Attractions

Rome Architecture – Memorials and Monuments

Travel in Rome , more than in any other city, is about history. Here are some of Rome 's monuments and memorials that will let you take a closer look at the vibrant history and historical figures of Rome.

Casa Museo G. De Chirico
Piazza di Spagna 31, Rome, Italy
Phone: 06/6796546

This small museum was the home of Italian surrealist artist Giorgio De Chirico (1888-1978) while he lived with his second wife, Isa. It's been kept as it was when De Chirico lived and worked here, and displays about 70 oil paintings in a range of styles, plus various sculptures by the artist. The second-floor studio gives a frozen-in-time glimpse of one of Italy's great modern artists at work. Call ahead to book a tour in English, available at no extra charge.

COST: EUR5. Weekdays 10-1.

Keats and Shelley Memorial House
Piazza di Spagna 26, Rome, Italy
Phone: 06/6784235

The English Romantic poet John Keats lived here in what was the colorful bohemian quarter of 18th- and 19th-century Rome, especially favored by the English. You can visit his rooms, which have been preserved as they were when he died here in 1821. They contain a rather quaint collection of memorabilia of English literary figures of the period -- Lord Byron, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Joseph Severn, and Leigh Hunt as well as Keats -- and an exhaustive library of works on the Romantics.

www.keats-shelley-house.org.

COST: EUR3. Weekdays 9-1 and 3-6, Sat. 11-2 and 3-6.

Campidoglio
Piazza del Campidoglio, Rome, Italy

The Capitol was the center of political power in ancient Rome. It was also the center for the most important ceremonies out of all other Rome architecture ensembles, such as the investiture of the consuls on January 1, and above all the Triumph. This supreme honor, given to generals under the Republic and later to the emperors, was the occasion for a long procession leading to the steps of the Temple of Jupiter. The Capitol's importance has endured throughout the history of Rome.

This splendid example of Rome architecture was conceived by Michelangelo, who also designed the two palaces on the opposite sides of the square. It is reached by the grand flight of steps known as the "Cordonata", built to a design by Michelangelo especially for the triumphal entry of the Emperor Charles V in 1536. Michelangelo placed on a new pedestal the equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius (161-180), removed in 1981 for some delicate restoration and situated on the ground floor of the Museo Capitolino.

A few years after he arrived in Rome, Pope Paul III (Farnese) decided to reshape the Capitoline Hill into different Rome architecture ensemble - a monumental civic piazza; Michelangelo designed the project and his Piazza del Campidoglio is one of the most significant contributions ever made in the history of urban planning. The hill's importance as a sacred site in antiquity had been largely forgotten due to its medieval transformation into the seat of the secular government and headquarters for the Roman guilds, and it was in forlorn condition when Michelangelo took charge of reorganizing it as a dynamic new center of Roman political life. This Rome architecture project went forward in slow stages with many interruptions; little was built before his death in 1564. It was begun in 1538 and was not completed until the seventeenth century.

Palazzio Senatorio
Piazza del Campidoglio, Rome, Italy

Rome's city hall thrusts its foundations deep into the Tabularium, the ancient city's hall of records. During the Middle Ages it looked like the medieval town halls you see in Tuscan hill towns, part fortress and part assembly hall. The building was entirely rebuilt in the 1500s as part of Michelangelo's revamping of the Campidoglio for Pope Paul III; the master's design was adapted by later Rome architecture specialists, who wisely left the front staircase as the focus of the facade. The ancient statue of Minerva in the niche at the center was opportunely renamed the Goddess Rome, and the river gods (the River Tigris remodeled to symbolize the Tiber, right, and the Nile, left) were hauled over from the Terme di Costantino on the Quirinal Hill.