My obsession with Rome is starting to get a bit ridiculous.
In my last post, I shared new things from my first three days in Rome. Now I’m going to try to fit 4.25 days in this one.
On my 4th day, I went out to Ostia Antica, the ancient port of Rome. That’s going to be my next post, however, I did take a detour on the way out there. I had to switch from the metro to a commuter train, and there’s something pretty neat right across the street from the station.
Jana Irving The Pyramid of Cestius, Rome’s pyramid. It was built as a tomb for Gaius Cestius in 18-12 BCE. It was later incorporated into the Aurelian city walls (3rd century CE).
Now for Day 5. It was a pretty packed day of churches, museum and ancient ruins.
Jana Irving The Insula dell’Ara Coeli is one of the remaining Ancient Roman insula, an apartment building with businesses often the ground floor. This one is right next door to the Monument to Victor Emmanuel II.
I next stopped at my favorite museum in Rome, the Capitoline Museums. Now skipping ahead to something I haven’t written about before. I have no idea why I haven’t been there before.
Jana Irving The Doria Pamphilj Gallery is a private palazzo/art museum.
Jana Irving It was a lot more than I expected. This is one of four hallways like this that goes around a courtyard.
Jana Irving I expected just a few rooms jampacked with paintings but it was a lot more than that.
Jana Irving Lots and lots of shiny. These two rooms were the ballroom.
Jana Irving The bigger room of the ballroom.
Jana Irving It even had an orchestra area.
Jana Irving A very ornate chapel is next to the ballroom.
Jana Irving A giant room with giant paintings.
Jana Irving It was a pretty cool museum.
Jana Irving Italy, the country where you can find this behind a door.
Jana Irving Sant’Andrea delle Fratte. A lot of the pews weirdly face a side chapel near the front entrance instead of the main altar.
Now for Day 6.
Jana Irving I started the day with a walk past the Quattro Fontane (the Four Fountains). Each corner of this intersection has a different fountain representing a theme.
Jana Irving Santi XII Apostoli (Twelve Apostles).
Jana Irving I’d had been in this church before, but never went down into the crypt.
Jana Irving In 1871, they redid the crypt and painted faux Early Christian catacomb frescoes. They even took marble burial vault covers. In the dim light, I thought it was an actual catacomb down there. It’s not.
Jana Irving Santa Maria sopra Minerva. The first church here was built on the ruins of a temple to Minerva. This church is actually the only true Gothic style church left in Rome. There used to be more but they were renovated to later styles.
Jana Irving The church was undergoing renovations during my last visit to Rome in 2019. It’s looking pretty good.
Next I stopped at the museum containing part of the ancient Stadium of Domitian. Rome’s famed Piazza Navona now sits where the race track of the stadium used to be. The stadium building itself was incorporated into many of the buildings surrounding the piazza.
Jana Irving The largest section of the stadium free from the surrounding buildings. A small museum was constructed around it.
Jana Irving Stairwell of the old stadium.
Jana Irving Piazza Navona, the former track of the Stadium of Domitian.
Jana Irving The very gold and gorgeous Sant’Andrea della Valle.
Jana Irving A random tower incorporated into a building near Piazza Navona.
I spent the rest of the day in two of the National Museums of Rome. Skipping ahead to Day 7. I started off at San Giovanni in Laterano (St. John Lateran), which I go every time I got to Rome. I had never been inside its Baptistery though before, which was pretty neat.
Jana Irving The Lateran Baptistery (Battistero Lateranense di San Giovanni in Fonte) is from 440 CE with later renovations.
Jana Irving Much of the decoration was added in the 17th century.
Jana Irving San Clemente was built on an Ancient Roman private house that was used as a meeting place for Christians. By the 6th century, an actual church building was on the site. The current church dates from the 12th century.
Jana Irving The 12th century appearance is remarkably preserved. The choir in the middle of the room has pieces from the first basilica on this site.
Jana Irving Wonderful 12th century mosaics.
Jana Irving Santa Maria dell’Orazione e morte. I randomly stopped inside this church to avoid a large school group of middle schoolers taking up the entire street.
Jana Irving The crypt was a bit interesting. Yes, that is a cross made of real skulls. The chandelier is made from a lot of vertebrae. Odd find.
And finally, my last day in Rome. I went out to a part of Rome I hadn’t been yet to take a tour of a catacomb. No pictures from that but there was a few other things I saw that day.
Jana Irving Mausoleo di Santa Costanza, which was not open for some reason. It really bummed me out because it was built in the 4th century supposedly for the body of Constantine the Great’s daughter Constantia. It still has many of its 4th century Early Christian mosaics.
Jana Irving Nearby is Santa Costanza’s sister church Sant’Agnese fuori le Mura. This one is a replaced an much earlier structure on the site. Still old though.
Jana Irving My third to last stop was San Lorenzo fuori le Mura (St. Lawrence outside the Walls). It’s a 6th century church with 12th century renovations. I wasn’t able to make it inside.
Jana Irving But next door to San Lorenzo was a cemetery, Verano Monumental Cemetery. Of course, I found a cemetery. It’s actually pretty close to Termini, Rome’s most central station.
Jana Irving It’s a giant cemetery. I only was able to get around about a quarter of it.
Jana Irving I stayed in one of the older sections of the cemetery, because that’s usually where all the cool tombs are located. Images of the deceased are still common on tombs in Italy today.
Jana Irving Many European cemeteries have a cloister like structure. They are very common in Italian cemeteries.
Jana Irving Some of the sculptures are a bit lifelike.
Jana Irving A modern mausoleum that looks like an Ancient Roman one.
Jana Irving It’s a pretty neat cemetery.
Rome is a lot. I revisited a lot of what I have seen before but I did try to visit something new every day. It was an exhausting visit but I’m glad I chose to go to Rome at the beginning of the trip instead of the end. I don’t think I would have seen half of what I did if I went later in the trip.
Check out my next update where I explore Ostia Antica, the ancient port of Rome!
or
Check out my other posts on Rome!
