© Richard Randall

Trevi Fountain

The Trevi Fountain is a lavish eighteenth century vision of utter decadence. The water is that of the Acqua Vergine Antica aqueduct, which Agrippa brought to Rome from a spring about 20km east of the city in order to supply his public baths near to the Pantheon in 19 BC. It was used throughout the middle ages and in 1570 Pius V restored it, and it still feeds the Piazza Farnese, Piazza Navona and the Piazza di Spagna fountains. The original fountain was a very simple basin by Leon Battista Alberti, Urban VIII restored it, apparently obtaining the money from a wine tax ... outrageous! Bernini, Gaspare Vanvitelli and Ferdinando Fuga are just some of the famous architects who put forward ideas for a new fountain. And in 1732 Clement XII ran a competition giving the commission to the not so well known Roman architect and poet Nicola Salvi. His design incorporated the Neo Classical facade of Palazzo Poli as it's background. Unfortunately Nicola Salvi died before the fountain was completed by others including Pietro Bracci in 1762. There are figures of Neptune protected by statues which symbolise Abundance and Health. Two huge Tritons conduct Neptunes' winged chariot which is pulled by horses galloping through the water, one of them is blowing a conch. Above are bas reliefs representing the virgin from which the aqueduct got its name. You can see four statues representing the seasons with gifts. The arms of the Corsini family are at the summit. Around the end of the nineteenth century people began to throw coins over their shoulders into the fountain before they left the city to bring them good luck and to ensure that they would one day return. There were lots of people doing just that when we were there, and as the saying goes 'when in Rome' so both Richard and I threw coins in too. The coins are collected every Monday morning, any Euros go into the municipality's coffers, and foreign currency coins are donated to the Italian Red Cross. The Trevi Fountain has featured in many films; 'Three Coins in the Fountain' from 1954 and 'La Dolce Vita' from 1959 by Frederico Fellini which showed Anita Ekberg taking a dip in the water.

The Pantheon

The Pantheon (Open Mon-Sat 9am-6:30pm and Sun 9am-1pm, Tel: 06 68 30 02 30) is the most interesting monument in Rome as far as we are concerned. The Pantheon that stands today is not the original, this second building was begun in AD 118/119 and was completed around AD 125/128, receiving the name Pantheon which it has retained. The first original temple was built during the third consulate of Agrippa BC 27 to commemorate the victory over Anthony and Cleopatra at Actium. The original building was damaged by a fire in AD 80, then restored by Domitian, misfortune struck again when in 110 it was struck by lightening and destroyed by another fire. The Pantheon was restored by Septimius and Caracalla. The first Christian emperors closed it and it was abandoned to be pillaged by the Goths. The Byzantine emperor Phocas gave it to Boniface IV, Boniface consecrated it as a Christian church in 609, dedicating it to Santa Maria ad Martyres. Legend says that 28 wagon loads of martyrs' bones were transferred there from the catacombs. During a 12 day visit to Rome in 667, Constans II emperor of Byzantium robbed the temple, taking what the Goths had left. He stripped the roof of its gilded tiles which were most likely bronze. The temple was once again restored in 684 by Benedict II, the roof was covered with lead by Gregory III in 735, and in 1153 a palace was built beside it by Anastasius. The Pantheon served as a fortress during the struggles between the rival aristocratic families of Orsini and Colonna, when the popes took up residence in Avignon. Eugenius IV isolated the building in 1435, it was so revered, that on taking office a Roman senator swore that he would preserve 'Maria Rotonda', including the cities relics and sacred treasures for the pontiff. This monument continued to be admired during the Renaissance, and in 1563 Pius IV repaired the bronze door. Unfortunately Bernini added two odd looking turrets in front when he was employed by the Barberini pope Urban VIII. These clumsy turrets were popularly called the 'ass ears of Bernini'! This was not the only act of vandalism perpetrated by Urban VIII, he also had the bronze ceiling of the portico melted down to make the baldacchino at St Peter's and 80 cannon for Castel Sant Angelo. This act prompted the talking statue Pasquino's gibe, 'Quod non fecerunt barbari fecerunt Barberini', which translates as ' What the barbarians did not do, the Barberini did'! In 1662 Alexander VII had the portico restored by Giuseppe Paglia, and the level of the piazza was lowered providing a better view of the facade. In 1668 Clement IX had the portico enclosed by an iron railing. Many years later in 1747 Benedict XIV had the interior and the atrium restored by Paolo Posi. Thankfully those Bernini turrets were removed in 1883. Buried there are the first two Kings and the first Queen of Italy. The Pantheon definitely makes its presence felt in the piazza where it stands. The portico is almost 34m in width and 15.5m deep. There are 16 monolithic Corinthian columns of granite, the bases are white marble, each 12.5m high with a circumference of 4.5m. Three of these columns on the east side are not original, one of them was replaced in 1625 by Urban VIII and the other two were replaced in 1655/1657 by Alexander VII. At the front, stand eight of these huge columns the others in four rows forming three aisles. The central aisle leads up to the bronze door, the others lead you to two great niches where it is thought that originally statues of Augustus and Agrippa may have stood. When we first walked inside the Pantheon it took our breath away, most of the people visiting were just standing still looking up, as were we, amazed at the genius of the architect. The domed interior is amazing, the visual impact it makes unforgettable. Looking up at the dome there are five rows of coffers reducing in size as they near the circular opening in the centre, which measures nearly 9m across, amazing. The design of the coffers is responsible for the effect of the light. Originally these sunken panels were probably decorated with gilded bronze rosettes. The dome, which contains no brick arches or vaults, is the largest masonry vault ever built, exceeding the dome of St Peter's by over one metre. The cylindrical wall is 6m thick containing seven niches, except for the central apse, each one is preceded by two Corinthian columns of giallo antico and flanked by pilasters, the apse has two free standing columns. These niches or recesses would originally have contained statues but now house eight shrines. Triangular pediments flank the apse and entrance, and the others are segmented pediments. Supporting these are two Corinthian columns in giallo antico, porphyry or granite. Above the recess is the entablature and higher still is the attic which was unsuccessfully restored in 1747, as this stage is more pronounced than intended. To the right of the apse you can see part of the original decoration. Between the rectangular openings were pilasters of red marble, more than half the original marble sheets on the walls are still intact, and although the floor has been restored it still retains the original design. In the first chapel on the right hand side are two seventeenth century marble angels and the 'Annunciation' a fresco by Antoniazzo Romano or Melozzo da Forli. There is another fresco this time from the fourteenth century of the 'Coronation of the Virgin', in the aedicule. The tomb of Vittorio Emanuele II, (designed by Manfredo Manfredi), Italy's first king, is in the second chapel. In the third chapel is a fifteenth century Madonna and saints, and in the main apse above the high altar is a seventh century icon of the Virgin and Child. There are other points of interest including a sixteenth century crucifix, the tomb of Raphael and a statue of Madonna del Sasso. There are other famous artists who were buried in the Pantheon including, Baldassare Peruzzi, Giovanni da Udine, Annibale Carracci, Perino del Vaga and Taddeo Zuccari. The Pantheon is an amazing building, it's a great shame though that across the piazza from it, McDonald's rears it's ugly head!

Arch of Constantine

The Arch of Constantine stands next to the Colosseum, in fact you can get some good shots with your camera looking down from there. Erected in AD 315 in honour of Constantine's victory over rival emperor Maxentius, whom he defeated at the Milvian Bridge in AD 312. The arch was restored in 1989. Adorned with sculptures which were reused from older Roman monuments. On the inside of the central archway are reliefs from the frieze of another monument which commemorated Trajan's victories over the Dacians. On the two facades are eight medallions depicting scenes of hunting, these were originally from a monument erected by Hadrian. Higher above are more reliefs which were taken from a monument to Marcus Aurelius, these show orations to the army and the triumphal entry to Rome. Even today the detail in even the smallest figures is amazingly clear and beautiful.

Trajan's Column

Trajan's Column is an amazing site, standing 29.7m high on it's own, 39.8m high in total with the latter addition of the statue of St Peter on the top. The column is constructed from marble drums, it underwent restoration which commenced in 1980 and was completed in 1988. The column was dedicated to Trojan by Hadrian, in memory of his conquest over the Dacians. The frieze spirals down the column for 200m and contains about 2500 relief figures depicting Trajan's outstanding military achievements. Amazingly the carving was completed in under four years. Although it is not easy to appreciate the minute details of all of the figures from the ground, the column is a masterpiece of Roman sculptural art.

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