Amazing Rome

 

CIRCUS MAXIMUS

 

Situated in the valley between the Aventine and Palatine hills, it was the first and largest chariot racing stadium and mass entertainment venue in ancient Rome. In its fully developed form, the Circus became the model for circuses throughout the Roman Empire. It could accommodate up to 250,000 people! 

 

 

 

ORANGE GARDEN

 

The medieval fortress of the Aventine Hill became a large garden surrounded by walls. The Garden was built in 1932 and designed by Raffaele De Vico; it’s called the Orange Garden because there are numerous bitter orange trees. From the terrace you can enjoy one of the most beautiful views of Rome.  

 

 

 

ST. SABINA BASILICA

 

The church is called the "Pearl of the Aventine" and it's one of the best preserved early Christian churches. St. Sabina is the oldest extant Roman basilica in Rome that kept its original colonnaded rectangular plan and architectural style. The wooden door of the main entrance, on which we find the earliest depiction of Christ's crucifixion, dates back to the fifth century AD.

 

 

 

PRIORY OF THE KNIGHTS OF MALTA

 

The square of the Priory of Malta, designed in 1765 by Piranesi, is surrounded by a wall decorated with obelisks and military trophies. The square takes its name from the Villa of Priory of the Knights of Malta which is located here. The Villa is arguably best known for a keyhole through which the dome of Saint Peter's Basilica, the center of Roman Catholicism, can be viewed at the end of a garden avenue framed in clipped cypresses!

 

 

 

MITHRAEUM OF ST. PRISCA

 

A series of well-preserved areas holds one of the most interesting Roman mithraeums, located in an older building identified as the house of the Emperor Trajan.  In the fifth century AD, the Christians took over the Mithraeum and built the church of St. Prisca on top of it. The church is probably the oldest evidence of Christian worship of the Aventine hill.

 

 

 

PYRAMID OF CESTIUS    

 

The Pyramid was built by Roman magistrate Caius Cestius as his magnificent burial tomb around 20 BC, modeled on the much less steeply pointed Egyptian pyramids, exemplified by the famous pyramids of Giza. The pyramid is a funerary monument about 36 metres high. For centuries it dominated, in a secluded position, over the ancient Via Ostiensis, until it was incorporated into the Aurelian Walls to form a triangular bastion.  

 

 

 

ST. PAUL’S GATE

 

St. Paul’s Gate is one of the southern gates in the third century AD Aurelian Walls which encircled Rome. The original name of the gate was Ostiensis Gate because it was located at the beginning of via Ostiense, the road that connected Rome and Ostia, where it functioned as its main gate. Later, when Christianity spread, the gate was renamed St. Paul’s Gate, because it was at the exit of Rome leading to the St. Paul’s-Outside-the-Walls Basilica.

 

 

 

PROTESTANT CEMETERY

 

The Protestant, or Non-Catholic, Cemetery holds Protestants, Jews, and Orthodox Christians. At the beginning of the eighteenth century, the cemetery assumed a special charm that endeared it to the sensitivity of the Romantic artists. This place is also known as the graveyard of artists and poets. Many indeed are the artists who lie here: well-known names such as Keats and Shelley, whose tombs are the destination of pilgrimage for some British visitors.