via della Navicula (which follows on from Via Caudia).

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A lovely, tucked-away church on the Celian Hill. Only 10 minutes walk from the Colosseum, but very peaceful.

Giovanni and Paulo were two weathy-ish Romans who were beheaded on the spot (their houses) in 361AD, because they refused military service. What is supposed to be their house(s) is accessible under the church (the Case Romane: see tip), along with part of a Roman street.

The two were supposedly buried on the spot of their martyrdom, so the church has a shrie marking the spot. It also has lots of chandeliers and is a popular church for weddings. There was one when I visited, which meant I couldn't really explore it properly (it would have been somewhat intrusive!), but I think it would be worth a visit.

The separate campanile is very pretty: some of its decorative ceramic discs were originally ancient Arabic plates !): they are now displayed in the Case Romane museum. Underneath the campanile is part of a massive temple to Claudius.

On Clivio de Scauro; access from Via Claudia (on the right at the top of the hill) or from Via di S. Gregorio (on the left with the Colosseum behind you).

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