When I travel to Rome, I remind myself each time how magical this city is by doing the same exact walk every time. It is really a walk of piazzas and fountains, of ancient monuments and baroque, and it starts in the Piazza della Minerva at the back of the Pantheon with Bernini’s Elephant (pictured) plopped in the middle of the square. The whole walk takes about an hour or two or three depending on whether you stop for coffee, lunch, or ice cream. My recommendation is to do all three!

At the Church of Santa Maria della Minerva there is a statue by Michelangelo. A good iconic way to start the walk. At the Piazza della Rotunda, the Pantheon square, ancient Rome comes crashing down on you. This is the lowest part of Rome. Note that most Roman statues or monuments are submerged under the belly of the modern city.

The Piazza is surrounded by cafes, restaurants, a hotel, and of course the marvelous Pantheon itself. Originally built in 29 BC by Agrippa and then restored and rebuilt after a fire by Hadrian, this is the most perfectly preserved piece of Roman architecture that you can see.  Here is the resting place of Rafael, the composer Corelli, the first two kings of the united Italy, and Queen Margarita who gave her name to a pizza! Inside, the oculus opens to the sky so that shafts of light illuminate what were the original statues of the Gods around the edges.

Just out on the back end of the square is the Tazza D’oro. Here you find the finest shot of espresso in all of Italy. A cut through the back streets, and we are into the Piazza Navona (pictured below).  Bernini’s Fountain of Four Rivers is spectacular and now shining and clean after several years of scaffolding had hidden it from view. Borromini Church works perfectly against the statue. This is a marvelous square that was formally a stadium in Domitian’s time and was subsequently used during the medieval period for fun water battles. If we walk through the back of the square, away from the Tibur, we drift past the famous statue of Pasquino. In medieval times, citizens were able to post naughty comments right on it and it has been used this way ever since.

We cross the road, surviving the traffic of the Via Vittorio Emmanuelle, and pass a delicatessen with the largest slab of mortadella I have ever seen in the world. It is at least three feet wide and six feet long! And oh, so healthy. And then on into the Campo de Fiori.  Famous today for its bars and restaurants and its daily market, it is the hub of the city. It has the best Pizza sold in the city at the Forno and a great restaurant called ‘La Carbonara’.

The fountain that is at the end of the square was moved to accommodate the ominous chap in the center who looks like Darth Vadar. His name is Giordano Bruno (pictured) and he was burnt at the stake here in 1600. He claimed that the earth was the center of the universe. Oops…bad timing. The palace next door to the square is La Cancellaria. It has a famous set of frescoes by Vasari who wrote the “Lives of the Artists.”  It is said that he set out to compete with the Sistine Chapel and boasted to Michelangelo that his work was completed in just 100 days.  According to my sources (and they are reliable!) Michelangelo replied, “It shows.”  Since then, it has been called the 100 day gallery.

Down at the other end of the Campo, the buildings follow the curved foundations of the theater. This was actually the Theater of Pompey, the first stone theater of ancient Rome.  More importantly, it was here that Julius Caesar was assassinated.

A hop, step, and a jump away is the Piazza Farnese. The Palazzo Farnese dominates the square. Michelangelo even designed the top floor. It has been the French embassy since Mussolini’s time. Sometimes you can get in to look at the famous frescoes of the Carracci Brothers on the second floor. The piazza itself houses two lovely fountains with bathtubs that were pulled from the baths of Caracalla which is famous nowadays for its opera performances. Standing in the middle of this square, you get this real sense of the full power of the Renaissance with baroque fountains and the ancient Roman granite bathtubs of Caracalla.

Grab a moment here; close your eyes, time travel, and wander back through the busy shopping streets and know that you have walked a walk of 2,000 years.

[Photo credits: Piazza della Minerva, Piazza Navona, Giordano Bruno statue,Piazza Farnese]

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