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City Guide - Rome - Further Distractions | ||
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Further Distractions Fontana di Trevi (Trevi Fountain) A string of legends surround the Trevi Fountain, which is situated on the Piazza di Trevi amid the labyrinthine streets off Via del Tritone. It is said that a virgin came across a three-way (tre-vie) spring, causing the original fountain to be built. More recently, the far from virginal Anita Ekberg immortalised the fountain in the famous scene of Fellini's La Dolce Vita (1959). According to myth, a coin cast in these waters will ensure a return visit to Rome. The Baroque extravaganza was designed by Nicolò Salvi for Pope Clement XII, and completed in 1762. The statues - representing Abundance, Agrippa, Salubrity, the Virgin and Neptune guiding a chariot drawn by sea horses - appear as a cast of characters performing a melodrama, with a Renaissance palace for their backdrop, and craggy rocks in the foreground. Piazza di Spagna & Keats-Shelley Memorial House Eighteenth-century prints of Piazza di Spagna show that this district is little changed. The elegant double steps (1723-26) were designed by Francesco de Sanctis to link Via del Babuino with Via Felice - the first great street planned by Sixtus V (1585-90). Reminiscent of the grand ascent to the Sacré Coeur in Paris, the steps lead to the sixteenth-century Trinitá dei Monti. From here, spectacular views over the city rooftops more than warrant the steep climb. The Spanish Steps acquired their name from the neighbouring Spanish Embassy, but the area is more intimately associated with England, and even acquired the name of the Ghetto de l'Inglesi (English Ghetto). The Grand Tourists of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries - including Keats, Shelley, Byron and the Brownings - helped to establish the district's reputation as a cosmopolitan artistic quarter. At the foot of the steps lies the boat-shaped Barcaccia fountain, designed in 1627 by Bernini. To the right stands the modest Keats-Shelley Memorial House where 25-year-old John Keats died of tuberculosis in 1821. Exhibits include pictures and prints, private letters, an urn bearing Shelley's charred remains and a lock of Keats' tawny red hair. Keats-Shelley Memorial House Piazza di Spagna 26 Tel: (06) 678 4235. Fax: (06) 678 4167. Website: www.keats-shelley-house.org Opening hours: Mon-Fri 0900-1300 and 1500-1800, Sat 1100-1400 and 1500-1800. Admission: L5000. Piazza Navona This dramatic piazza, lined with cafés and restaurants, lies at the heart of the centro storico. Its oval shape follows the form of the former stadium, built in AD86 by Emperor Domitian. During the Renaissance, the site was flooded to stage mock naval battles. The piazza gained its current form in the mid-seventeenth century, when Pope Innocent X commissioned Borromini to design the Church of Sant'Agnese. In front of the church Bernini built the Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi (Fountain of the Four Rivers), adorned with powerful figures representing the four great rivers of the world - the Nile, Danube, Ganges and Rio della Plate. Villa & Galleria Borghese Just to the east of the Spanish Steps lies green relief from sightseeing - the sculpture-scattered gardens landscaped in the seventeenth century for Cardinal Scipione Borghese, nephew of Pope Paul V. This area includes the city zoo, Piazza di Siena arena, mock ancient temples, imitation medieval castles, and an artificial lake. Unfortunately, the most playful elements of this Baroque extravaganza - trick fountains which sprayed unwitting passers-by - no longer exist. The pull of culture may be strong enough to lure the resting visitor into the Casino Borghese, a treasure trove of sculpture and antiquities newly revealed after long restoration work (1983-97); the Etruscan Museum, in nearby Villa Giulia, with its remarkable sarcophagus of the reclining 'Bride and Bridegroom' from Cerveteri; or the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea. However, the Galleria Borghese - home to Bernini's most famous work, Apollo and Daphne, should be seen first. Galleria Borghese Piazzale Scipione Borghese 5 Tel: (06) 854 8577. Fax: (06) 3265 1329. Website: www.galleriaborghese.it Transport: Metro Spagna; or bus or tram to Via Veneto. Opening hours: Mon-Fri 0930-1800. Admission: L12,000. Villa Guilia Piazzale di Villa Guilia 9 Transport: Tram 30 or 225. Opening hours: Tues-Sat 0900-1900, Sun 0900-1300. Admission: L8000. Galleria Doria Pamphili A British voice with a cut-glass accent, issuing from the hand-held cassette, guides visitors through the picture-clogged rooms, lavish furnishings, and ageing sculptures - in short, the excessive wealth of the powerful Doria Pamphili family, pillar of Rome's papal aristocracy. The half-British sibling and heir recalls roller-skating as a child along the parquet floor of the eighteenth-century ballroom - tiny indentations prove the truth of his tale. The rambling palace is still lived in, and a number of the private apartments are open to the public (mornings only) for a small additional fee. Works by Correggio, Caravaggio and Velázquez are on show here, as well as some amusing pieces by lesser-known artists. Piazza del Collegio Romano 2 Tel: (06) 679 7323. Fax: (06) 678 0939. Website: www.doriapamphilj.it Transport: Bus to Piazza Venezia. Opening hours: Fri-Wed 1000-1700 (closed 15-30 Aug). Admission: L14,000. Campo dei Fiori From Monday to Saturday, each day at dawn, stall holders at Rome's best loved fruit and vegetable market set up their wares at Campo dei Fiori. This down-to-earth square, surrounded by tumble-down orange-ochre facades, is a far cry from the more grandiose piazzas of the centro storico. Here one encounters the friendliness and spontaneity for which Romani are so renowned. Come sunset, some of the city's liveliest and most authentic wine bars and trattorie spill their tables out onto the cobbles, as locals and visitors alike flock here to eat and drink below the stars. Transport: Bus to Largo Argentina. |