Travel to Italy

Rome world heritage site.

Founded, according to legend, by Romulus and Remus in 753 B.C., Rome was first the centre of the Roman Republic, then of the Roman Empire, and it became the capital of the Christian world in the 4th century. The World Heritage site, extended in 1990 to the walls of Urban VIII, includes some of the major monuments of antiquity such as the Forums, the Mausoleum of Augustus, the Mausoleum of Hadrian, the Pantheon, Trajan's Column and the Column of Marcus Aurelius, as well as the religious and public buildings of papal Rome.

Ostia Antica

Ostia Antica was originally a colony of Rome, and grew to become the major port of the city. The buildings of Ostia fell into ruins when the town was deserted after Rome's fall in 476 AD, ending up covered by sand and mud from the Tiber. Excavations in the late 19th century started to reveal this preserved ruins, now most of the town is uncovered, so you can get the picture of what life was like in Ancient Rome.

Largo di Torre Argentina

Largo di Torre Argentina is a square in Rome hosting 4 Republican Roman temples, and the remains of Pompey's Theater. The temples were designated as A,B,C and D. A was built in the 3rd century BC, and is probably the Temple of Juturna, B was built in 101 BC, and was a temple devoted to the "Luck of the Current Day"; C was built in the 4th or 3rd century BC, probably devoted to Feronia the ancient Italic goddess of fertility; and D, the largest, was built around 2nd century BC, devoted to Lares Permarini.

Arch of Gallienus

The Arch of Gallienus in Rome dates from 262, located on the site of the Porta Esquilina, built by a private citizen, Marcus Aurelius Victor and dedicated to the emperor Gallienus and his wife Cornelia Salonina. The arch is 8.80 metres high, 7.30 wide, and 3.50 deep, a dedicatory inscription on the architrave, and a simple cornice on each side beneath the spring of the arch.

Piramide Cestia

The Pyramid of Cestius or Piramide Cestia in Rome, is an Egyptian style pyramid near the Porta San Paolo, built around 12 BC as a funerary monument for Caius Cestius. This pyramid is 27m high and 22m square, built in brick-faced concrete covered with slabs of white marble. The burial chamber is 5.95m long, 4.1m wide and 4.8m high, with inscriptions on the east and west sides recording the names and titles of Cestius.

Aventino

Aventino is a district in Rome, named after the hill that rises up near the Tiber river, and is one of the legendary seven hills of Rome. From the top of this hill you'll get an amazing view of the entire city, and the most popular thing to do around this place is to take a peek through the keyhole building. The keyhole building belongs to the Soverign Military Order of Malta, and when you take that peek, you will see 3 countries, the one I just named, Rome (Italy) and St. Peter's Basilica (Vatican City).

Forum Traiani

The Forum Traiani or Trajan's Forum is the last of the Imperial fora of Rome, built by order of Emperor Trajan, and inaugurated in 112. The main entrance to the forum is on the southern side, a triumphal arch surmounted by a statue of Trajan in a six-horse chariot, and has an area of 660 x 390 feet. 

La Bocca della Verità

La Bocca della Verità (the Mouth of Truth) is a very famous sculpted image of a human face, in Rome, and it is thought to be part of an ancient Roman fountain portraying a river god. But that is not the reason for its popularity, the reason is its capability of acting as a lie detector, which dates since the Middle Ages. It was believed that if a person told a lie with his hand in the mouth of the sculpture, it would be bitten off.

The Sistine Chapel

The Sistine Chapel in the Vatican City is probably the most famous church in the world. Is a chapel in the Apostolic Palace, the official residence of the Pope, its architecture resembles the Temple of the Old Testament, and its decoration are frescoes painted by the greatest Renaissance artists like Michelangelo, whose ceiling is legendary. The chapel is rectangular and measures 134 feet long, 44 feet wide, like the Temple of Solomon as given in the Old Testament, and 68 feet high.

The Pantheon

The Pantheon in Rome was built in 27 BC, as a temple to all the Gods of the Roman religion, and served as a a church for Christian religion since the 7th century. It has an inscription at the entrance, tranlation means: "M. Agrippa Built This", and the dome is the 3rd largest masonry dome in the world.