Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
You will never see these statues from down below, and most of them are long
forgotten.
Along the perimeter railing of the terrace are illustrations of the skyline, with
multilanguage descriptions of what you are looking at. Before you leave, stop at
the coffee bar. Table service is nearly triple the price, so stand at the bar or ask for
your coffee
“da portare via”
and they'll give it to you in a plastic cup so you can
sip it while you enjoy the view. Visiting the terrace takes about half an hour, cof-
fee included.
If you are a war buff, swing through the
Risorgimento Museum,
inside the
Vittoriano, on your way down. It's free, and it is entirely focused on war history,
with weapons, battle plans, and uniforms used by the Italian military.
CAMPIDOGLIO
The first thing you'll likely notice about the two raised
piazze
behind the
Vittoriano is the massive stairways used to reach the Campidoglio and the Basilica
di Santa Maria in Aracoeli. You can reach both the church and the Vittoriano via
the Piazza del Campidoglio, which is a much easier climb than the steep steps of
the church.
The
Basilica di Santa Maria in Aracoeli
(daily 9am-5:30pm)
is one of Rome's
most celebrated Christmas churches when it becomes the stage for a live nativity
scene during the 12 days of Christmas. The floor is a medieval patchwork of worn
marble, and the glass chandeliers provide a dim light, giving it a positively eerie
feel. Look down at the foot-worn tombs in the naves, where the babies and chil-
dren of Italian royalty and aristocrats were laid to rest. Tubby cherubs line the
walls, and there is a replica of a wooden statue of the baby Jesus which was carved
out of an olive tree from the Garden of Gethsemane near Jerusalem.
Capitoline Museums
The Piazza del Campidoglio is enclosed by the world's oldest public museums, the
Capitoline Museums
(Piazza del Campidoglio, 1;
%
06-39967800; www.
museicapitolini.org;
€
7.80 integrated; daily 9am-8pm, ticket booth closes at
7pm),
housed in both the
Palazzo Nuovo
on the left (facing the forums) and
Palazzo dei Conservatori
on the right, where you will find the ticket booth. This
square is also home to Rome's city hall; a notice board outside the Palazzo dei
Conservatori lists couples who have been granted recent marriage certificates, giv-
ing a peek into the marital ages of the locals.
The masterpieces in the Capitoline Museum are considered Rome's most valu-
able (the Vatican Museums are not part of Rome's collection). Start your museum
tour with
Palazzo dei Conservatori
by visiting the courtyard scattered with rem-
nants of a massive 12m (39-ft.) statue of the Emperor Constantine, including his
colossal head, hand, and foot. These are said to be the only pieces of the original
statue made of marble; the rest was carved from wood. Go in through the side
door beside the giant index finger.
The museum floor plan is straightforward, taking you through each of the
rooms in a circle around the building's center courtyard. On the first floor, the
major works are in the first rooms. In
Room 1,
the Sala degli Oraz e Curiazi, don't
miss the 2nd-century bronze statue of Hercules. Room 3 holds a 1st-century
statue of a young boy digging a splinter out of his foot, called
Spinario.
Room 4
is the Sala della Lupe, dedicated entirely to a bronze statue from 500
B
.
C
. of the
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