Piazza Navona & Campo de’ Fiori
The heart of Rome is a maze of cobbled streets and piazzas studded with fountains, palaces and churches. All around, layers of history are haphazardly superimposed – medieval streets and piazzas echo the ancient Roman street plan; churches are built over pagan temples; and fashionable bars, gelaterie and boutiques do business alongside old-fashioned trattorie and markets that have existed for centuries.
People enjoying dinner in Piazza della Rotonda at sunset, against the backdrop of the Pantheon
Highlights
Piazza Navona
Marvel at the theatrical fountains while children enjoy performaces by buskers and mime artists in lively Piazza Navona.
San Luigi dei Francesi and Sant’Agostino
Step into San Luigi dei Francesi and Sant’Agostino to discover the dirty-toenailed realism of Caravaggio.
Pantheon
Visit the Pantheon, an astonishing feat of Roman engineering, whose porticoes once housed a fish market.
La Maddalena
Decide which of the several gelaterie near the La Maddalena church serves the tastiest ice cream.
Campo de’ Fiori
Wander around and shop at the bustling food market in Campo de’ Fiori and see where Brutus assassinated Caesar (see Campo de’ Fiori).
Jewish Ghetto
Walk down the pedestrianized streets of the Jewish Ghetto, where all of Rome’s Jews were confined in 1555 by Pope Paul IV (see Jewish Ghetto).
The Best of Piazza Navona & Campo de’ Fiori
The magnificent Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi on Piazza Navona
Rome’s centro storico (historic centre) will appeal to adults and children alike. Two millennia of high art and architecture intermingle seamlessly with the more contemporary pleasures of people-watching and ogling splendid window displays of food, clothes and toys galore. Great monuments, fountains, palazzos and piazzas may dominate, but the eagle-eyed will spot relics of the ancient city at almost every turn.
Splendid set pieces
Over the last two thousand years, the vision of artists and architects, backed by the eternal desire of emperors, popes and princes to leave an indelible mark on the city, has punctuated the centre’s web of twisting, narrow streets with exuberant set pieces. Stop at the Egyptian obelisk on Piazza di Montecitorio, part of a sun dial created by Emperor Augustus; the Column of Marcus Aurelius, the centrepiece of Piazza Colonna; and the Pantheon, which still has the world’s largest unreinforced concrete dome.
Centuries later, Renaissance and Baroque popes and princes commissioned great artists to beautify the area’s churches, palazzos and piazzas. Marvel at sensational fountains, such as the Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi on Piazza Navona, and magnificent works of art, including famous pieces by Italian greats such as Caravaggio at San Luigi dei Francesi and Sant’Agostino, Raphael in Santa Maria della Pace, and Michelangelo in Santa Maria sopra Minerva.
Fashion, shops and street life
Leave plenty of time to browse the shops and enjoy the bustle of the city centre: the colourful food market of Campo de’ Fiori and the boutiques around Piazza Navona and Campo de’ Fiori are all testimony to the dedication that Romans have to making themselves, and their city, look great. Younger children will doubtless prefer the living statues (spot one of Tutankhamun if you can) and vendors of laser-whizzers who congregate on Piazza Navona, Campo de’ Fiori and outside the Pantheon. If window-shopping and street entertainment do not appeal, people-watching may – try the Piazza San Lorenzo in Lucina, northeast of the Pantheon, for fashionista-spotting and Piazza Navona for watching the world (and his wife) walk by.
Renaissance and Baroque secrets
Children may groan if parents suggest going to church, but they will soon discover that churches here are exciting treasure troves of art and architecture. What is more, admission is free, and popping inside for 10 minutes to look at a painting – with the added bonus of dropping coins in a slot to illuminate it – can make far more of an impact on a child than a long visit to a museum. Discover the dirty feet and toenails of figures by Caravaggio at San Luigi dei Francesi and Sant’Agostino, wonder why there are pagan Sibyls in the church of Santa Maria della Pace, take in the 3D optical illusions on the ceilings of Sant’Ignazio and Sant’Andrea della Valle and be amazed by the architectural trickery of Borromini at Sant’Ivo alla Sapienza and Palazzo Spada.
Candle-lit altar and frescoes at the grand Sant’Ignazio church
An ancient Roman treasure hunt
Visitors can discern several ancient buildings by looking at the street plan of the present–mostly medieval – centro storico. Walk to Piazza Navona, which occupies the site of what was once a stadium, and the Via di Grottapinta off Campo de’ Fiori, which follows the curve of the ancient Teatro di Pompeo. Look out for bathtubs from the Baths of Caracalla, which form fountain basins in Piazza Farnese, and fragments from Roman buildings that have been incorporated into several modern structures – the most famous is the Temple of Hadrian. In the Jewish Ghetto, see a row of gnawed Corinthian columns that form a porch for the church of Sant’Andrea in Pescheria. Finally, wander around the streets near the Pantheon, full of relics from the city’s temple to the Egyptian goddess Isis.
< Piazza Navona & Campo de’ Fiori
Piazza Navona and around
Carving of angels on a receptacle for holy water, La Maddalena
Sights are densely concentrated along the tangle of narrow streets around the open spaces of Piazza Navona and the Pantheon, making it a joy to explore the area on foot. Children can see a lot without having to walk very far and there are many appealing shop windows and ice-cream parlours to keep spirits up, although the cobbled streets make for a bumpy ride for toddlers in pushchairs. There are no metro stations here but buses skirt the district on the main roads. This busy area throngs with visitors in the evenings and at weekends.
Visitors looking at paintings on the artists’ stalls, Piazza Navona
1. Piazza Navona
Tooth-pullers and fortune-tellers
Fontana di Nettuno
Rome’s most famous and dramatic piazza, Piazza Navona is surrounded by cafés and dominated by the Egyptian obelisk, cascading waters and gleaming marble statues of Bernini’s Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi. Located on the site of an ancient Roman stadium, the oval piazza has long been the social centre of Rome, where astrologers told fortunes; barbers and tooth-pullers set up stalls; buskers and acrobats provided entertainment and during the Renaissance the Carnival was celebrated with jousting, races and fancy-dress parties. Today it is equally bustling.
Key Sights
1. Pasquino For over 500 years Romans have been attaching political or social comments to the “talking” statue in Piazza di Pasquino.
2. Sant’Agnese in Agone The church was built over the rooms in which St Agnes was imprisoned. Borromini’s startling concave façade (1657) was part of a revamp of the piazza by Pope Innocent X.
3. Obelisk
4. Fontana di Nettuno This fountain is a 19th-century work showing the sea god Neptune struggling with a sea monster.
5. Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi Bernini’s fountain (1651) symbolizes how Pope Innocent X (the dove) triumphed over paganism (the obelisk) and brought peace (an olive branch) to the world (the four rivers).
6. Fontana del Moro Bernini sculpted a Moor wrestling with a dolphin at the centre of this fountain.
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Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi Right Egyptian obelisk
Kids’ Corner
In Bernini’s fountain, look out for…
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A pile of spilt coins
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A cactus
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A snake
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A sea monster
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A palm tree
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A river god hiding his face
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An oar
Tax on famine
In the 17th century Pope Innocent X decided to commission fountains and a new church for the piazza, which he paid for by introducing a tax on bread, even though there was a famine at the time.
Hair-raising!
St Agnes was exposed naked on the piazza as a punishment for refusing to get married. She was just 13. Miraculously her hair grew, cascading down to hide her body from the crowds.
The Christmas witch
Italian kids get two lots of presents – on Christmas Day and on 6 January, when the Befana, an old lady with a long nose and black shawl, arrives on her broomstick bearing gifts for good children and coal for naughty children.
2. San Luigi dei Francesi
The life of a saintly tax officer
Gilded ceiling of the San Luigi dei Francesi church
Dedicated to their patron St Louis, San Luigi dei Francesi is the church of Rome’s French community. It is famous for its chapel, which was decorated by the ground-breaking 17th-century artist Caravaggio, who was commissioned to paint three scenes from the life of St Matthew. The first, The Calling of St Matthew, shows the saint being called by Jesus and St Peter from the tax office. Light glints on the rims of coins, shimmers on velvets, brocades and an ostrich plume, and spotlights the faces of the main characters. The second, The Martyrdom of St Matthew, is bathed in a sickly, greenish light and depicts the saint’s martyrdom. The third, The Inspiration of St Matthew, is Caravaggio’s second attempt at the scene and shows St Matthew talking to an airborne angel. Caravaggio’s first attempt at the third scene was rejected by the priests of San Luigi, who objected to Matthew appearing as a dishevelled and apparently illiterate peasant–the angel appears to be teaching him to read. The rejected painting ended up in Berlin, where it was destroyed during World War II.
Kids’ Corner
Be an art detective
Look carefully at The Calling of St Matthew in San Luigi dei Francesi…
- What shape can you see in the window?
- The tax collectors are wearing clothes from the time of Caravaggio. But how are Jesus and St Peter dressed?
- Some of the characters carry on as if nothing has happened. Who else, apart from St Matthew, is paying attention to what is going on?
- Is there anything odd about the light falling on St Peter’s back? (Clue – what happens when you stand in front of a light?)
Symbolic salamander
On the façade of San Luigi is a strange little monster – a salamander, symbol of French king François I (r.1515–47). Salamanders are so cold to touch that a legend grew that they had the power to survive, and even extinguish, fire. The ancient Roman naturalist Pliny, decided to put the legend to the test, and placed a salamander in a fire. It was reduced to powder.
3. Sant’Ivo alla Sapienza
Bees, jelly moulds and dragons
A hexagonal church with a scalloped cupola and spiralling gold pinnacle, this is one of the most ingenious of the churches built by the 17th-century architect Francesco Borromini. The interior is shaped like an exotic geometric flower, with alternating scooped and sharply angled bays forming the “petals”. In the courtyard, Borromini incorporated elements from the coats of arms of six popes. Look for bees (Pope Urban VIII Barberini), doves with olive branches in their beaks (Pope Innocent X Pamphilj), a star and jelly mould (Pope Alexander VII Chigi), dragon (Pope Gregory VIII Buoncampagni), dragon and eagle (Pope Paul VI Borghese) and a lion holding some pears (Pope V Montalto).
Kids’ Corner
Pope of little pears
Pope Sixtus V’s real name was Felice Peretti. Pere means pears in Italian, and peretti means little pears. That is why, when he became pope, he incorporated pears into his coat of arms!
4. Sant’Andrea della Valle
Magical skies
The most interesting feature of Sant’Andrea della Valle is its dome. Stand underneath and stare up at the ceiling frescoes. Suddenly, all the clouds will start to seem real, and the figures above them will seem to float out from the walls and hang suspended in three-dimensional space. This optical illusion was created by the 17th-century artist, Lanfranco, one of the two artists commissioned by the church. His rival, Domenichino, was so angry when he lost most of the commission, that he tampered with the scaffolding erected in the dome, hoping that Lanfranco would fall and break his neck.
5. Sant’Agostino
The Madonna with dirty toenails
Fresco of angels on the ceiling of Sant’Agostino church
Inside Sant’Agostino is one of the most popular Madonnas in Rome – an elegant marble statue by the 15th-century Italian artist Jacopo Sansovino that looks like a Roman goddess, and may indeed have been inspired by a statue of Juno. Known as the Madonna del Parto (Madonna of Childbirth), the statue is surrounded by photographs of babies, children’s drawings, embroidered hearts and blue bunnies – gifts from those whose prayers to the Madonna for a child were answered. To one side is a book in which people from all over the world have written their prayers. The church also has Caravaggio’s Madonna dei Pellegrini (Madonna of the Pilgrims) on display. The sculpture shows two pilgrims, with the filthy soles of their feet in full view, kneeling before the Madonna, who stands barefoot in the doorway of a house with a flaking wall, holding baby Jesus. The painting caused a shock on its unveiling in 1603 – people were accustomed to seeing the Madonna on an altar, not standing barefoot in a doorway, and what is more, with dirty toenails.
6. Palazzo Altemps
Life and death in marble
Ancient Roman sculptures and frescoed walls in Palazzo Altemps, Museo Nazionale Romano
A branch of the Museo Nazionale Romano, the Palazzo Altemps houses mainly Greek and Roman sculptures from the private collections of noble Roman families in the 16th and 17th centuries and is most famous for its Ludovisi collection, which includes around 100 sculptures. There is plenty of space, and information boards in both Italian and English are full of intriguing background and fascinating detail.
Families interested in Egyptian statues should head to the first floor, which has finds from the gardens of Maecenas and the Temple of Isis that once stood close to the Pantheon. Look for the fragment of a slab carved with scenes from the navigium isidis (literally, “vessel of Isis”), an ancient Roman festival that marked the advent of the seafaring season and honoured the goddess Isis. It features sacred baboons, the bull-god Bes and women dancing.
Beyond this is a room dominated by two colossal statues – the marble head, hands and feet from a statue of either Aphrodite or Persephone, with holes in the forehead, earlobes, hair and neck into which jewellery would have been inserted. Opposite this room is the huge Juno Ludovisi, now thought to be a portrait of Augustus’s wife Livia or of Claudius’s mother Agrippina.
Also on the first floor is the museum’s prize exhibit, the Ludovisi Throne, which was long assumed to show the birth of Aphrodite from sea foam; some now think it shows Persephone, the goddess of spring, returning from the underworld. Look out for the 2nd-century red marble statue of a maenad, which was once part of a fountain and has holes in its eyes and mouth through which water gushed out. Finally, do not miss the Suicidal Galatian, which was found in a garden near the residence of Julius Caesar. It shows a man holding a dying woman with one hand, about to stab himself with the other. He probably killed his wife, before killing himself, preferring to die rather than submit to the Romans. The statue may have formed part of the same sculpture group as the Dying Galatian in the Capitoline Museums.
Kids’ Corner
Be a museum detective
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Can you see the holes in the forehead, earlobes, hair and neck of Aphrodite? Guess what they were used for?
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Look at the red marble maenad (one of the wild women who were followers of the wine god Bacchus) that was once part of a fountain. Find the holes through which the water would have gushed.
7. Santa Maria della Pace
Catwalk to church
One of the most fashionable churches in Renaissance Rome, Santa Maria della Pace was frequented by artists, aristocrats and bankers as well as by women who considered going to Mass a great opportuntity to show off their best clothes and find wealthy husbands and admirers. The interior of the church, a short nave ending in an octagonal cupola, houses Raphael’s famous frescoes of four Sibyls – mythological women said to have a direct communication with the gods, and hence able to prophesize the future. The Sibyls range from a beautiful young blonde woman to a very old lady, each receiving a revelation from an angel. They are best seen from the Chiostro del Bramante, the cloister, located behind the church.
Kids’ Corner
Male or female?
The Roman poet Virgil (d.19 BC) had, in one of his poems, depicted the Cumaean Sibyl foretelling the birth of a saviour. Christians often took this to be a prophesy of the birth of Christ, which explains the presence of the Sibyls in a church. The body of the Phrygian Sibyl in Santa Maria della Pace was probably painted from a male model, although the face is definitely female. Look at the bodies of the other Sibyls – do you think they were painted from male or female models?
8. Via dei Coronari
The road to God
Interior of an antiques shop on Via dei Coronari
Medieval pilgrims on their way to St Peter’s Basilica walked along this street before crossing the Tiber. Of the many shops that sprang up to part the pilgrims from their money, the most enduring were those of the rosary makers – or coronari – who gave the street its name. The street is now famous for its antique shops, although there are other kinds of shops here too. It is at its most magical in May and October during the Mostra dell’Antiquariato, when a red carpet is thrown down, torches are lit outside the shops, and lemon and kumquat trees in pots line the street.
Kids’ Corner
Road to Perdition… or to god?
Walking along the crowded Via dei Coronari used to be hazardous. In the Holy Year of 1450, two hundred pilgrims were either crushed to death or drowned – while crossing the Ponte Sant’Angelo many fell off the bridge and into the Tiber.
9. Pantheon
Pondering pumpkins
Piazza della Rotonda in front of the Pantheon
The world’s best-preserved Roman building, the Pantheon, according to one version, was designed by the goddess Cybele. In fact, the designer was probably Emperor Hadrian (r.117–138), who is said to have been inspired by contemplating a pumpkin. Whatever the truth, stepping inside the Pantheon is an incredible experience, especially on sunny days, with the sunlight streaming in through the hole, or oculus, at the top of the dome, and on rainy days too, when water pours in.
Key Features
1. The Oculus
2. Coffering The hollow coffers in the dome help to reduce its weight. Many Renaissance and Baroque architects copied this technique.
3. Dome exterior The exterior of the dome is a shallow shell covering the interior like a lid. It was originally covered in gilded bronze tiles, but the metal was stripped off by the Byzantine Emperor Constantine the Bearded in AD 663 and melted down to be made into coins.
4. The Drum The walls of the cylindrical drum supporting the dome are 6 m (20 ft) thick.
5. Tomb of Raphael
6. Portico Marcus Agrippa, Emperor Augustus’s general, constructed a temple on this site between 27 BC and 25 BC. It was destroyed in a fire in AD 90. The present portico is built on its foundations and shows the inscription “Marcus Agrippa built this” in Latin.
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Piazza della Rotonda Middle Dome interior Right Sculpture of the Tomb of Raphael
Kids’ Corner
Barbarian Barberini
A thousand years after Constans II (r.630–668) stripped the gilded bronze tiles off the exterior of the Pantheon’s dome, Barberini Pope Urban VIII stripped the rest off the interior to make cannonballs and Bernini’s baldacchino for St Peter’s. This led satirical poet Pasquino to say “Quod non fecerunt barbari fecerunt Barberini” – what the barbarians didn’t do, the Barberini did!
Venus or Cleopatra?
The Pantheon’s statue of Venus wore a pair of pearl earrings that Julius Caesar had once given Cleopatra!
Gods or demons
The Pantheon was a temple to ancient Rome’s top 12 gods, but in AD 609 it was converted to a church after Christians complained of being assaulted by demons whenever they walked past. At least this helped to preserve it.
It fits!
To make a miniature Pantheon, you need the cardboard tube from inside a toilet roll, a pair of scissors and a ball. First cut the cylinder so that its height is equal to its radius. Now find a ball that will fit perfectly inside. The height from floor to oculus of the Pantheon is the same as the diameter of the inner dome (43 m/142 ft) – the whole structure could fit into a cube.
10. Piazza della Minerva
Elephants, God and science
The enormous nave in the church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva
Located just behind the Pantheon, Piazza della Minerva is home to one of Rome’s most bizarre monuments: a cheeky marble elephant sculpture with a miniature obelisk on its back, designed by Bernini in 1667. Elephants represented intelligence and obelisks denoted wisdom. The inscription on the base makes the meaning clear: “A robust intelligence is required to support solid wisdom”. The words were chosen by papal patron Alexander VII. The sculpture is a tribute to his wisdom.
Overlooking the sculpture is the church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva, built in the 13th century on the site of a Roman temple to Minerva, goddess of wisdom. With its blue starry vaults, pointed arches and stained-glass windows, it is the only Gothic church in Rome. Inside, the Madonna dell’Annunziata by Renaissance artist Antoniazzo Romano shows the Madonna giving money to three little blonde girls kneeling next to Cardinal Juan Torquemada, who founded a charity in 1460 to provide dowries for poor girls who would otherwise have been unable to marry. In the 16th and 17th centuries, the church became the Inquisition’s headquarters – Galileo was put on trial here in 1632 for saying that the earth moved around the sun. Look for the tomb of the head Inquisitor, Pope Paul IV, who excommunicated Elizabeth I of England, confined Rome’s Jews to the Ghetto, and called Michelangelo’s The Last Judgment ”stew of nudes” although the artist’s Cristo della Minerva (1521) stands by the altar.
Kids’ Corner
Holy elephant?
Elephants stick to one partner all their lives and have just one baby every two years. The Catholic church felt that the animals set a very good example!
Monks on the Hunt
Dominican monks led the Inquisition in Rome, devoted to ridding the world of any challenges to Catholicism. They were so ferocious in their hunt for heretics that thay were known as the Domini Canes, or “Hounds of God”.
11. Palazzo Doria Pamphilj
The palace of paintings
The stunning Palazzo Doria Pamphilj is one of the few privately owned Roman palaces that is open to the public. Its oldest parts date from 1453. On display is the Doria Pamphilj family’s vast art collection as well as their sumptuous private apartments. These include the Smoking Room created for the Princess Emily Doria, daughter of the Duke of Newcastle who married a Doria prince in 1882; the Ballroom, with walls of rose-printed silk; the Yellow Room, decorated with zodiac signs; and the Green Room, lit by a multi-hued Murano glass chandelier.
The art collection is on display in the Galleria Doria Pamphilj. Exhibits include Caravaggio’s Rest During the Flight to Egypt, in which the Virgin affectionately nuzzles baby Jesus while Joseph holds up a sheet of music to an angel playing the violin; a portrait of the family’s ancestor Pope Innocent X by the Spanish artist Velázquez; and Titian’s Salome with the Head of John the Baptist. Salome was a dancer who so enraptured King Herod that he agreed to grant her anything she wished. She asked for, and was given, the head of St John the Baptist. The contrast between the beautiful Salome and the severed head of the saint was very popular with artists.
Kids’ Corner
Plain Jane
In the 1930s and 1940s the then Prince and Princess Doria were fierce opponents of Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini. When Mussolini ordered women to surrender their wedding rings to boost the country’s gold reserves, Princess Doria, the daughter of a Scottish doctor, refused. Soldiers stormed the palace, but charged straight past Princess Doria because they thought she looked too ordinary to be an aristocrat!
12. Sant’Ignazio
Virtual reality
Frescoes on the fake dome of Sant’Ignazio church
Stepping inside the church of Sant’Ignazio is like walking into a heavenly ballroom. Walk to the nave and look for a star set into the pavement. Stand here, look up and get someone to put a coin into the slot. The church will flood with light, and the roof will seem to burst open to reveal a blue sky full of glamorous angels sucked up to heaven – as if by a vacuum cleaner – to where St Ignatius, the founder of the Jesuit Order, floats on a fluffy cloud. Believe it or not, the dome does not exist at all – it is just a painted disc! The frescoes in the nave celebrate the missionary work done by the Jesuits all over the world, with four women representing Europe, Asia, America and Africa. The church is at its loveliest in the evening, when its marble columns and pavements gleam, and its polished brass glints in the lamplight.
Kids’ Corner
Spot the fake in Sant’Ignazio
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Stand facing the altar between the 1st and 2nd windows on the left, and look up. Look at the man falling down head first. Is he real?
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Above the window over the entrance are columns and an arch. Are these real or fake?
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Around the same window, there are pillars and an architrave. Are they real?
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Stand below the figure of Africa and look up at the golden column capitals. Are they real?
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And are the frames of the nearby windows real?
13. Temple of Hadrian
From temple to stock exchange
Ancient stone columns of the Temple of Hadrian
Embedded in the wall of what was once Italy’s stock exchange are eleven chewed Corinthian columns and a frieze embedded with lions. These belong to a temple erected in AD 145 by Emperor Antoninus Pius (r.138–161) in honour of his adoptive father, Hadrian. The opening scenes of Antonioni’s film L’Eclisse (1962) show a young Alain Delon working at the exchange.
Kids’ Corner
Holy ridiculous
A temple like Hadrian’s, dedicated to an Emperor instead of a God, was not unusual – Roman emperors could become gods after their death. Emperor Domitian announced that he was a god in his lifetime, and the tradition of worshipping the emperors as gods continued until the 4th century AD, when Constantine became the first emperor to convert to Christianity.
14. Piazza di Montecitorio
A Roman sundial
Façade of the Palazzo di Montecitorio, Piazza di Montecitorio
The first thing that visitors see on approaching Piazza di Montecitorio from Via della Guglia is jagged lumps of rock sticking out from the façade of the Palazzo di Montecitorio. The palace was designed by Bernini and now houses the Chamber of Deputies, one of Italy’s two houses of parliament; the other is the Chamber of the Senate in the Palazzo Madama next to Sant’Ivo alla Sapienza. At the centre of the piazza is a giant Egyptian obelisk that was once part of a huge sundial laid out by Emperor Augustus in 10 BC. The centre of this sundial was near the present-day Piazza San Lorenzo in Lucina, and the shadow was cast by the obelisk. It was moved to its present location in 1792.
The adjoining Piazza Colonna is named after the Column of Marcus Aurelius rising from its centre, an imitation of Trajan’s Column. The piazza is home to the heavily guarded Palazzo Chigi, residence of the prime minister.
Kids’ Corner
Poor timekeeper
According to some historians, the shadow from the obelisk of Augustus’s sundial reached as far as the Ara Pacis on 23 September – Augustus’s birthday. However, within 50 years of being erected, the sundial was not keeping time – probably because an earthquake had shifted it.
15. La Maddalena
The icing-sugar church on ice-cream street
Dedicated to Mary Magdalene, this pretty church, with its Rococo-style façade, is always referred to as La Maddalena out of respect for the Virgin Mary. Catholics did not want the name Mary to be associated with Mary Magdalene, a sinner who had repented. As architectural tastes evolved, some people wanted to replace the highly decorated wedding-cake façade with a more sombre-looking Neo-Classical one. The façade is best admired while enjoying an ice cream from one of the great ice-cream parlours nearby.
16. Il Gesù
God for the masses
Painting on the ceiling of the nave, Il Gesù
Dating from 1568 and 1584, the Gesù church was the seat of the Jesuits in Rome. Its interior with a single, broad, well-lit nave was the first of its kind, designed in 1568, at the height of the Thirty Years’ War between Catholics and Protestants. The Catholics were fast losing followers to the Protestants, who let them read their own Bibles, for example, instead of having priests read carefully selected extracts. By providing people with prayer books and filling the nave with enough light to read, the Jesuits hoped to make Catholicism more popular. By the late 17th century, when the interior was decorated, the Thirty Years’ War was over, and the church was riding on a wave of glory. It was in this mood that the ceiling was decorated with triumphant paintings and statues that ridicule the Protestants and heretics.
Kids’ Corner
Fanged serpents and kick-boxing angels
Go to the Cappella di Sant’Ignazio inside the Gesù, and look at the statue group.
- Can you see a statue of a woman stamping on something? What is it?
- There is a snake at the other side of the statue group. What is it doing?
- What is the angel doing?
< Piazza Navona & Campo de’ Fiori
Campo de’ Fiori and around
Narrow side street off Campo de’ Fiori
Bounded by the Tiber to the south, and linked by the pedestrian Ponte Sisto to Trastevere, the Campo de’ Fiori and Piazza Farnese area is mostly pedestrianized and its many sights are within walking distance of each other. Campo de’ Fiori itself and the main road, Via de’ Giubbonari, get very busy by day and things can get a little wild at night, but other streets remain relatively untouched by the crowds. There are no metro lines crossing the area. The nearest access points by bus are Corso Vittorio Emanuele II and Largo di Torre Argentina.
6. Area Sacra di Largo Argentina
Diners enjoying a meal in Piazza Farnese, near Campo de’ Fiori
1. Campo de’ Fiori
Fruit, vegetables and murder most foul
Madonna painting on the piazza
The name Campo de’ Fiori means “field of flowers”. In the Middle Ages it was a meadow, and a horse market was held here. The neighbourhood has a grisly history that kids will love – saunter down the cobbled streets to find where Julius Caesar was murdered, Giordano Bruno was burnt at the stake for heresy, painter Caravaggio killed his tennis opponent and goldsmith Benvenuto Cellini murdered a business rival. Today, it is home to central Rome’s most appealing food market.
Key Sights
1. Teatro di Pompeo The theatre that stood on this site could seat 17,000 people. Behind it was the Curia, where the Roman Senate met and where Brutus stabbed Julius Caesar to death in 44 BC.
2. Campo de’ Fiori market
5. Giordano Bruno Monument
6. Palazzo della Cancelleria
Street names Streets around the Campo de’ Fiori are named after the craftsmen that traditionally worked here – look for Via dei Cappellari (hat-makers), Via de’ Giubbonari (jerkin-makers), Via dei Balestrari (crossbow-makers), Via dei Baullari (basket-makers) and Via dei Pettinari (comb-makers).
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Campo de’ Fiori market Middle Giordano Bruno Monument Right Palazzo della Cancelleria
Kids’ Corner
A Renaissance Harry Potter
Like Harry Potter and his friends, Giordano Bruno believed in the responsible and ethical use of magic – but suspicion and fear of the unknown was widespread, with many believing that philosophers and magicians communed with demons. Bruno did not help matters by telling the Inquisition he believed in extraterrestrial life!
Foul murder
Despite bad omens, Roman Emperor Julius Caesar went to a meeting in the Curia where he was attacked by senators, including his friend Brutus. His famous dying words were supposedly, “Tu quoque Brute?” (“Even you, Brutus?”)
Look out for recycled remains such as…
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Bits of Pompey’s Theatre and the Curia in the basement of Hotel Teatro di Pompeo (Largo del Pallaro) and at Ristorante da Pancrazio (Piazza del Biscione).
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The curved façades of buildings on Via Grottapinta, which follow the line of the old amphitheatre.
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The façade of the Palazzo della Cancelleria, which was built with limestone from the theatre; the red and grey columns in its courtyard are from the upper tiers.
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The drinking fountains for horses and cattle in the Campo de’ Fiori, and the bathtubs from the Baths of Caracalla in Piazza Farnese.
2. Piazza Farnese
Architecture and frescoes
One of the fountains on Piazza Farnese, topped with irises
The elegant Piazza Farnese is a peaceful retreat from the bustle of Campo de’ Fiori. The piazza is dominated by two fountains featuring what appear to be giant lilies, but are in fact blue irises – the symbol of the Farnese family.
Overlooking the piazza is the Palazzo Farnese. Designed by Antonio Sangallo the Younger and refined by Michelangelo, it now houses the French Embassy. The palazzo’s courtyard exemplifies the difference in the styles of the two artists. The lower tiers by Sangallo are faithful copies of elements of ancient Roman architecture that were just being rediscovered. The upper tiers by Michelangelo are far more inventive, reflecting not only his originality, but also his eagerness to further improve upon ancient techniques. The highlight of the palace is the frescoed ceiling in the ambassador’s office on the first floor. Painted by Annibale Carracci in 1604, it depicts gods and goddesses falling in love, against an illusionistic background that features fake skies and mock stuccoes. The best time to visit the piazza is at night, when the façade of the palazzo is illuminated, and the chandeliers inside are switched on to reveal the frescoed ceilings.
Kids’ Corner
Find and sketch:
A Roman bathtub
True equality!
The French government rents Palazzo Farnese from the Italian government for €1a year. The Italians pay precisely the same rent for their embassy in Paris!
The Petticoat Cardinal
Palazzo Farnese was built for Cardinal Alessandro Farnese. He was made a cardinal by Pope Alexander VI, who was in love with Farnese’s sister Giulia. For this, Farnese became known as the petticoat cardinal.
3. Palazzo Spada
Mermaids and monsters
Built way back in 1540, Palazzo Spada is one of the most intricately decorated palaces in Rome. It is named after its one-time owner, Cardinal Bernardino Spada, a keen art collector. His collection included the works of artists of the time such as Caravaggio, Artemisia Gentileschi, Lavinia Fontana and Sofonisba Anguissola.
Look at its façade to find Mannerist statues of toga-wearing Romans, medallions, urns, ribbons and swags of flowers, all made of stucco. The courtyard has battling centaurs, mermaids and sea monsters. On the right is what appears to to be a long arcade flanked by columns. In reality this gallery is about a quarter of its apparent length, and the statue at the end quite tiny – the result of a crafty optical illusion by the architect Borromini. On guided tours, the guide walks into the gallery and appears to get taller and taller the closer he gets to the end.
Kids’ Corner
Find and sketch:
1. A Roman in a toga
2. A centaur
3. A mermaid
4. A sea monster
Small wonder
When she was only a young girl, Sofonisba Anguissola, one of the few women artists of the Renaissance, impressed Michelangelo with a drawing of a small boy crying – Asdrubale Bitten by a Crab (1554).
4. Via Giulia
A cure for sore throats
First arch of Michelangelo’s unfinished viaduct on picturesque Via Giulia
A perfectly straight, cobbled street lined with Renaissance palaces and churches, Via Giulia was laid out in the early 16th century on the orders of Pope Julius II to link the centre of Rome with St Peter’s. But due to lack of funds and the pope’s death, it could not be completed with a bridge as planned.
On approaching from Piazza Farnese, look out for an arch covered with creepers. This was intended to be the first arch of a viaduct designed by Michelangelo to link Palazzo Farnese with Villa Farnese on the other side of the Tiber, but was never finished. Just below the arch is a grotesque fountain, the Mascherone. On one occasion the water dribbling from the mouth of the Mascherone was replaced with wine.
Also on the street is a church decorated with grimacing skulls. This is Santa Maria dell’Orazione e Morte, whose priests had the job of collecting the corpses of poor people and giving them a Christian burial. Beyond this is a huge orange building – once the city prison and the church of San Biagio della Pagnotta. The church’s patron saint is believed to have the power to cure sore throats, and people still visit to be healed by holding two candles to their throats.
Kids’ Corner
Find and sketch:
5. Museo Criminologico
Letter on a pair of underpants
Part of the former 19th-century Delle Carceri Nuove prison, this museum takes visitors on a harrowing voyage into the world of crime and punishment. The journey begins with replicas of ancient and medieval instruments of torture made by young offenders in the 1930s, including a spiked torture chair used to punish witches in medieval Nuremberg and a hollow bronze bull to roast offenders in ancient Agrigento. Beyond this is the red hooded cloak used by Rome’s 19th century executioner, Mastro Titta.
Also in the museum is a section devoted to the “science” of criminal physiognomy – it was believed that faces and even the shape of the ears could indicate that someone had criminal tendencies! Do not miss the room of stolen art objects and fake paintings. Finally there is a room full of various objects smuggled into prisons – shoes, a hairbrush and books concealing knives – and letters from prisoners written on underpants and one written on a handkerchief and rolled up inside a cigarette.
Kids’ Corner
Criminal family
After visiting the Museo Criminologico, check the faces of your family for criminal tendencies!
6. Area Sacra di Largo Argentina
Count the cats
Ruins of Republican-era temples at the Area Sacra di Largo Argentina
In the centre of Largo Argentina are the remains of four temples (A, B, C & D) which date back to the Republican era and are among the oldest in Rome. In Roman times, the area was dominated by an 8-m (24-ft) high acrolith of Fortuna Huiusce Diei, Roman goddess of fate. Parts of her body, including a head are on show at the Centrale Montemartini. The temple dedicated to Fortuna (Temple B) was circular, and can clearly be seen from the pavement above. The tufa blocks behind it belonged to the vast Curia di Pompeo. This is where Julius Caesar was murdered. The other temples in this area are rectangular in shape. Behind Temple A are the remains of a marble Roman toilet. The ruins are now home to a sanctuary for abandoned cats.
Kids’ Corner
7. Jewish Ghetto
Artichokes and sweet pizza
In 1555, Pope Paul IV, one of the leaders of the Inquisition (see Palazzo Doria Pamphilj), confined Rome’s Jews to one area. This area was surrounded by a wall with five gates that were opened at dawn and closed at sunset. The inhabitants of this area were forced to wear a yellow badge. Future popes banned Jews from all trades except selling old clothes and scrap iron. Nowadays, the area is full of narrow streets and alleys and still has a strong Jewish presence, with a synagogue and several restaurants serving Jewish dishes such as carciofi alla giudia (deep-fried artichokes) and pizza dolce (a singed scone filled with candied fruit).
Not all the sights here are Jewish. The remains of the Teatro di Marcello stand at the end of Via Portico d’Ottavia. In the 16th century, the ruins of this theatre were incorporated into a palace, which has now been converted into luxury apartments.
Kids’ Corner
Can you find…
1. A home in a Roman theatre
2. A hospital on an island
Healing snake
In 291 BC, when Rome was ravaged by the plague, an envoy was sent to the sanctuary of the god of healing, Aesculapios, at Epidavros in Greece. He returned with a sacred serpent (look out for the symbol in pharmacies), but the snake slid into the river and swam to the Isola Tiberina. A temple was built there and ancient Romans went to pray with clay models of their afflicted body parts. Today, there is a hospital on the site as well as a church containing the bones of St Bartholomew, the saint of medicine and hospitals.
8. Fontana delle Tartarughe
Of dolphins and tortoises
Della Porta’s tortoise fountain in Piazza Mattei
Piazza Mattei is one of the prettiest and quietest piazzas in the centro storico. At its centre is the Fontana delle Tartarughe, or tortoise fountain, with sculptures of boys on dolphins. It was created by the Italian architects Giacomo della Porta and Taddeo Landini in 1585, allegedly in a single night. The fountain, however, ran into problems straight away – the pressure of the water was too low for it to work properly. Consequently the fountain was redesigned. Four of the original eight dolphins were removed, and instead of trying to make the water gush dramatically, the designers settled for a single small jet of water into the basin and a gentle stream of water from each of the remaining dolphins’ mouths. In the 1650s, Bernini decided to give each boy a bronze tortoise, which they hold up as if to let the creatures drink from the upper basin.
Kids’ Corner
Fast work!
Duke Mattei’s wedding was called off when he lost all his money gambling. To prove to his bride’s father that he could work miracles, Mattei is said to have had the Fontana delle Tartarughe built in one night.