Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Piazza Barberini & Via Veneto
PIAZZA BARBERINI
( Barberini)
More a traffic thoroughfare than a place to linger, this noisy square is named
after the Barberini family, one of Rome's great dynastic clans. In the centre, the Bernini-
god Triton blowing a stream of water from a conch while seated in a large scallop shell
supported by four dolphins. Bernini also crafted the
Fontana delle Api
MAP
GOOGLE MAP
(Fountain of the Bees) in the northeastern corner, again for the Barberini family, whose
crest featured three bees in flight.
PIAZZA
CONVENTO DEI CAPPUCCINI
( 06 487 11 85; Via Vittorio Veneto 27; adult/reduced €6/4; 9am-7pm; Barberini)
This church and
convent complex has recently gained an interesting multimedia museum telling the story
of the Capuchin order of monks, including a work attributed to Caravaggio:
St Francis in
Meditation
. The main attraction, however, is the extraordinary
Capuchin cemetery
MAP
GOOGLE MAP
that lies below, where everything from the picture frames to the light fit-
tings is made of human bones.
Between 1528 and 1870 the resident Capuchin monks used the bones of 4000 of their
departed brothers to create this mesmerising, macabre memento mori (reminder of death).
There's an arch crafted from hundreds of skulls, vertebrae used as fleurs-de-lys and light
fixtures made of femurs. Happy holidays!
MUSEUM
VIA VITTORIO VENETO
( Barberini)
Curving up from Piazza Barberini to Villa Borghese, Via Vittorio Veneto is
the spiritual home of
la dolce vita
- the Rome of the swinging '50s and '60s that was epi-
tomised in Fellini's eponymous film. However, the atmosphere of Fellini's Rome has long
gone and the street today, while still impressive, has the feel of a tourist trap.
Luxury hotels occupy many of the towering streetside
palazzi
, and waistcoated waiters
stand on the tree-lined pavement, tempting passers-by into their overpriced restaurants.
The huge building on the right as you walk up is the US embassy.
STREET
