Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Giovanni) Brought to Rome by St Helena in the 4th century, the Scala Santa is said to be the
staircase that Jesus walked up in Pontius Pilate's palace in Jerusalem. Pilgrims consider it
sacred and climb it on their knees, saying a prayer on each of the 28 steps. At the top, the
richly frescoed Sancta Sanctorum (Holy of Holies) was formerly the pope's private chapel.
Behind the Scala building you'll see what appears to be a cut-off cross-section of a
building, adorned with a showy gold mosaic. This is the Triclinium Leoninum MAP
GOOGLE MAP , an 18th-century reconstruction of the end wall of the banqueting hall in
the original Palazzo Laterano.
TOP SIGHT
TERME DI CARACALLA
The remnants of the emperor Caracalla's vast baths complex are among Rome's most awe-inspiring ruins. Inaug-
urated in 216, the original 10-hectare complex comprised baths, gymnasiums, libraries, shops and gardens.
Between 6000 and 8000 people were thought to pass through everyday while, underground, hundreds of slaves
sweated in 9.5km of tunnels, tending to the intricate plumbing systems.
The baths remained in continuous use until 537, when the Visigoths smashed their way into Rome and cut off
its water supply. Excavations of the site in the 16th and 17th centuries unearthed a number of important sculp-
tures, many of which found their way into the Farnese family art collection.
Most of the ruins are what's left of the central bath house. This was a huge rectangular edifice, centred on the
frigidarium (cold room), where bathers would stop after spells in the warmer tepidarium and before that the
dome-capped caldaria (hot room). Underground, you can visit the tunnels and a recently opened temple (Mith-
raeum), dedicated to the Persian god Mithras.
In summer the ruins are used to stage spectacular opera performances.
DON'T MISS…
» Frigidarium
» Caldaria
» Mithraeum
PRACTICALITIES
» MAP
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