Rome - The Eternal City and a Little Slice of Tuscany

[El_Greco]

Rome is a careless city in which you stumble upon its landmarks by accident as if its citizens are impatient of so much culture standing in the way of a cappuccino or a parking place.

Anthony Minghella.

The quote above sums up Rome just perfectly, it is a city that does not advertise its treasures and one has to work to find them as Rome is a city of narrow, dark, and somewhat seedy maze-like streets where getting lost is easy. However getting lost is rewarding - that is how you find the unexpected and the forgotten, that is how you get in touch with the soul of the place...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rome

1. What better place to start than the Piazza del Popolo - in the days long gone this was the travellers first view of Rome.



2. Piazza del Campidoglio.



3. Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri. Interesting thing about Rome is that many of its ancient buildings have not been demolished but rather re-used, the result is the fascinating, mosaic-like urban realm. This Basilica is built inside the frigidarium of the Baths of Diocletian.



4. Forum.



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7. The Colosseum, the largest amphitheatre ever built and arguably Romes most famous landmark. The construction was started in 72 AD under Vespasian, it was completed under his son Titus in 80 AD.



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10. Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.



11. Some views from the Monument Vittorio Emanuele II.



12. Trajans Column commemorating emperor Trajans victory in Dacian Wars. Built in 113.



13. A closer look.



14. Theatre of Marcellus, now apartments.



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16. A courtyard of a grand palazzo on Via del Corso.



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18. Cant remember which church this is, but it is absolutely amazing.



19. The Vatican with St. Peters Basilica.



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21. Swiss Guard.



22. I believe The Pope has his apartment in this building.



23. Castel Sant'Angelo which is yet another one of the recycled Roman buildings - originally the mousoleum of emperor Hadrian.



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25. The Circus Maximus. It is huge.



26. Pyramid of Cestius it was built in 18-12 BC as a tomb for Caius Cestius a magistrate. A strange thing to find in Rome...



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33. After some aimless wandering down the streets as those seen above you eventually emerge somewhere big. Here we have The Spanish Steps.



34. And here the Trevi Fountain - easily the grandest and the most beautiful fountain in the World.



35. Views from The Janiculum Hill.



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40. Piazza della Minerva, sadly Berninis Elephant was undergoing restoration, the restoration team consisted entirely of women, I guess when it comes to this sort of thing you just cant trust men.



41. Piazza Navona with Sant'Agnese in Agone church on the left - it is simply stunning inside, sadly photography is not allowed there...



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43. Campo de' Fiori with the statue of Giordano Bruno who was burned at the stake here in 1600. Nowdays it is a lively market.



44. The Pantheon. Evening.



45. And day.



46. Pantheons dome.



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49. Santa Maria in Trastevere.



50. Jewish area of Rome.



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Thats it for now, of course I have more photos, but those will (perhaps) come later. Now we will take a quick look at Tuscany.

We start in Pisa, which is, of course famous for the Leaning Tower, my friend and I only spent a few hours there, we found the place boring...

1. The Leaning Tower.



2. Palazzo della Carovana.



3. Santa Maria della Spina.



4. Random street in Pisa.



5. Since we found Pisa boring we deceided to get the train to Lucca and we were not dissapointed - its a fantastic little city.



6. Piazza Anfiteatro from above...



7. and the ground level.



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10. Somewhere in the south of Tuscany...



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13. Town of Pitigliano, which we found absolutely fascinating.



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18. Somewhere at the bottom of the steps we found a series of rooms which were probably once used as prison, it was too dark for photography there sadly.



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20. Old frescoes on the walls of Pitigliano church.



The End, thanks for looking

[Napo]

Absolutely stunning!

Grazie El_Greco

[Pansori]

Rome looks grand. I have never been particularly interested in visiting it but after seeing these photos I think I will just have to do it some time.

[Koobideh]

Rome is such a beautiful city. You're a great photographer.

[aster4000]

with all those ancient landmarks, Rome is pratically a museum by itself.
I had a chance to visit this city (also Pisa) way back in the 80's
and it's really amazingly wonderful.

[italiano_pellicano]

Rome , Il Vittoriano

image hosted on flickr


http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6195/...df42d4_o_d.jpg

[Dr.Seltsam]

Wow...HUGE photo gallery!!! Thank you very much!
Rome is stunning!

[christos-greece]

Awesome and very nice photos from Rome

[Linguine]

Thanks for the great photos.....

[Taller, Better]

Rome is a beautiful city; one of the most beautiful in the world. But when a highly talented photographer takes to the streets, it is breathtakingly close to being there!!
Astonishing shots, el greco!

[Mr Bricks]

Absolutely stunning.

[tomeeek07]

I Love Italy! Beautiful photos!

[timo9]

[manrush]

Any shots of Rome's modern CBD?

[Nolke]

#18: church of Sant'Ignazio. That's a very famous ceiling by Andrea Pozzo.

Outstanding pictures, as always. As for Rome, I think that saying that it's beautiful doesn't do it justice enough.

[El_Greco]

Originally Posted by Napo

Absolutely stunning!

Grazie El_Greco

Thanks man!

Originally Posted by Pansori

Rome looks grand. I have never been particularly interested in visiting it but after seeing these photos I think I will just have to do it some time.

The main streets are grand, however the historic centre is a collection of chaotic narrow streets, but thats how I like my cities. Either way Rome is definitely a must see!

Cheers.

Originally Posted by manrush

Any shots of Rome's modern CBD?

Nope, didnt have time or will to go there, although I did see it from a hill.

Originally Posted by Nolke

#18: church of Sant'Ignazio. That's a very famous ceiling by Andrea Pozzo.

Ahh thanks for that, I knew it was a famous one, but theres so many fantastic churches in Rome that I cant remember most of their names.

Thanks people for the kind words, much appreciated!

[Civis Fede II]

astounding..

[gmoney]

Bellissimo...great pictures!

[El_Greco]

Thanks, heres the complete set -

http://www.flickr.com/photos/4153421...7627561667135/

[Маре]

Magnifico Pitigliano .