Vittorio Emanuele Monument and other Rome, Italy Things to Do Tips

The Vittorio Emanuele monument overlooks Piazza Venezia. He was the king who united Italy for the first time in the 1860s. The 19th century monument is a stark contrast from the older, smaller peach and gold colored buildings that surround it; it is a huge, gleaming white mountain, visible and recognizable from anywhere in Rome.

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Address: Piazza Venezia

The Isola Tiberina in the middle of the Tiber is home of San Bartolomeo, a Romanesque church built in the year 1000 by Otto III to house the relics of St. Bartholomew. This particular evening, a party was going on. People were out on the balcony, candles were lit, and it looked pretty and festive.

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Winding, narrow cobblestone streets, piazzas full of cafes, people eating late dinners, drinking wine. Trastevere was loud and busy on a Sunday night. Reggae music from an upstairs apartment window blended with the sound of a fiddle player entertaining diners. All kinds of people were out strolling around. Kids, romantic couples, even entire families. When you live here why would you want to stay inside? There is so much going on.

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You get great views of the city from this piazza. The equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius in the center is not the original; that is now kept behind glass in the Capitoline Museums because the legend is that if all its gold wears off, Rome will fall, and the world will end. However, it only survived this long because the Christians thought it was a statue of Constantine. Off to the side of the Campidoglio is Santa Maria Aracoeli, a pretty Romanesque church with many steps leading up to it.

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There are two branches, one on either side of the Campidoglio. We went through the Palazzo dei Conservatori first, and saw the famous Capitoline Wolf (6th century BC Etruscan) with its pointy teats. Out in the courtyard you will find the gigantic head, hand and foot of Constantine. Unfortunately the museum was closing early for a special event so we did not see everything, but you could probably spend all day in this museum.

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Castel Sant Angelo, with its fierce sword-wielding angel statue at the very top, was designed as a tomb for the emperor Hadrian, but later on it was used as a dungeon and as a fortress to protect the Vatican. There are still some cannons and other weapons on display, left over from that time. There are also some little artist studios, and a cafe. Great views from the top! The Ponte Sant Angelo bridge in front of it crosses over the Tiber, and has beautiful angel sculptures all along it, carved by Bernini.

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Piazza Navona, built on the site of Domitians stadium, is where you will find the Four Rivers fountain by Bernini. It has personifications of the Danube (representing Europe), Ganges (Asia), Nile (Africa), and the Rio de la Plata (America). Sant Agnese in Agone is the church next to the fountain. It was built by Borromini, and it looks like one of the guys on the fountain is hiding his eyes from the ugly church (its not really ugly, but it was covered with scaffolding when I was there). There are smaller fountains on each end of the piazza, also built from Berninis designs.

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In 324 AD, Constantine erected a church over the tomb of St. Peter, but it fell to disrepair over the years until Michelangelo designed a new plan for it and worked on it until he died, then Maderno and Bernini finished the project. The huge square in front with its arms that reach out to pull in visitors to the church (not literally!) was also designed by Bernini. We went to the cupola first. You go up in an elevator and you think you are there, but no. You must walk up 320 narrow, claustrophobic steps to the top. But the view is well worth it, as you can see all of Rome! Then we headed back down and into the church, which is so huge. Bernini's baldacchino (wooden canopy) is 7 stories tall, and then you have the Pieta by Michelangelo in one of the side chapels, protected by thick glass. We were disappointed that we could not actually go up close to it, but hey, it was still the Pieta. You can also go under the church to see where all the popes are buried.

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You've got to walk through the Vatican Museums before you reach the Sistine Chapel. Along the way you get to see cool famous works of Renaissance art like Raphael's School of Athens. They also have the Laocoon and Apollo Belvedere but we somehow missed the Greek room. Their guide signs are kind of weird; they point out shortcuts to the Sistine Chapel and I guess we mistakenly took a shortcut.
Once you get to the Chapel, you cannot take photos, even without flash. Guards walk around yelling SILENCIO! NO PHOTO! In addition to Michelangelo's masterpieces, the ceiling and the Last Judgement, the paintings on the side walls are very cool too. Some are by Botticelli and Perugino, but everyone seemed to be ignoring them and staring up at the ceiling. Try to sit on one of the benches along the wall and you will be able to hang out for awhile and contemplate the entire chapel.

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Located on the Roman Forum, underneath the church of S. Giuseppe. It seems that the saints Peter and Paul were held there before they were killed. Now you can walk down into the small, dark, creepy holding cell, but in ancient times there was no staircase. The prisoners were just dropped through a hole in the floor!

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