Walking around...
The origins of Rome go back more than two and a half millennia to a time when myth and history merge with the tale of Romulus and Remus, the brothers who supposedly founded the first settlement on the Palatine Hill where Romulus slew his brother to assure his place as the first Roman monarch. It is more likely that Rome’s position on the Tiber river made it an obvious place for a large Iron Age and later, Etruscan, settlement and, as simple huts gave way to stone houses the town developed into a city. The Roman Republic was established around 509 BC and over the centuries marble villas and monuments were erected as a succession of kings, consuls and emperors created a city known for its architectural splendour. After centuries as a Republic and, following the death of Caesar in 44 BC, as the Roman Empire, the city thrived to become the first international power. The golden age lasted until the fifth century AD when decline set in and invaders laid waste to the former splendour
This ancient history of Rome has been laid bare all over the city but none more so than around the Roman Forum where, during the Renaissance period, Michelangelo excavated the overgrown ruins to find classical inspiration for the Campidoglio. For centuries the area was covered by earth, grazing animals and debris and it wasn’t until the 1930s that the area was excavated properly and the true splendours of Roman antiquity brought to light again. As the Empire declined, the power of the papacy as the major political and cultural force rose from around 590 AD. It ebbed and flowed over the following centuries but the patronage dispensed to great architects and artists have created many of the marvels that attract visitors to the city, in particular the Vatican and its museums and of course Sistine chapel.
To be in Rome is to be right at the centre of Italy and its culture. To find yourself bored in Rome is virtually impossible and, as Goethe wrote in “Italian Journey”, “To take in even a small part of everything there is to see here would take a lifetime or, rather, the lifetime of many human beings learning from each other in turn”. Rome is a large city so the direction you should choose depends very much on your mood for the day.
To immerse yourself in Roman history a short taxi journey will take you to the Forum and the surrounding Roman remains including the Colosseum, and the Capitoline Museums. A walk on the Palatine Hill is one of the most enjoyable ways of retracing the Roman past and another relaxing place to leave behind the noise of the city is to head for Trastevere where a different side of Rome can be experienced in its quiet atmospheric streets and squares or by walking in the parks and gardens that fringe the hills above this western side of the city. If your mood leans towards art and architecture later than the Roman legacy, be sure to visit the splendid Piazza Navona and while in that part of town see the atmospheric Campo dei Fiori. Over the river from here is the splendid Castel Sant’Angelo and the Vatican with all the majestic splendour of St Peters’and the Sistine Chapel. Nearer the hotel is the famous Trevi Fountain and all over Rome are hundreds of fine churches filled with treasures from the past. If you want to walk somewhere else close to the Regina head up the Via Veneto into the Borghese gardens, on to the Pincio and the fine Belvedere above the Piazza del Popolo where the Via Flaminia once entered the city. From here it is a short walk past the Villa Medici to the famous Spanish Steps and into the centre of the shopping area around Via Condotti. Bored you will never be.
