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Between Siena and Rome, we stopped and had lunch in Orvieto, an attractive hill top town. |
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The main sight in Orvieto is this stunning Duomo. |
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The rose window of the Duomo. |
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The Lion of St Mark on the facade of the Duomo. |
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The main square in Orvieto, looking from the Duomo. |
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And a very pleasant cafe. |
| In Rome, we stayed in an apartment next to the Pantheon (look at the Hotels page to see how close). This meant that we could wander around the centre of Rome during the night as well as by day. Fantastic. Much better than our previous visits, when we had stayed just outside the centre. |
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The Pantheon is one of our favourite buildings. As we were staying next to it, we made several visits. |
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Looking out of the Pantheon early in the morning, before the area gets crowded. |
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Piazza della Rotonda is the square in front of the Pantheon. This shot is looking away from the Pantheon to the fountain and the buildings at the far side, one of which (alas) contained a branch of McDonalds. At least it was unobtrusive. |
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We wandered to Piazza Navona to see the Four Rivers Fountain, created by Bernini in 1651. |
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A playful elephant statue, also by Bernini. |
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Nearby, there were markers showing the heights of various floods in Rome. |
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Of course, we had to see the Colosseum ... |
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and St Peter's Basilica. |
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The Trevi Fountain by day ... |
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and by night. |
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We visited the Capiloline Museum, on the Piazza del Campidoglio which was designed by Michelangelo in 1536 and completed by Mussolini in 1940. |
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The original centrepiece of the piazza was a bronze equestrian statue of Emperor Marcus Aurelius, which was held in regard because it was thought to be of Emperor Constantine, the first Christian Emperor. The original is now inside the Museum, as seen here, and a replica is in the piazza. |
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The Museum had a number of fragments from a colossal statue of Emperor Constantine. |
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Boy with Thorn, also called Fedele (Fedelino) or Spinario, is a Greco-Roman Hellenistic bronze sculpture of a boy pulling a thorn from the sole of his foot. |
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The Capitoline Wolf is a bronze sculpture showing a she-wolf suckling the mythical twin founders of Rome, Romulus and Remus. |
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There were good views of the Forum from the Museum. |
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| That is quite enough for one page. Go on to Roma, Page 2. |
