Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Cost and Hours:
Museum—€11, includes entry to the market ruins—also viewable for
freefromViadeiForiImperiali,Tue-Sun9:00-19:00,closedMon,lastentryonehourbefore
closing, audioguide-€3.50, entrance is uphill from the column on Via IV Novembre 94, tel.
06-0608,
www.mercatiditraiano.it
.
Getting There:
Trajan's Column is just a few steps off Piazza Venezia (a hub for major
bus routes #40, #64, #85, and #87) on Via dei Fori Imperiali, across the street from the Vict-
or Emmanuel Monument. Trajan's Market can be entered only through the Museum of the
Imperial Forums at Via IV Novembre 94 (up the staircase from Trajan's Column). Trajan's
ForumstretchessoutheastofthecolumntowardtheColosseoMetrostopandtheColosseum
itself.
The legendary “Mouth of Truth” at the Church of Santa Maria in Cosmedin draws a playful
crowd. Stick your hand in the mouth of the gaping stone face in the porch wall. As the
legend goes (and was popularized by the 1953 film
Roman Holiday
, starring Gregory Peck
and Audrey Hepburn), if you're a liar, your hand will be gobbled up. The mouth is only ac-
cessible when the church gate is open, but it's always (partially) visible through the gate,
even when closed. If the church itself is open, step inside to see one of the few unaltered
medieval church interiors in Rome. Notice the mismatched ancient columns and beautiful
cosmatesque
floor—a centuries-old example of recycling.
Cost and Hours:
€0.50, daily 9:30-17:50, closes earlier off-season, Piazza Bocca della
Verità, near the north end of Circus Maximus.
Of Rome's famous seven hills, this is the smallest, tallest, and most famous—home of the
ancient Temple of Jupiter and the center of city government for 2,500 years. There are sev-
eral ways to get to the top of Capitoline Hill. If you're coming from the north (from Piazza
Venezia), take Michelangelo's impressive stairway to the right of the big, white Victor Em-
manuelMonument.Comingfromthesoutheast(theForum),takethesteepstaircasenearthe
Arch of Septimius Severus. From near Trajan's Forum along Via dei Fori Imperiali, take the
winding road. All three converge at the top, in the square called Campidoglio (kahm-pee-
DOHL-yoh).
▲
Piazza del Campidoglio (Capitoline Hill Square)
This square atop the hill, once the religious and political center of ancient Rome, is still the
homeofthecity'sgovernment.Inthe1530s,thepopecalledonMichelangelotore-establish
this square as a grand center. Michelangelo placed the ancient equestrian statue of Marcus
Aurelius as the square's focal point. Effective. (The original statue is now in the adjacent
