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ITINERARY 2 - The Palatine, Imperial Forum, Colosseum. THE PALATINE: The Palatine is the hill on which the original nucleus of the city of Rome arose: the settlement (known as Roma Quadrata) founded by Romulus, according to legend, in 754 or 753 B.C. The hill originally had two summits: the Palatium and the Germalus (subsequently levelled by Domitian). Of the seven hills of Rome it is undoubtedly the richest and most evocative in historical remains. In the republican period, many famous personalities of the time, including Cicero built their houses on this hill. It became the site of numerous temples and, in the imperial period, also of the palaces of the emperors. The first of these latter was that of Tiberius: the domus Tiberiana. After the decline and fall of the Roman Empire, the architectural history of the Palatine continued in the 11th century, with the building of churches, castles and convents over the ruins of antiquity, and then in the 16th when the Farnese built the sumptuous Villa Farnese and its elaborate gardens, the Horti Farnesiani, on the hill. This noble family also deserves the credit for bringing the Palatine ancient ruins to light, even though the proper archeological exploration of the hill had to await the more systematic excavations of Rosa, Vaglieri and Boni in the 19th century. We ascend the Palatine from the Roman Forum, by way of the Clivus Capitolinus, which we join after the Arch of Titus. We then come to the imposing 16th century Portal designed by Vignola, which precedes the wonderful gardens of the Horti Farnesiani in which the Farnese Pavilion, part of their splendid villa, stands. This delightful setting is made particularly evocative by the presence of the ancient ruins we pass during our exploration of the hill. Of the Domus Tiberiana, the palace of the emperor Tiberius, little remains to be seen above the ground, though it was supported by a huge artificial terrace. Of the Temple of Magna Mater or of Cybele, whose statue now stands in the Domus Tiberiana, the podium remains. Close to it are the remains of the Scalae Caci, a starway giving access to the Palatine and of very ancient origin, and some remains of prehistoric huts: according to legend, they mark the site of the House of Romulus. Also extant are two circular cisterns dating to the 5th century B.C. and some remains which are attributed by tradition to Rome first circuit of walls. From the Temple of Magna Mater we make our way down to the House of Livia: it was in fact the house of Augustus (Livia was his wife). Its structure and the marvellous mural paintings that decorated its rooms have been preserved almost intact. Close to it is an underground passageway that connected the imperial palaces: the Cryptoporticus of Nero. Beyond it are the impressive ruins of the Domus Flavia, the large and elaborate palace built by the Flavian emperors, notably Domitian. Various parts of the complex are well-preserved: the basilica, the Aula Regia or throne-room and the emperors dining-room: the imperial Triclinium. A convent was built over the ruins of another adjacent palace, the Domus Augustana: it now houses the Antiquarium of the Palatine, a museum comprising a collection of artefacts, sculptures and remains of mural paintings found on the hill. Other ruins on the Palatine include the large Hippodrome or Stadium built by Domitian; the large and impressive remains of the Domus Severiana, part of the Palace built by Septimius Severus; and the Paedagogium, a college for imperial pages also dating to the period of Domitian. THE IMPERIAL FORUMS: The enormous political and economical expansion of Rome, and the consequent growth in judicial activity, meant that a single Forum was inadequate to cope with the increasing demands placed upon it (the Roman Forum, in any case, could not be enlarged because of the lack of building space). It was Caesar who first built another one, towards the end of the Republic: this was the Forum Julium, laid out in the environs of the Campus Martius. This was followed by the successive addition of the Forum of Augustus, the Forum of Vespasian, the Forum of Nerva and the Forum of Trajan. Our visit to the Imperial Forums has the Piazza Venezia as its departure point. Turning into the Via dei Fori Imperiali to the left of the Victor Emanuel Monument, we immediately come to the Piazza del Foro Traiano on which two adjacent churches stand: the Renaissance church of Santa Maria di Loreto and the 18th century church of the Holy Name of Mary. Facing them are the wonderful remains of the Forum of Trajan, designed by Apollodorus of Damascus and built between 107 and 113: it was thus the last of the Imperial Forums to be built. Grandiose in conception, it was laid out round a central square, which was flanked by two lateral arcades; the complex of the Basilica Ulpia and the Libraries; on the opposite side, the Temple of Trajan. At the centre of the square stood an equestrian statue of the emperor. To one side of the Basilica Ulpia we can still admire Trajan Column, dedicated to M.Ulpius Trajanus and commemorating his victorious expeditions against the Dacians (it is 40 metres high excluding the basement). Tommaso della Porta bronze statue of St.Peter has stood on top of the column since 1587. The shaft of the column, consisting of 18 superimposed blocks of marble, is decorated with a continuous spiral frieze immortalizing, in wonderful reliefs, the emperor victorious campaigns in Dacia. The base ment of the column houses the sepulchral chamber in which the emperor wished his ashes to be preserved. Adjacent to the column are the much-depleted ruins of the Basilica Ulpia, but the remains of the columns attest to the grandeur of its architectural plan, consisting of five aisles. To the rear of the Forum of Trajan is the imposing Hemicycle of the Markets of Trajan, a commercial complex consisting of three levels of shops; a large hall was also used as a market. Continuing along the Via dei Fori Imperiali, we now come to the Forum of Augustus. It was erected to commemorate the victorious battle of Philippi, fought by Augustus in 42 A.D.: the battle in which Brutus and Cassius, the assassins of Caesar, met their death. Of the Temple of Mars Ultor (the god of war to whom the whole forum was dedicated) some magnificent fluted columns and the frontal stairway remain. Also identifiable are the meagre ruins of the two basilicas and a few other architectural features which formed part of the Forum. Next to the Forum of Augustus is the Forum of Nerva (97 A.D.), also called the Forum Transitorium because it provided transit between the popular district of the Suburra, the Roman Forum and the other Forums. Within stood the Temple of Minerva, whose basement podium remains at the centre of the Forum. Other remains, at its further end, consist of two half-buried Corinthian columns (known as The Colonnacce). There follows the Forum of Peace or Forum of Vespasian, of which little remains other than an exedra and some prostrate fragments of column (in front). The Church of Saints Cosmas and Damian was built over the ruins of a hall forming part of the Forum. On the other side of Via dei Fori Imperiali, immediately after the Victor Emanuel monument, is the Forum of Caesar, in front of which stands an imposing bronze statue of Julius Caesar. At the centre of the large piazza of the Forum the emperor erected the Temple of Venus Genitrix, whom the Julian clan claimed as ancestress. Other remains form part of the Basilica Argentaria. We now make our way along the Via dei Fori Imperiali to the Church of Saints Cosma and Damian, which was erected over a hall of the large Forum of Peace in 527. Its interior is in the baroque style, but is notable for its par wonderful 6th century mosaics in the apse. Next to it are the impressive ruins of the Basilica of Maxentius, begun by Maxentius in 306 and completed by Constantine in 312 consisting of the nave to the right, the vaulted central nave and one of the two apses. The basilica consisted of three vast arcaded bays: the central one with cross-vaults and the lateral ones with barrel vaults and coffered ceilings. Adjacent to it stands the church of Santa Francesca Romana or Santa Maria Nova dating to the 10th century, but entirely reconstructed in the 13th. In the centuries that followed the church underwent other alterations, including its white travertine facade designed by Carlo Lambardi in the 17th century. It is flanked by the Romanesque bell-tower (12th century). The interior, consisting of a single nave, has a fine coffered ceiling (17th century) and a marble-inlaid Cosmatesque floor (13th century). The mosaic in the apse dates to 1160. In the sacristy is a 5th century icon of the Virgin: the so-called Madonna del Conforto. In the adjacent convent is housed the Antiquarium Forense: a small museum elucidating the history of the Roman Forums and consisting of various archeological material found during the excavations of the Palatine and the Roman Forum. Beyond Santa Francesca Romana extends the huge double Temple of enus and Rome, designed and built by the emperor Adrian in 135. It was later (307) restored by Maxentius. The temple consisted of two apses: one (dedicated to the goddess Roma) facing towards the Forum, the other (dedicated to Venus) towards the Colosseum. At the end of Via dei Fori Imperiali is the Colosseum. THE COLOSSEUM: This is the term commonly used to indicate the Flavian Amphitheatre; it perhaps derives from the fact that a gigantic statue of Nero known as the Colossus was situated adjacent to it. Begun by Vespasian in 72, the Colosseum was completed by his son Titus in 80: Titus set aside 100 days of festivity to celebrate its inauguration. It could contain up to 50,000 spectators, who gathered there to watch the famous games which were often cruel, but which aroused enormous enthusiasm in the spectators. The shows staged in the Colosseum included contests between gladiators (in general, specially trained slaves), the hunting of and battles between wild animals (brought to Rome from the farthest outposts of the Empire), and naval engagement or naumachiae (mock sea-fights), to simulate which the arena was flooded with water. The Colosseum was also the place of martyrdom of many early Christians. It goes without saying that, in the building of the Colosseum, the Romans gave proof of all their technical skills and incredible inventiveness. For instance, a system was devised to protect the spectators both from the rain and the heat by a system of awnings overhead (Velarium), the fixtures to support which are still visible in the upper walls. The Amphitheare, literally a double theatre, was so called because it derives from the fusion of twp theatres which in ancient Greece consisted of a semicircular series of tiered seats rising from a central orchestra and stage. The result was the creation of an enormous elliptical rig of marble-veneered travertine, rising in four storeys, of which the first three presented arcades with half-columns respectively of the Doric, Ionic and Corinthian orders between them. The top storey, more compact and decorated with Corinthian pilaster strips, was pierced by windows. What we see of the Colosseum today is what remains of this mighty edifice after the depredations of nature (it has been damaged by various earthquakes) and of man, who has not hesitated to use it as a quarry for building materials, and to strip it of marbles and other precious decorations. The speedy entry and exit of spectators was ensured by the placing of the eighty entrances right round the ground-floor arcades, each of them numbered to indicate the staircases leading to the various sectors of the tiered seating, each of them reserved for a particular category of class: the first for the emperor and the Vestals, and so on right up to the topmost gallery where the common people and women sat. The arena, whose floor has been removed, reveals a complex underground system, which included the various mechanisms and apparatus for the games, and the corridors for the transit of the gladiators and the wild beasts. The site of the Colossus of Nero, at the end of Via dei Fori Imperiali, is marked by some travertine slabs set into the road; the gilt bronze statue is thought to have been some 30 metres high. Near to it is the Arch of Constantine, a magnificent triple-arcaded triumphal arch raised by the people and the Senate in 312 to celebrate Constantine victory over Maxentius in the battle of the Milvian Bridge. Composite in its decoration, the arch incorporates medallions and reliefs spoliated from earlier imperial monuments. Its state of conservation is excellent. In front of the Arch was the Meta Sudans, a conical brick fountain built by Titus at the end of the 1st century A.D. According to tradition, the gladiators washed and quenched their thirst at this fountain after their contests in the Colosseum. Only the foundations now remain. Behind the Colosseum rises the Oppian, one of the three heights of the esquiline, another of the seven hills of Rome. A park now extends over it, incorporating various roman ruins, including the remains largely underground of the Domus Aurea. This sumptuous decorated building was the place of the emperor Nero. On his death, it was covered over half a century later, by the Baths of Trajan. But of the Domus Aurea is still possible to admire its long corridors and splendidly frescoed rooms: their discovery and exploration was a source of inspiration to many Renaissance artists.
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