Weather in Rome

Weather Icon

Italy Rome Tour Blog

Travel tips, Food, Lifestyle, Street Art, Events and Exhibitions in Rome and all around Italy.

latina-door

Where does the name Lazio come from?

Start our journey to get to know the Gates of Rome one by one. In fact, the city is surrounded by imposing protective walls that delimited its borders and by 14 access gates. An important anecdote is linked to one of these. For each door, there are hundreds of associated anecdotes. When you cross these doors it seems to cross not only a frontier and therefore space, but to cross time. One of these fourteen gates is the Porta Latina, whose name derives from the name of the Via Latina in the perimeter of Lazio and belongs to the Aurelian Walls. Unlike other gates that have undergone many changes over the years, the Porta Latina has remained the one that has had fewer reinterpretations than it originally was, despite the frequent conservation restorations and rearrangements of the medieval and more recent times. On the sides it is possible to see the monogram of Constantine while on the right the Maltese cross. A legend that spread in 1600 tells that the flight of the god Saturn towards the Lazio countryside took

Read More
January 6, 2023 3:21 pm
santacostanza-rome

Hidden Rome, The mausoleum of Santa Costanza

Hidden Rome, The mausoleum of Santa Costanza, better known as the mausoleum of Santa Costantina, it is a magnificent Catholic church, located within the monumental complex of Sant’Agnese fuori le mura, in Via Nomentana. Let’s find out all its peculiarities and some curiosities together. It was built between 340 and 345, as his own mausoleum, by Constantina, daughter of Constantine I, close to the Constantinian basilica, near the tomb of Saint Agnes, of which Constantina was a devotee. Both Constantina and her sister Elena were buried there. The building was called “Santa Costanza” when Constantina was venerated as a saint. The building introduces motifs of early Christian architecture, while representing the final phase of late ancient Roman architecture. The mausoleum has a central plan with a circular space covered by a dome and illuminated by twelve arched upper windows that define a luminous band around the tambour. The dome rests on 12 pairs of columns arranged in a ring. Externally the columns delimit an annular corridor covered by vaults. This structure creates spaces strongly characterized by the contrast between light

Read More
June 5, 2022 3:38 pm
spaghetti-amatriciana

Spaghetti Amatriciana, a classic of the Roman tradition

No garlic or onion in the sauce, even you shouldn’t put oil, because the bacon (cut into strips and not into cubes) must fry in its own fat, over low heat. The true, unique, “pure”, immaculate recipe for pasta (strictly spaghetti) in Amatriciana begins with these clarifications. And there is no dispute that the Amatrice dish, the one that the shepherds used to cook between one transhumance and the next, is done just like this. Let’s see it together: the dish was born in Amatrice but was originally without tomato and took the name of “gricia” (or griscia, from the name of a village a few kilometers from Amatrice, a fraction of the municipality of Accumoli, Grisciano), this ingredient was added in following. The Amatriciana, or ‘matriciana in Roman dialect, takes its name from Amatrice, a town in the province of Rieti, until 1927 in Abruzzo. It has been included in the list of traditional Lazio agri-food products. The recipe was invented by the ancient shepherds, who worked on the pastures and brought lard, dry pasta, bacon, black pepper and

Read More
March 18, 2022 6:42 pm
Castel Sant Angel - Rome

Why is called Castel Sant’Angelo

The statue that peeps out of Castel Sant’Angelo, one of the best known Roman monuments, has an interesting and very troubled history. In fact, initially it was made of wood and in a short time it was ruined. From there various replacements, up to the current statue. This is what happened and this is why Castel Sant’Angelo is so called. Castel Sant’Angelo, also known as Hadrian’s Mausoleum, is a monument of Rome, located on the right bank of the Tiber, a short distance from the Vatican, between the Borgo and Prati districts; it is connected to the Vatican State through the fortified corridor of the “passetto”. The castle has been radically modified several times in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. It all began in 135 AD. when the emperor Hadrian asked the architect Demetriano to build a funeral mausoleum for himself and his family, inspired by the model of the mausoleum of Augustus, but with gigantic dimensions. The works lasted several years and were completed by Antonino Pio in 139. The Mausoleum housed the remains of Emperor Hadrian and

Read More
March 13, 2022 3:06 pm
pantheon-rome-by-night

The Pantheon was the most visited monument in Italy

Before Covid in Rome the Pantheon was the most visited monument in Italy. The Pantheon located in the Pigna district, in the historic center of Rome, is one of the most beautiful and grandiose monuments ever built by man. An extraordinary building, built in the imperial era, which has been perfectly preserved and is one of the most admired symbols of the capital. An imposing, spectacular structure, it is the most visited Italian site in 2019. The Pantheon will turn two thousand years in 2027. It is incredible how such an ancient structure has arrived so intact to this day. State property of the Italian State, since December 2014 the Ministry for Cultural Heritage and Activities has managed it through the Lazio Museum Complex, and since December 2019 through the State Museums Direction of Rome. In 2019 it registered 8,955,569 visitors, making it the most visited Italian state museum site. Naturally, the free admission of this monument contributes to the great success of the monument in the capital. The Pantheon is a building of ancient Rome built as a temple

Read More
March 8, 2022 11:30 am
ROMAN-BATH-caracalla

The Baths of Caracalla were a gigantic sports center of ancient Rome

Rich in marble, frescoes and mosaics, the Baths of Caracalla were a gigantic sports center, with hot and cold baths, swimming pools, saunas, gymnastics and meeting rooms embellished with domes, colonnades and gardens. Here, citizens loved to relax, play sports, meet for an appointment (a bit like what happens now in fitness centers or even in shopping centers). The baths were a unique complex in terms of size and decoration, these baths represent one of the best preserved large imperial buildings of antiquity. The baths of Caracalla or Antoniniane are still preserved for most of their structure and do not have modern buildings around them. They were built between 212 and 216 AD. da Caracalla, son of Septimius Severus, who inaugurated the central building in 216 AD. The rectangular plan is typical of the “great imperial baths”: a unique place where you can swim, exercise and care for the body, but also a place for strolling and studying. The central block is the one intended for the Baths: here are the calidarium, the tepidarium, the frigidarium and the natatio. On

Read More
February 26, 2022 11:15 am
Gladiators-russell-crowe-movie

The Gladiator in Ancient Rome were Sex Symbol

We all know that gladiators were particular fighters of ancient Rome but we do not know a whole series of curious aspects about these people, who are so famous even in modern times, despite the fact that many centuries have passed. The name derives from gladius, the sword of the ancient Roman legionary that was also used by wrestlers. The practice of duels between gladiators comes from the Etruscans and, like many other aspects of Etruscan culture, this too was adopted by the Romans. The gladiators were on average between 20 and 35 years old (in the majority, however, 30), in line with the life expectancy of the time. And the height was also in line with the time: 168 cm. The first gladiator show probably took place in 264 BC. In 105 BC the games became public. The number of gladiatorial shows increased enormously during the Empire. The Flavian dynasty, which began with the Emperor Vespasian, built the largest and most famous amphitheater in the world, the Flavian amphitheater, later known from the Middle Ages as the Colosseum. In

Read More
February 20, 2022 4:00 pm
circus-of-nero-roman-empire

St. Peter’s Square and the Circus of Nero

Did you know? In imperial times, in Rome, where there is St. Peter’s Square, the Circus of Nero stood. Nero’s Circus stood in St. Peter’s in the Vatican, before the square and the Basilica were built? Right here, in fact, there was an installation for shows, about half a kilometer long. Chariot races, circus performances, Christian executions (including that of St. Peter’s): these are the events hosted, for the amusement of the emperor. The circus of Nero was a spectacle plant of ancient Rome 540 meters long and about 100 wide, which stood right in the place where today the basilica of St. Peter in the Vatican is located, in a valley that went from the left side of today’s basilica to almost to get to the Tiber. The Carceres area, from where the chariots left, was located at the point from which the Via del Sant’Uffizio leaves Piazza Pio XII, while that of the curved side can be traced a few tens of meters after the apse of St. Peter’s Basilica. The work, begun by Caligula and completed by

Read More
February 14, 2022 6:17 pm
Basilica-Santa-Maria-in-Trastevere

The oldest Fountain in Rome

Did you know? The oldest fountain in Rome, still working, is the one located in front of the basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere. This wonderful monument was designed by Donato Bramante starting from an imperial fountain, over time it was then modified first by Gian Lorenzo Bernini and then by Carlo Fontana. Let’s go and discover all the secrets. Over the centuries, Pope Adrian I wanted the pre-existing fountain to be restored and since then documentary traces have been lost until 1450. On the occasion of the jubilee, under the papacy of Niccolò V Parentucelli, a square basin was built on a short staircase. Two circular-shaped basins were placed in the center, one above the other, both supported by a column. Between 1496 and 1501 Bramante put his hand to the fountain. He decorated the remaining upper basin with wolf heads: the water gushed from their mouths to fall back into the lower basin. At the end of the sixteenth century Giovanni Fontana carried out a radical intervention on the same work to change its appearance. The base basin

Read More
February 10, 2022 3:06 pm

The Fountain of the Four Rivers in Piazza Navona

The fountain located in Piazza Navona, called the Four Rivers, is one of the most beautiful and famous in the world. A masterpiece of Baroque art, it was designed by the immense Gian Lorenzo Bernini on a direct commission from Pope Innocent X in 1651. The fountain dominates the square, one of the most beautiful in the city, and the four famous statues that symbolize the four rivers that represent four different continents. Let’s find out which are these 4 rivers of the 4 great continents of the Earth and all the other curiosities related to this authentic artistic marvel. Just think that until 1800 the fountain was used to cool the square on hot August days, closing the drains.The fountain portrays the four main rivers of the Earth, one for each continent then known: Nile in Africa, Danube in Europe, Rio de la Plata in South America and Ganges in Asia and is dominated by the Agonal obelisk, coming from the circus of Maxentius on the Appia Antica, (the appian way). The fountain stands in the center of the

Read More
January 23, 2022 9:22 am