Travel To Rome Italy

Posts Tagged ‘mythology’

There are a lot of monuments that we can admire going on a few days trip to Rome. Once in a lifetime even a short travel to Rome is obligatory.

If you have never been in the Eternal City, the advice is absolutely to start booking a room in one Rome hotel, so to be able to admire with your own eyes so many architectural beauties to leave breathless. In this section we will talk about the seven hills of Rome, one of the characteristics and one of the most famous tradition of this wonderful city.

According to the tradition, Rome was built on seven hills, all located East of the River Tiber. These seven hills would represent so the heart of the city. The seven hill are the Aventine, the Capitoline, the Caelian, the Esquiline, the Palatine, the Quirinal and the Viminal hill. These hills did have a very important role on the ancient roman mythology, religion and politics.
According to the tradition, Roma was founded by Romulus on the Palatine hill. In fact, right on the top and on the foot of this hill several finds have been found, these finds could be dated back to the age of the first urban settlements. This finds can be also easily admired at the Palatine hill museum, for whoever wants to sleep in Rome for some days.

The Palatine hill area turned out to be inhabited since the I millennium B.C. At the beginning there was just a small village, all surrounded by wetlands. This first urban agglomerate stayed almost unchanged for a couple of centuries, it was the so-called “Roma Quadrata” (Rome square), because of the roughly rhomboid shape of the top of the hill it was located on. The expansion, in the VIII century A.D, of the original unit and the fusion with some tribes located nearby originated that city on the seven hills, however they were not the traditionally known seven hills, but just some minor heights, that are the two of Palatine hill, the Caelian and the Velian, and the three Esquiline west heights.

Only from the IV century A.D., thanks to the building of the walls, built under the reign of king Servius Tullius, an expanded city was enclosed, that contained also the other hills, that means the traditional seven hills.

Seven is a recurrent number in the ancient roman mythology. The Latin terms Septimontium (that means seven hills) was used by the ancient Romans to celebrate a religious festival in the area of the seven hills, that would be exactly the area of Rome. From the ancient time, this special festival, related to the seven hills, was created, it seems, by Numa Pompilius, the second king of Rome after Romulus. This festival in practice was a long procession along the seven hills with sacrifices to celebrate the 27 Argei’s sepulchers, that were on those hills. According to the tradition, the Argei were the heroic Greek princes who, arrived in Lazio following Hercules, would have conquered the hills on which Rome would have been built from the Sicels and the Liguri populations.

These are just some of the stories and legends you could live fist hand, if you will decide to spend a few days in some nice Rome apartments. Rome is a wonderful city, at every step you could find some incredible monuments and some past traces. Histories and legends on this Eternal City are countless, from its foundation up to our days, Rome has always been a magic city, in which everything can happen.

This article was written by Martina Meneghetti with support from rental vacation apartment rome for any information, please visit apartment rental rome or for insurance visit flat in rome .

The Eternal City has been going strong for millennia, so there’s no end of things to do with kids in Rome! Stroll through timeless favorites – piazzas, gardens, museums, crumbly ruins every where you look. The must do’s – the Borghese Gardens, Sistine Chapel, Colosseum, but while in Rome, do as the Romans do: have a picnic, and the kids should try every flavor of gelato.

Tip: Don’t miss our top picks for children’s books on Rome, recommended by the staff of Travel for Kids, see below.

Colosseum and Roman Forum

Centro Storico – Pantheon

St. Peter’s and Vatican Museums – Sistine Chapel

Borghese Gardens

Old Appian Way Park – Catacombs

Ostia Antica

Around Rome

Palazzo Massimo alle Terme
National Roman Museums (Museo Nazionale Romano) – The National Roman Museums have four locations, each with a different focus – the Palazzo Massimo alle Terme, Palazzo Altemps, Terme di Diocleziano, Crypta Balbi.

Of the four museums, the Palazzo Massimo alle Terme has all the truly great stuff from Classical Rome – marble sculptures of the gods, figures of mythology, statues of famous Roman emperors and their wives (check out their hairstyles and fashion), so realistic you feel like you might meet these people on the street.

Churches – Churches abound in Rome, huge cathedrals, medieval, Renaissance, Baroque, eighteenth and nineteenth century churches, churches tucked into the edges of small piazzas. When you pass by one of the many churches, stop in for a brief look, there’s always some interesting sculpture, frescoes, decorated floors and ceilings.

One church with unique appeal for kids is the church of Santa Maria della Concezione (Via Veneto). First check out the saying in Latin on the church, “Here lies dust, ashes, nothing.” But the real attraction is the Capuchin cemetery, a chapel decorated with the bones of 4,000 monks, lamps made out of bones and wreaths of skulls. (Yet another place to earn bragging rights.)

Carriage rides – In earlier eras, Rome was filled with carrozze, horse drawn carriages. You can take a carriage ride around town – pick them up in the piazza by St. Peter’s, the Spanish Steps, or the Pantheon.

Trevi Fountain

Fountains – Everywhere you turn, there’s another fountain in the center of a piazza. Sparkling water gushes and rushes over bigger-than-life sculptures, the fountains in Rome aren’t wimpy trickles. Look for fountains in the Piazza Barberini, Piazza della Republica, Piazza Navona, Piazza di Spagna, the Trevi Fountain, Piazza della Rotonda next to the Pantheon, Piazza del Popolo, fountains in the Borghese Gardens. Tip: If your kids like to draw, bring pads of paper to sketch the fountains.

SPQR manhole covers – Most of the manhole covers in Rome are stamped with the letters SPQR, Senatus Populusque Romanus, “the Senate and the people of Rome.” While you’re walking down the street, keep your eyes peeled for this ancient motto of the Roman empire.

Take the tram around Rome – Pick up the #3 tram for a ride through Rome, on Viale delle Belle Arti (in front of the Museum of Modern Art) in the Borghese Gardens. A 40 min. ride takes you along the park, through Roman neighborhoods, past ancient walls and aqueducts, right to the Colosseum. You could get off there, or keep on going, past the Circus Maximus, up the Aventine, to Piazza Porta S. Paolo and the Tiber River. (At the Tiber, just get off and take the #3 tram going back to the Borghese Gardens). The tram goes slow, it’s pleasant and relaxing, the perfect things for a lazy Sunday afternoon.

Roman Aqueducts – The Romans built aqueducts to bring water into town for all those baths and public fountains. The Goths wrecked most of the aqueducts in the 6th century, but parts of the aqueducts remain, scattered throughout Rome.

Aqua Claudia
The most impressive remnants are next to Via Lemonia (Parco degli Acquedotti, in the Parco Dell’Appia Antica), in the southeast suburbs of Rome. To get there, just take the metro to the Subaugusta stop, and walk four blocks west. Here you can run around the amazing high arches of the Aqua Claudia, as well as the smaller Aqua Felice.

There’s a shorter section of aqueducts at Porta Maggiore in the city center. Take the metro to San Giovanni, walk down Viale Carlo Felice. You’ll see one of the ancient gates, and sections of the Aurelian wall, plus a long grassy areas, and a small playground. Keep walking to Porta Maggiore, which has another ancient gate, and sections of the Aqua Claudia and Aqua Marcia.

Fun food –

The most fun food is ice cream, gelato, and Rome is chock full of “gelaterias,” ice cream stands. Delicious flavors to choose from – ten kinds of chocolate, honey, raspberry, lemon, melon, strawberry, crème caramel, marron glace. One friend said, “My son had four cones a day, chocolate, vanilla, lemon and coconut.” Whenever you need a break, order up a gelato.

Shopping –

Have fun shopping for figures of Roman legionaires and gladiators, miniature colosseums, wooden Pinocchio figures, brightly colored alabaster eggs, colorful jewelry and purses.

Tips –

Archaeologia Card – The Archaeologia Card is good for 7 days, and provides entrance to nine sites – the Colosseum, Palatine, Baths of Caracella, four National Roman museums, and two sites on the Appian Way. It’s money saving, and most importantly, with the card, no waiting in lines with the kids to buy tickets for the Colosseum. Purchase the card at any of the nine sites (buy the card before you tackle the Colosseum).

Mondays in Rome. Most museums in Rome are closed on Monday, so don’t get caught unaware. On Mondays, plan to go to the Borghese Gardens, the aqueducts in the suburbs, the Appian Way, or take a day trip outside Rome.

To get around, the bus system is good, plus the metro. Buy a day ticket for unlimited rides on buses and the metro. Pick up a copy of the Roma Metro-Bus map at any newsstand for information on which bus to take to specific sights.