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Rome Choice 2:
ANCIENT AND IMPERIAL ROME
A HALF DAY
Day 3: Monday, August 11, 2008 &
Day 4: Tuesday, August 12, 2008
According to the legend Rome was founded by
Romulus and Remus (the two brothers were
nursed by a she-wolf) over the famed Seven Hills.
By luxury motor coach you will be taken to
Piazza Venezia, dominated by a large memorial
to King Victor Emanuel II (the first king of a united Italy). You’ll pass by Capitoline Hill, the most
Victor Emanuel Monument
famous and highest of the Seven Hills of Rome,
the site of Rome’s City Hall. Driving by the well
preserved pagan temples of the 1st Century BC you reach the Circus Maximus, the
largest Roman circus. It served as a model for all the others. If you remember the
movie Ben-Hur this is where the famous chariot race took place. Proceeding by two
of the seven hills, you will arrive at the Arch of Constantine, a notable example of
Roman artistic genius. The arch was erected in 315 AD to celebrate
Constantine, the first Christian Emperor of Rome, and his victory
over his brother Maxentius in their civil war. Then to the Basilica
of St. Peter’s in Chains, where you will admire another
Michelangelo masterpiece: The Statue of Moses. The church was
constructed to protect the chains which bound St. Peter as prisoner,
when he was sent to Rome from Constantinople. Legend tells us
Michelangelo’s
that these chains, once placed next to other chains that held St.
Moses
Peter prisoner in Rome, welded themselves together forming one
singular chain which you will see today. Next explore the famed Colosseum from
inside. In 80 AD, under Titus, the Colosseum was inaugurated with 100 days of celebrations and spectacles. Fights between men and beasts, races and mock naval
battles, gladiatorial contests (the best-loved spectacle of the Romans) took place in
the arena for years. The Colosseum held 45,000 spectators in four stories of marble
seats. In later centuries it was subjected to a terrible fate: enormous blocks of travertine were hacked off it to be used for other buildings, among them St. Peter’s
Basilica. Such was the ego of Renaissance Man! The next stop is the Roman Forum,
which was the first political and religious center of
Rome. Roman civilization began in the Forum: This
was the Roman Senate’s House. Where Cato the Elder
railed against Carthage, Pompey was appointed to
oppose Spartacus, Caesar was murdered, and Mark
Antony called to Friends, Romans, and Countrymen
for vengeance. The forum dates back to Julius Caesar
himself. If you walk the streets of the ancient forum The Ancient Roman Forum
you will literally walk where Caesar walked!
Then onto the Piazza Navona with her three monumental fountains for lunch at
another famous Roman restaurant: Tre Scalini just across the piazza from your
friends at the Quattro Fiumi.