- Page 1 - Trevi and Colonna Walking Tour The Trevi rione (district) of Rome, which is the 2nd rione, is most famous for the Trevi Fountain, as well as for being home to several magnificent public libraries. Colonna is the 3rd rione of Rome and takes its name from the rione's most famous landmark, the Column of Marcus Aurelius in the Piazza Colonna. Colonna is also home to several palazzos, churches and other landmarks. Guide Location: Italy» Rome # of Attractions: 11 Tour Duration: 2 hour(s) Travel Distance: 2.6 km Please note: This walk is also featured in the mobile app "GPSmyCity: Walks in 1K+ Cities" downloadable on itunes App Store and Google Play. The app provides turn-by-turn GPS navigation to guide you from one tour sight to the next, so you will never be lost. The apps offer additional walking tours in Rome. Check them out! GPSmyCity offers self-guided walking tours in over 1,000 city around the world. Please visit https://www.gpsmycity.com for more walking tour offers. List of attractions included in this self-guided walking tour: A) Column of Marcus Aurelius B) Piazza Colonna C) Montecitorio Palace D) Salotto 42 E) Chiesa di Sant'Ignazio di Loyola F) Time Elevator G) Trevi Fountain H) Palazzo del Quirinale I) Galleria Nazionale d'arte Antica (Palazzo Barberini) J) Triton Fountain K) Santa Maria della Concezione - Page 1 -
- Page 2 - - Page 2 -
- Page 3 - - Page 3 -
- Page 4 - - Page 4 -
- Page 5 - A) Column of Marcus Aurelius (must see) In the center of Piazza Colonna stands the Column of Marcus Aurelius, with its interesting bas reliefs. The column was built after the Emperor s death in 180 AD and completed in 193 AD. It is a victory column, built in the Doric style, 30 meters high with a base of 10 meters high. A further 3 meters of the original base are underground since its restoration in 1589 and the street level of the area was raised. During the restoration, carried out by Fontana, Pope Sixtus V ordered that a statue of St Paul be set on the top, either to remove any lingering paganism attached to the column or to match it to Trajan s Column, where he d had a statue of St Peter put on top. The column has spiral bas relief detailing the wars Marcus Aurelius was engaged in against the German Marcomannis and the Iranian Samaritans. It is closely modeled on Trajan s Column, which was built in 113, and it has been said that the creators of the later column pinched scenes from Trajan s history. There is one scene, however, that is unique to Marcus Aurelius Column: the strange and compelling images of a supernatural figure (perhaps a god) sending a great storm to save the Roman army during a battle. Christian soldiers claimed a similar event several centuries later. Inside the column are about 200 hundred marble steps that lead to the platform at the top of the column, with narrow slits in the walls to provide light. These steps are now closed to the public. Address: 79 Via del Corso, 00186, Rome, Italy Image Courtesy of Flickr and ChrisYunker. Sight description based on Wikipedia. B) Piazza Colonna (must see) Don t miss a visit to Piazza Colonna with its fine buildings in the very heart of Rome. In the center of the square you will find the Column of Marcus Aurelius. The square is surrounded by impressive and imposing buildings, put up between the 16th and 20th centuries; on the north side stands the Palazzo Chigi, built in 1562 for a noble family, which is now the official residence of the Italian Prime Minister. On the east side of the square is the popular 19th century shopping gallery the Galleria Alberto Sordi. Initially, when it was built, the gallery was called the Galleria Colonna, but then it was renamed after the famous Italian actor/director who died in 2003. On the south side of the piazza you will find the Palazzo Ferraioli, built in the 16th century by Giacomo della - Page 5 -
- Page 6 - Porta. Today, several rooms can be hired for fashion shows, congresses, wedding receptions, parties and exhibitions. Next to the palazzo is the small, beautiful Santi Bartolomeo ed Alessandro dei Bergamaschi Church, built in the 18th century. On the west side stands the Palazzo Wedekind, which was built in 1659 on the site of the Temple of Marcus Aurelius. The beautiful columns on the ground floor of the palace were taken from Veii, an important Etruscan city, conquered by the Roman general Camillus in 396 BC. The fountain in the piazza was commissioned in 1577 by Pope Gregory XIII and designed by Giacomo della Porta. It was restored in 1830 and the sculptures of two pairs of dolphins and cockle shells were created by Achille Stocchi. Address: Piazza Colonna, Rome, Italy Image Courtesy of Wikimedia and Lalupa. Sight description based on Wikipedia. C) Montecitorio Palace The Montecitorio Palace stands on the Piazza di Montecitorio. It takes its name from a small artificial hill made in pre-roman times by the people who lived in the area as a means of draining the marshland. The palace was commissioned in 1620 by Cardinal Ludovico, Pope Gregory XV s nephew. The building was designed by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, but work was stopped in 1623 when the pope died. The building was eventually finished in 1692 by Carlo Fontana while Innocent XII was Pope. The pope was a fervent anti-nepotist and in 1691 he issued the Romanum decet Ponticem Charter, banning the curial office of Cardinal Nephew and prohibiting future popes from giving titles, money or land to members of their family. Because of this, the Montecitorio Palace was used for public and social functions. In 1696 the building became the home of the Curia apostolica, the papal courts of law. For a time it was the seat of the Governatorato di Roma and a police headquarters. With the Unification of Italy in 1861, the palace became the seat of the Chamber of Deputies. The internal courtyard was covered over and made into the Assembly Room. The interior of the building was entirely altered and renovated in Art Nouveau style by Ernesto Basile. Only the façade has kept its original look. On the piazza, in front of the palace, you can admire an ancient Egyptian obelisk, built in 589 BC, brought to Rome by Emperor Augustus in 10 BC. It was set up in the square in 1789 by Pope Pius VI, and is one of the most important obelisks in Rome. - Page 6 -
- Page 7 - Address: Piazza di Montecitorio, Rome, Italy Image Courtesy of Flickr and Simone Ramella. Sight description based on Wikipedia. D) Salotto 42 A fashionable establishment located on the Piazza di Pietra, Salotto 42 has quickly gained a reputation for a great time at almost any hour of the day, for food, tasty cocktails, and its diverse set of musical entertainment. A chic interior décor greet guests as they walk inside the bar, with tasteful styling that includes fashion photography lining the walls, as well as a large collection of books on fashion, art, and design. Music at Salotto 42 runs the gamut from swing and soul, to jazz and other eclectic sounds. In addition to some of the best cocktails, including original creations, guests are also offered a fine menu of food with international appeal. Operation Hours: Monday Sunday: 10 am 2 am Address: Piazza di Pietra, 42, 00186 Rome, Italy Image Courtesy of Flickr and Cliffano Subagio E) Chiesa di Sant'Ignazio di Loyola (must see) The Church of St. Ignatius of Loyola at Campus Martius (Italian: Chiesa di Sant'Ignazio di Loyola in Campo Marzio) is a Roman Catholic titular church dedicated to Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Society of Jesus, located in Rome. Built in Baroque style between 1626 and 1650, the church functioned originally as the chapel of the adjacent Roman College, that moved in 1584 to a new larger building and was renamed the Pontifical Gregorian University. The church has a Latin cross plan with numerous side chapels. The building was inspired by the Jesuit mother church, the Church of the Gesù in Rome (finished in the late 16th century). The imposing order of Corinthian pilasters that rings the entire interior, the theatrical focus on the high altar at the rear of the broad eastern apse, the church's colored marbles, animated stucco figural relief, richly ornamented altars, extensive gilding, and bold Tromp l oeil paintings in the "dome" at its crossing and in the nave ceiling all produce a festive, sumptuous effect. The church stages the triumph of its dedicatiom most effectively. - Page 7 -
- Page 8 - The nave's west wall has a sculptural group showing Magnificence and Religion (1650) by Alessandro Algardi. Algardi also helped design the high reliefs in stucco that run on both lateral nave walls just above the entries to the chapels and beneath the nave's grandiose entablature. Other artworks in the church include a huge stucco statue of St. Ignatius by Camillo Rusconi (1728). A chapel holds a glass coffin with a portrait of Cardinal Bellarmino (died 1621). Address: Piazza S. Ignazio, Rome, Italy Image Courtesy of Wikimedia and Council. Sight description based on Wikipedia. F) Time Elevator Time Elevator is an educational and entertaining cinema which offers films about Ancient Rome. It is called Time Elevator due to the historical films it presents. The cinema's flight simulator has special moving platforms with seats and individual headsets available in different languages. One of the best attractions for kids, they will enjoy the historical background and a bit of safe adrenaline. Address: 20 Via dei Santi Apostoli, Rome, Italy Image Courtesy of Flickr and Torley G) Trevi Fountain (must see) No visit to Rome is complete without seeing the Trevi Fountain, so don t forget to take some loose change with you to toss into the basin of the most famous fountain in the world. You must remember to have your back to the fountain and toss the coins over your shoulder for luck. To understand the importance of Rome s fountains, you must understand the importance of the aqueducts that brought fresh water to the city. The River Tiber was filthy and unfit for drinking as it was used as a sewer. It was a Roman custom to build an imposing fountain at the end of an aqueduct. A lot of the aqueducts were destroyed in 536 by the Goths; the Aqua Virgo was repaired in 1453 and a fountain was erected shortly afterwards. In 1629 Pope Urban VIII commissioned Gian Lorenzo Bernini to build a bigger, better fountain, but before work got underway the pope died and - Page 8 -
- Page 9 - Bernini s plans were shelved. In 1730 Nicola Salvi won the competition set by Pope Clement XII to build the new fountain and it was completed in 1762 by Giuseppe Pannini, who took over the construction when Salvi died. The Palazzo Poli serves as a backdrop to this truly wonderful fountain, the Triumphal arch is superimposed onto its facade and rocks and sculptured vegetation run along its foundations and around the borders of the basin. The main sculpture is a magnificent statue of Oceanus riding in an oyster-shell chariot, pulled by sea horses and guided by two tritons. On one side of Oceanus is a statue of Abundance holding an urn, on his other side it Salubrity holding a cup for a snake to drink from. Over the statues is a bas relief depicting the legend of how a young virgin led Roman technicians to the source of the spring at feeds the Aqua Virgo Aqueduct. A small fortune is thrown into the fountain everyday; it is not unusual to find over 2000 Euros in the basin. The area is policed to stop thieves pinching the money, which is used to fund a supermarket for the poor. Address: Piazza di Trevi, Rome, 00187, Italy Image Courtesy of Flickr and ZeroOne. Sight description based on Wikipedia. H) Palazzo del Quirinale The Quirinal Palace (known in Italian as the Palazzo del Quirinale or simply Quirinale) is an historic building in Rome, Italy, the current official residence of the President of the Italian Republic. It is located on the Quirinal Hill, the highest of the seven hills of Rome. It has housed thirty popes, four kings and eleven presidents of the Italian Republic. The palace extends for an area of 110,500 square meters and is the 6th largest palace in the world in terms of area, as well as the largest residence of a Head of State. The current site of the palace has been in use since Roman times, as excavations in the gardens testify. On this hill, the Romans built temples to several deities, from the Flora to Quirinus, after whom the hill was named. During the reign of Constantine the last complex of Roman baths was built here, as the statues of the twins Castor and Pollux taming the horses decorating the fountain in the square testify. The Quirinal, being the highest hill in Rome, was very sought after and became a popular spot for the Roman patricians, who built their luxurious villas. An example of those are the remains of a villa in the Quirinal gardens, where a mosaic, part of the - Page 9 -
- Page 10 - old floor has been found. The palace, located on the Via del Quirinale and facing onto the Piazza del Quirinale, was built in 1583 by Pope Gregory XIII as a papal summer residence. The pope wanted to find a location which would have been far away from the humidity and stench coming from the river Tiber and the unhealthy conditions of the Lateran Palace, therefore the Quirinal hill was one of the most suitable places in Rome. On the site, there was already a small villa owned by the Carafa family and rented to Luigi d'este. The pope commissioned the architect Ottaviano Mascherino to build a palace with porticoed parallel wings and an internal court. The project was not fully completed due to the death of the pope in 1585 but it is still recognizable in the north part of the court, especially in the double loggia facade, topped by the panoramic Torre dei venti (tower of the winds) or Torrino. To the latter, a bell tower was added according to a project by Carlo Maderno and Francesco Borromini. Address: Piazza del Quirinale, Rome, Italy Image Courtesy of Wikimedia and MM. Sight description based on Wikipedia. I) Galleria Nazionale d'arte Antica (Palazzo Barberini) The Galleria Nazionale d'arte Antica, or National Gallery of Ancient Art, is an art gallery in Rome, Italy, located on two sites: the Palazzo Barberini and the Palazzo Corsini. The Palazzo Barberini was designed for Pope Urban VIII, a member of the Barberini family, by Italian architect Carlo Maderno (1556 1629) on the old location of Villa Sforza. Its central salon ceiling was decorated by Pietro da Cortona with the visual panegyric of the Allegory of Divine Providence and Barberini Power to glorify the papal Barberini family. The eight rooms of the gallery exhibit works by Raphael and Raffaelleschi, Florentine, Sienese, Leonardeschi and Venetian painters, and has a portraits room as well. Operation hours: Tuesday - Sunday: 8:30 am - 7:00 pm Address: 13 Via delle Quattro Fontane, Rome, 00184, Italy Image Courtesy of Wikimedia and Peter beim Graben. Sight description based on Wikipedia. - Page 10 -
- Page 11 - J) Triton Fountain Pope Urban VIII had several fountains built in Rome, after he had ordered the reconstruction of many of the aqueducts that had fallen into disrepair. One of his fountains is the Triton Fountain on Piazza Barberini, where his family had their palace. This fountain was the last one to be commissioned by Pope Urban VIII before he died in 1644. It was created by Gian Lorenzo Bernini from specific instructions by the pope. Urban VIII was a great patron of the arts and a well-read man. He was inspired by a passage in Book I of Metamorphose by the famous Roman poet, Ovid. The passage he asked Bernini to put into sculpture describes Triton commanding the waters to retreat after the Deluge. The fountain was sculpted in travertine a type of limestone formed by hot springs and depicts a magnificent Triton as a merman. He is kneeling on the tails of four dolphins. In his hand is a conch shell that he is raising to his lips like a trumpet. The four dolphins that form the base in the center of the basin are entwined around the Papal Tiara and crossed keys, below which you can see the Barberini heraldic symbol of bees. The fountain is unique in that it was the first free-standing thematic fountain to be sculpted outside private gardens. At that time, public fountains were rather plain, unassuming affairs, but Pope Urban VIII wanted something a bit more spectacular outside his family home. Address: Piazza Barberini, Rome, Italy Image Courtesy of Flickr and asw909. Sight description based on Wikipedia. K) Santa Maria della Concezione Santa Maria della Concezione dei Cappuccini, or Our Lady of the Conception of the Capuchins, is a church in Rome, commissioned in 1626 by Pope Urban VIII, whose brother, Antonio Barberini, was a Capuchin friar. It is located at Via Veneto, close to Piazza Barberini. The church was designed by Antonio Casoni and built between 1626 and 1631. It comprises a small nave and several side chapels. The chapels are notable as one contains the body of St. Felix of Cantalice and another is the tomb of the Blessed Crispin - Page 11 -
- Page 12 - of Viterbo. The first chapel has a dramatic altarpiece of St. Michael the Archangel (c.1635) by Guido Reni, and Gherardo delle Notti's Christ Mocked. The second chapel has a Transfiguration by Mario Balassi, and a Nativity (c. 1632) by Lanfranco. The third chapel has a Saint Francis receives stigmata by Domenichino. The fourth chapel houses a Prayer in the Gesthemane (c. 1632) by Baccio Ciarpi. In the fifth chapel is a Saint Anthony by Sacchi, who also painted the Apparition of the Virgin (1645) to Saint Bonaventure in the fifth chapel on the left. The tomb monument for Alexander Sobieski was sculpted by Camillo Rusconi. The third chapel has a Deposition by Andrea Camassei and a Stigmatization of Saint Francis (c. 1570) by Girolamo Muziano. The second chapel has a Santa Felice da Cantalice by Alessandro Turchi, while the first has a painting of Saint Paul restores vision (c. 1631) by Pietro da Cortona. Several renowned authors visited the crypt and left descriptions. The Marquis de Sade, who visited the crypt in 1775, wrote, I have never seen anything more striking (Voyage d'italie, p. 106 of the Maurice Lever edition). Mark Twain visited the crypt in the summer of 1867, and begins Chapter XXVIII of The Innocents Abroad with 5 pages of his observations. Nathaniel Hawthorne describes the crypt in his novel The Marble Faun. Additional descriptions were written by authors Tom Weil (1992), Folke Henschen (1965) and Anneli Rufus (1999). See Christine Quigley, Skulls and Skeletons. Address: Via Vittorio Veneto 27, 00187 Rome, Italy Image Courtesy of Wikimedia and Croberto68. Sight description based on Wikipedia. - Page 12 -