Sunday, 15 December 2019 - first stop, the Pyramid. Yes there is indeed a Pyramid in Rome, Italy!
With the church bells ringing in the distance, walking down Via Vaticano to the bus stop to start our Sunday adventures we passed this delightful scene – who can spot the prickly pear bush?
On this Sunday morning we took a bus to view Rome’s very own Pyramid. The Pyramid of Cestius, or Piramide di Caio Cestio or Piramide Cestia) is an ancient pyramid near the Porta San Paolo (to the right of the pyramid and the Protestant Cemetery which is behind the Pyramid (where the Poet Keats is buried). The Pyramid was built as a tomb for Gaius Cestius, a member of the Epulones religious corporation. It stands at a fork between two ancient roads, the Via Ostiensis and another road which runs west to the Tiber along the approximate line of the modern Via Marmorata. Due to its incorporation into the city's fortifications, it is one of the best-preserved ancient buildings in Rome.
On a wall adjacent to the Pyramid
The initials SPQR are seen all over Rome. These initials are from a Latin phrase Senātus Populusque Rōmānus.
It means "The Roman Senate and People" or "The Senate and People of Rome“, referring to the government of the ancient Roman Republic.
The Porta San Paolo (San Paolo Gate) is one of the southern gates in the 3rd-century Aurelian Walls of Rome.
The Via Ostiense Museum (museo della Via Ostiense) is housed within the gatehouse.
It is free to visit this museum and is a delightful place to visit and a great place to photograph the Pyramid of Cestius.
Quite incongruous seeing a tv dish amongst the ancient walls of Porta San Paolo and the museum
Before leaving the area, we spent some time quietly contemplating a very different and extremely poignant monument in the Piazza Ostiense situated alongside the metro and train station. The monument entitled, Tutti Potenziali Bersagli, is dedicated to the victims of Fascism and racism. It depicts five human beings with their hands tied behind their backs, chained together with their silhouettes depicted in as many shapes behind them, representing the various types of people who were sent to the concentration camps and who were identified with symbols (eg the Star of David for the Jews, a pink triangle for homosexuals, blue for immigrants, red for political opponents and brown for gypsies). The linked hands are all different. There are hands extended begging for help, hands clenched into fists, such powerful symbolism and moving. A group of anonymous political activists and artists designed and built the monument and they only received authorisation for it the night before it was to be unveiled. It was unveiled on the 50th anniversary of the liberation of Italy, namely 25th April 1995. The monument was initially only to be a ten day installation, but it was never dismantled and taken down, and in 2007 it was included in Italy’s census of cultural heritage. It is a powerful monument which should be visited by all.
Over the road from the Pyramid of Cestius, is the Pyramide Metro and Train Station. We took the Metro from Pyramide to Cavour which is the Metro stop for the Monti district.
We visited a Christmas Market at Monti. It was held in what felt like a “City Hall” type building on two floors. It was very much a market of bespoke jewellery, lights, clothing all designed and crafted by the artists selling their wares. It was interesting to walk around viewing everything but we did not purchase anything. We did not take too much photos at the market - far too up close, personal and it just did not feel right to do so. We did not take too much photos at the market - far too up close, personal and it just did not
Sunday lunch was sharing a savoury and sweet Maritozzos.
Traditionally, a maritozzo is sweet as it is filled with cream and is a popular breakfast pastry in Rome. Adventurous Maritozzi bakers are trying out savoury fillings – our lunch time treat was a savoury filled maritozzo with salmon and a tiramisu filled sweet maritozzo.
Maritozzi (the plural word) are cheap and very filling; and these were both that and delicious ….
Babington’s Tea Rooms at the foot of the Spanish Steps; in the Piazza di Spagna is a “proper English team room”. It was established in 1893 by Anna Maria Babington and Isabel Cargill who arrived in Rome with £100 in savings and a plan to provide the flourishing English community with somewhere to take tea and read the English newspapers. It was originally established at a different location but moved to the Piazza di Spagna 2 years later.
It has survived 2 World Wars and the subsequent depression periods post war and is now run by Isabell Cargill’s great grand-children.
We did not venture inside due to our budgetary constraints but it is very popular as was evident on the Sunday afternoon we were at the Piazza di Spagna.
The infamous Spanish Steps were built to enable a person to climb the steep slope between the Piazza di Spagna at the base and Piazza Trinità dei Monti, dominated by the Trinità dei Monti church at the top.
The monumental stairway of 135 steps (the slightly elevated drainage system is often mistaken for the first step) was built with French diplomat Étienne Gueffier who bequeathed funds of 20,000 scudi, in 1723–1725 in order to link the Trinità dei Monti church, which was under the patronage of the Bourbon kings of France – located above – and the Bourbon Spanish Embassy to the Holy See – located below – in Palazzo Monaldeschi. The stairway was designed by architects Francesco de Sanctis and Alessandro Specchi.
It is now, in terms of the law, prohibited to sit on the steps because of their age and the need to preserve these famous.
The Piazza di Spagna and the Spanish Steps were very busy on this beautiful Sunday afternoon
Looking down the Spanish Steps to the Barcaccia Fountain and down the Via dei Condotti. The Via dei Condotti is famous for the Caffe Greco (Antico Caffe Greco) which was established in 1760 and is still in business today. It was frequented by Stendhal, Goethe, Byron, Keats and Liszt and Guiglielmo Marconi, the inventor of the radio, lived there until his death in 1937. Via dei Condotti is also home to many of the very high-end designers who have shops there eg Gucci, Prada, Giorgio Armani and others.
The Spanish Steps looking up to the Church of the Santissima Trinità dei Monti, often called merely the Trinità dei Monti. It is a Roman Catholic late Renaissance titular church.
The Policeman in the photo below was not afraid to blow his whistle when people dared to sit down on the steps.
Sallustiano obelisk in the Piazza della Trinita dei Monti
A view from the Piazza della Trinita dei Monti – this is the one of the views you are greeted with when you reach the top of the Spanish Steps
Another view from the Piazza della Trinita dei Monti
Trinità dei Monti Church (Santissima Trinità dei Monti) the late Renaissance titular Roman Catholic Church situated at the top of the Spanish Steps.
Column of the Immaculate Conception (Colonna Dell'Immacolata)
This 11 metre high decorative column was designed by architect Luigi Poletti and erected here in 1857. It is dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Decorative ice creams cones in a very expensive gelato café, Venchi (established in 1878) – we went in, looked, took photographs, feasted with only our eyes and walked out again!!
The Fontana della Barcaccia is a Baroque-style fountain at the foot of the Spanish Steps. Pope Urban VIII commissioned Pietro Bernini in 1623 to build the fountain as part of a prior Papal project to erect a fountain in every major piazza in Rome
We treated ourselves to a cone of roasted chestnuts - €5 for a cone; they have a unique taste and were definitely a once-off.
Around all the major piazzas there are a number of vendors roasting chestnuts to sell.
Piazza del Popolo is a large urban square in Rome. In modern Italian the name literally means "People's Square", but historically it derives from the poplars (populus in Latin, pioppo in Italian) after which the church of Santa Maria del Popolo, in the northeast corner of the piazza, takes its name.
The piazza lies inside the northern gate in the Aurelian Walls, which was once the Porta Flaminia of ancient Rome, and is now called the Porta del Popolo. This was the starting point of the Via Flaminia, the road to Ariminum (modern-day Rimini) and the most important route to the north. Before the age of railroads, it was the traveller's first view of Rome upon arrival. For centuries, the Piazza del Popolo was a place for public executions. The last public execution took place in 1826.
The almost identical churches in the Piazza di Popolo. On the left is Santa Maria in Montesanto and on the right is Santa Maria dei Miracoli
Fontana del Nettuno
We would stand on the terrace above the statue on New Year's Eve to watch the spectacular firework display heralding in the start of 2020
An Egyptian obelisk of Sety I (which was later erected by Rameses II) from Heliopolis is situated in centre of the Piazza. Three sides of the obelisk were carved during the reign of Sety I and the fourth side, whilst under Rameses II. The obelisk, known as the Flaminio Obelisk or the Popolo Obelisk, is the second oldest and one of the tallest obelisks in Rome. It is approximately 24 m high, or 36 m including its plinth). The obelisk was brought to Rome in 10 BC on the order of Augustus and originally set up in the Circus Maximus. It was re-erected in the Piazza del Popolo by the architect and engineer Domenico Fontana in 1589 as part of the urban plan of Sixtus V. The piazza also formerly contained a central fountain, which was moved in 1818, to the Piazza Nicosia when fountains, in the form of Egyptian-style lions, were added around the base of the obelisk.
Buskers and performers are frequently found performing in the various piazzas in Rome. We were entertained by a clown in Piazza Navona and a Michael Jackson impersonator in the Piazza del Popolo
On the way home we found an intriguing Vintage/Retro/Second Hand Shop in a basement and so we went to have a look!
