Caput Mundi is one of the world's most popular tour destinations.
Travelers to Italy are welcome to visit a great number of world-class
attractions, such as churches, piazzas and museums. So make sure Rome
is the first place to visit when you travel
Italy.
The saying "All roads lead to Rome" had literal
meaning at the times of the Roman Empire and the cultural heritage is
so great here that you are more likely to lack time than things to see.
Three million people from every corner of the world visit Rome every
year.
The city is believed to be founded by twin boys named Romulus and Remus
and this is where its name allegedly takes its origin.
One of the most famous places of interest in the area is the building
called “Borgo”, Saint Angelo’s Castel. As
the legend claims, in 590, during a terrible plague, at the very top of
the structure the pope saw an angel encasing a sword, which marked the
end of the disaster. Almost 500 years later six different angels made
of wood, marble, bronze or gold replaced each other.
The years passed by, and the castle became property of the Vatican.
Beneath it prisoners' cells were located, so small that it was
impossible neither stay standing nor laying down, and some prisoners
had to be put down from the top of the cell as it could not be entered
otherwise. History of
Italy is multicoloful.
Another must-see in Rome is Saint Peter’s. Where else could
you visit abroad not leaving the city? And this is exactly what you can
do during your stay entering the borders of the smallest country in the
world, the Vatican, a city-state with around 500 inhabitants. There are
three entrances to the city: the Arch of the Bells, letting you in you
straight into the gardens; the Doors of Bronze, and the
“Porta S. Anna”. Bear in mind that access to the
Vatican City is only allowed to visitors properly dressed: you cannot
wear shorts, mini-skirts, and tank tops.
The first thing that attracts your attention in Via della Conciliazione
is the massive Basilica and its columns, reflected in a painting by
Bernini as a human figure, with the head represented by the dome and
the arms represented by the columns. On Sunday mornings the pope
appears in the piazza creating great curiosity within
tourists.
The celebrated Michelangelo's Pieta, the first chapel of the
right-hand aisle of Saint Peter’s, is one of the great
master’s most important works, and the only one signed by
him.
Just past the door to the aisle coming from the old Saint Peter's there
is the famous rota porphyretica or wheel of coronation set in the
pavement. It was on this stone that the emperors stood while being
crowned by the popes.
The portal to the Palazzo dei Cavalieri offers an interesting optical
effect giving an original view of Saint Peter’s from the
keyhole, through which one can see the dome of the basilica. All of the
garden, the portal and the square were specially designed to allow for
this little miracle.
If you happen to visit the Sistine Chapel, blessed with artistic
masterpieces and temples of music, remember to take a mirror to see the
frescoes better and easier.
In the centre of Piazza Vittorio, near Termini Station, there are some
ruins. Come here to admire the Magic Gate, an arch upon which the
alchemical formula for making gold is inscribed. The the legend says
that in 1600 the owner of the villa where the magic Gate is today
offered an alchemist an apartment, funds and equipment to perform the
miraculous transformation. The alchemist soon fled, leaving some gold
pieces and the formula later put on the monument.
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