ROME
Festive atmosphere reigns on Piazza Navona until late at night. Miniature size of Piazza Navona repeats the outlines of a giant 30,000 seat stadium opened by Emperor Domitian in 86. The main place of note of the square is Four Rivers Fountain with allegoric figures of the Ganges, the Danube, the Nile and La Plata, signifying Asia, Europe, Africa and America (a work by Lorenzo Bernini).
On Campo de’Fiori (“field of flowers”) there’s a marvelous street market of Rome. Every day except for Sunday the ancient square blossoms; market stalls get filled with fish, fruit, flowers and vegetables, while salesmen appear to have just step out of a Fellini’s movie. There is no church on Campo de’Fiori, which is by itself very untypical for Rome’s architecture. And nothing represents the anticlerical spirit better than a halfway hidden statue in the center of the square – a dark figure of Giordano Bruno, a humanitarian and philosopher burnt here for heresy in 1600.
Sant’Angelo castle, the heavy block of which still dominates over Rome’s panorama, is also called Hadrian’s Mausoleum. Originally it served as the Emperors’ shrine. During a plague in 590 an angel appeared before Pope Gregory I the Great on this site and predicted that the calamity would soon go away. Since then the castle bears its current name. In medieval ages it served as the Pope’s fortress, a prison and barracks. To connect this magnificent monument to the field of Mars, a new bridge was built and named after Emperor Hadrian Aelian Bridge, today – Ponte Sant’Angelo – one of the most beautiful bridges across the Tiber. It is decorated with ten statues of angels built according to a concept of the great Bernini.
30 kilometers away from Rome, in a town Tivoli at the time of the Roman Empire there was a country villa of Emperor Hadrian. Even today grandiose ruins of the huge villa and a park attract numerous tourists. In XVI century, Hyppolite d’Este chose this nook for his countryside villa. In the big shadowy park it is easy to breathe even during heat in August: gorgeous cascades of fountains were built here; among them there are 100 fountain alley, Oval fountain and many others.
Rome cannot be totally known; it reveals its mysteries and beauty neither to those who come only for a few days nor to those who have been living here for years. Every Roman, no matter how good his knowledge of his city is, is somewhat like a tourist. One can visit this city endlessly and each time see it anew. And remember one more thing: the longer you stay here, the more you begin to sense Rome. The city ceases to be a spot on the map; it becomes part of your life. And every time, as you throw a coin into di Trevi fountain, you will feel how much you don’t want to part with Rome.