Historic Rome City Center Walk

Piazza Venezia became one of Rome’s main crossroads after the large-scale rebuilding of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The square takes its name from Palazzo Venezia, a fifteenth-century palace that long served as the residence of the ambassadors of the Venetian Republic. Today you can see at once the palace’s austere façade, the white marble Vittoriano and the streets leading to the Colosseum, the Capitoline Hill and the historic centre.

The Vittoriano monument was built in honour of Victor Emmanuel II, the first king of a united Italy. Construction began in 1885 and continued for several decades. White marble, broad staircases and an enormous equestrian statue turned the building into one of Rome’s most conspicuous landmarks. Inside is the Altar of the Fatherland with the tomb of the Unknown Soldier, and the upper terraces open onto a panorama of the historic centre.

The present appearance of the Capitoline square is based on Michelangelo’s sixteenth-century design. He turned the space towards the new Rome and created a harmonious ensemble of three palaces. At the centre stands a copy of the ancient equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius; the original is kept in the Capitoline Museums. The famous geometric paving pattern was completed much later, yet it is precisely this that emphasises the symmetry the architect intended.

The Colossus of Constantine was created at the beginning of the fourth century for the Basilica of Maxentius in the Roman Forum. The emperor’s figure sat on a throne and stood roughly twelve metres tall. What survives today are monumental marble fragments — the head, the hands and the feet, displayed in the courtyard of the Capitoline Museums. That extraordinary scale helped the ruler appear almost superhuman and underlined the new imperial power.

The small Piazza Margana has preserved a medieval atmosphere that is rare in the centre of Rome. Its name is linked to the influential Margani family, who owned houses and a fortified tower here. The narrow façades show traces of centuries of rebuilding: ancient stone sits alongside brick, arches and Renaissance windows. The square is only a few minutes from the busy Piazza Venezia, yet it remains a quiet reminder of the quarters of the medieval city.

Palazzo Mattei di Giove was built at the beginning of the seventeenth century for the noble Mattei family to a design by the architect Carlo Maderno. The palace courtyards became an open collection in their own right: the walls, arcades and staircases are decorated with ancient reliefs, busts and statues. This was how the owners displayed their learning, their wealth and their connection to the heritage of Ancient Rome. The calm architecture of the courtyard is all the more striking for the contrast with its rich sculptural decoration.

The Turtle Fountain appeared on Piazza Mattei in the 1580s to a design by Giacomo della Porta, with bronze figures by Taddeo Landini. Youths support the basin and reach towards its rim, where small turtles were added later. Those details, probably introduced during a seventeenth-century restoration, gave the fountain its present name. Its intimate scale and the delicacy of the bronze work make it one of the most graceful fountains in Rome.

The archaeological area of Largo di Torre Argentina preserves the remains of four Republican temples built between the fourth and first centuries BC. They were discovered during city works in the 1920s. Nearby stood the complex of the Theatre of Pompey, where Julius Caesar was murdered in 44 BC. Today the ruins lie below the level of the modern streets and show vividly how the new Rome grew over the ancient city.

The centrepiece of Piazza della Minerva is a marble elephant carrying an ancient Egyptian obelisk. The composition was conceived by Gian Lorenzo Bernini and carved by the sculptor Ercole Ferrata; the monument was installed in 1667. The obelisk was found nearby, on the site of a former temple of Isis. The unusual pairing of heavy stone with an almost playful animal expresses the idea that true wisdom requires a strong and steady mind.

The Pantheon was built under the emperor Hadrian around the year 125 on the site of an earlier temple by Marcus Agrippa. For almost two thousand years its concrete dome has remained the largest unreinforced dome of its kind. Its only source of light from above is the nine-metre oculus at the centre. In the seventh century the building was turned into a Christian church, which is why it has survived far better than most of Rome’s ancient structures.