Caput Mundi is one of the world’s most popular tour destinations. Travelers to Italy are welcome to visit a great number of world-class attractions, such as churches, piazzas and museums. So make sure Rome is the first place to visit when you travel Italy.
The saying “All roads lead to Rome” had literal meaning at the times of the Roman Empire and the cultural heritage is so great here that you are more likely to lack time than things to see. Three million people from every corner of the world visit Rome every year.
The city is believed to be founded by twin boys named Romulus and Remus and this is where its name allegedly takes its origin.
One of the most famous places of interest in the area is the building called “Borgo”, Saint Angelo’s Castel. As the legend claims, in 590, during a terrible plague, at the very top of the structure the pope saw an angel encasing a sword, which marked the end of the disaster. Almost 500 years later six different angels made of wood, marble, bronze or gold replaced each other.
The years passed by, and the castle became property of the Vatican. Beneath it prisoners’ cells were located, so small that it was impossible neither stay standing nor laying down, and some prisoners had to be put down from the top of the cell as it could not be entered otherwise. History of Italy is multicoloful.
Another must-see in Rome is Saint Peter’s. Where else could you visit abroad not leaving the city? And this is exactly what you can do during your stay entering the borders of the smallest country in the world, the Vatican, a city-state with around 500 inhabitants. There are three entrances to the city: the Arch of the Bells, letting you in you straight into the gardens; the Doors of Bronze, and the “Porta S. Anna”. Bear in mind that access to the Vatican City is only allowed to visitors properly dressed: you cannot wear shorts, mini-skirts, and tank tops.
The first thing that attracts your attention in Via della Conciliazione is the massive Basilica and its columns, reflected in a painting by Bernini as a human figure, with the head represented by the dome and the arms represented by the columns. On Sunday mornings the pope appears in the piazza creating great curiosity within tourists.
The celebrated Michelangelo’s Pieta, the first chapel of the right-hand aisle of Saint Peter’s, is one of the great master’s most important works, and the only one signed by him.
Just past the door to the aisle coming from the old Saint Peter’s there is the famous rota porphyretica or wheel of coronation set in the pavement. It was on this stone that the emperors stood while being crowned by the popes.
The portal to the Palazzo dei Cavalieri offers an interesting optical effect giving an original view of Saint Peter’s from the keyhole, through which one can see the dome of the basilica. All of the garden, the portal and the square were specially designed to allow for this little miracle.
If you happen to visit the Sistine Chapel, blessed with artistic masterpieces and temples of music, remember to take a mirror to see the frescoes better and easier.
In the centre of Piazza Vittorio, near Termini Station, there are some ruins. Come here to admire the Magic Gate, an arch upon which the alchemical formula for making gold is inscribed. The the legend says that in 1600 the owner of the villa where the magic Gate is today offered an alchemist an apartment, funds and equipment to perform the miraculous transformation. The alchemist soon fled, leaving some gold pieces and the formula later put on the monument.
