A Roman Holiday

Sightseeing in Rome is exhilarating and exhausting. Its sheer imperial scale is sure to knock you out. That it wasn’t built in a day is quickly evident when I started to explore the Roman ruins, monuments, basilicas, churches, piazzi, parks, museums and fountains. All these and the Vatican too! Founded, according to legend, by Romulus and Remus in 753 BC, Rome was first the center of the Roman Republic, then of the Roman Empire, and then, it became the capital of the Christian world in the 4th century, the “Caput Mundi,” and now the World Heritage site extended in 1990 to the walls of Urban VIII and includes some of the major monuments of antiquity such as the massive Colosseum, the Forums, the Mausoleums of Augustus and Hadrian, the Pantheon, Trajan’s Column, and the Column of Marcus Aurelius, as well as the religious and public buildings of papal Rome. Basilica San Clemente is perhaps Rome’s most unusual church near the Colosseum. A place of worship for more than 2000 years, first as a pagan temple and, since the fourth century, a Christian church that was rebuilt in the 12th century; each structure still visible; frescoes and mosaics date to the first millennium. The Eternal City is one of Europe’s most ancient urban centers, dating back almost 3000 years. Rome’s early inhabitants left behind a trove of architectural masterpieces. The Italian capital also boasts an unparalleled concentration of world-class art, from Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel to the baroque Trevi …
Video Rating: 5 / 5