This was our last day in Rome and, after heavy overnight rain, it dawned dry, bright, and WINDY! Although some clouds appeared this morning, most of the day was sunny, but cooler than it's been so far, and the wind persisted most of the day.
We decided to spend the day wandering around, something Rome is so well suited to. We headed for the Janiculum Hill, which actually looms over our little street. Unlike previous treks up the hill, we took a small bus that runs a continuous circuit up and down the hill and along the passeggiata that traverses the ridge. The Piazzale Garibaldi, atop the hill, offers lovely views of the old center of the city in one direction and the dome of St. Peter's in another. We walked a bit along the passeggiata and then took the bus back down and another to Piazza Venezia.
In the piazza, the Vittoriano, the huge white marble monument to Vittorio Emanuele II, looms over the human and vehicular flow on the street below. The monument, which commemorates Italian unification, is also the site of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and a museum devoted to the reunification. (Much to our amusement, one of the current exhibitions is devoted to "Barbie: The Icon" -- Military Barbie?!?
We climbed the steps of the monument (sometimes referred to as the Wedding Cake, or the Typewriter -- whatever that is!) to its windy wrap-around terrace,which offered views toward the centro storico and over the Roman Forum, the Imperial Forums, Trajan's Column and Marketplace,the Colosseum, and the Palatine Hill, home to Ancient Rome's 1%. What sights! What a place!
Behind the monument, we walked along the edge of the Roman Forum and the Mamertine Prison, where St. Peter was held, to the terraces that flank Michelangelo's magnificent piazza atop the Capitoline Hill, the Campidoglio. The terraces overlook the Forum and offer wonderful views of the site, all the way to the Colosseum.
The steps from street level to the church of Santa Maria in Aracoeli, between the Vittoriano and the Campidoglio, are impossibly steep and high, but there is a side way into the church from the Campidoglio that eliminates most of them, and you can be sure we took it! The church could easily be called St. Mary of the Crystal Chandeliers, for they lined both sides of the nave from the altar to the door, in addition to the tiers of chandeliers that form a double arch above the sanctuary. Unfortunately, it was daylight when we visited, so there was no chance to see them ablaze.
We did brave descending the steps and walked over to the via dei Fori Imperali, the wide boulevard that passes between the Roman Forum and the Imperial Forums and leads to the Colosseum. Normally a congested thoroughfare, on this holiday it was a pedestrian zone. We zig zagged among the forums and eventually past the construction zone for the third Metro Line -- a project that has already taken forever. Typically, construction in Rome involves the discovery of archeological sites that need to be excavated (not with a backhoe!), evaluated, and protected -- not a recipe for on time and under budget!
After marveling appropriately at the Colosseum and massive Arch of Constantine, we walked along to the Circus Maximus, site of Ancient Rome's chariot races, to the Church of Santa Maria in Cosmedin. Busloads of tour groups were lined up to see the Bocca de la Verita, an ancient Roman drain cover bearing the likeness of a face. Since the middle ages, the Mouth of Truth has been said to swallow the hand of any liar; the crowds seemed willing to take the test, but we bypassed the lines and headed for the church instead!
In the same area, we saw two temples dating from the second century BC, and the triumphal quadruple Arch of Janus, adjacent to the Church of San Gregorio in Velabro, a starkly beautiful 8th-century church.
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