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Rome Explorations: The Early Christian Rome Walking Tour

by Alan Zeleznikar

136 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); illustrated; catalogue #05-0784; ISBN 1-4120-5883-x; US$14.95, C$18.00, EUR13.00, £9.00

A self-guided walking tour guide of the important and interesting early Christian churches and monuments in the city of Rome, Italy.

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About the Book      About the Author      Excerpts      Catalogue Information

About the Book

This book is meant to provide a tour of some of the more important and interesting churches and other Christian-oriented sites in this city of churches. It is not an all-inclusive guidebook; I do not include restaurant, hotel or transportation information (except as reference points for the various sights near Metro stations). You should augment this tour guide with other Italy and Rome guides from reputable authors and publishers. While detailed walking directions and some maps of the important areas on the tour are included, a detailed map of the city is recommended.

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About the Author

Alan Zeleznikar is a satellite communications engineer with a deep and abiding love for history and for Rome, modern and ancient. He is the webmaster for the well-known "World Weary Traveler" web site. He grew up in a Southern California beach town but never learned to surf. He swears one day he will live in Italy (or maybe Slovenia, since he's heard the cost of living is lower there).

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Excerpts

The tour starts in front of the Pantheon (whose official church name is Santa Maria ad Martyrs) at the fountain in the piazza. We then head south and walk to what was 2000 years ago the heart of the ancient city to visit the Mamertine Prison and SS Cosma and Damiano.

We then hop onto the Metro at the Colosseo stop and take a few rides criss-crossing the city since these places are scattered all over. First we'll head south from Colosseo to then San Paolo Fuorile Mura, then back track to San Giovanni in Laterano, back into the city center to Santa Maria Maggiore, Santa Prassede and Santa Pudenziana. We will head out to San Pietro in Vaticano and discuss what happened there, what it looked like then and the church that was built to commemorate the event. The tour also includes two well known churches in Trastevere and a great ancient church on the Aventine Hill.

Optional activities and destinations are the Via Papilis and the catacombs plus a fascinating place called San Clemente.

Let's Go!

The Pantheon (Santa Maria ad Martyres) Saint Mary and the Martyrs

Using your other, more detailed map of Rome, proceed to the Piazza della Rotonda, the piazza in front of the Pantheon (la Rotonda in Italian). Stand by the little fountain in the piazza and face the building.

The Pantheon was originally a temple built by Agrippa and then "remodeled" by Hadrian. It was most likely completely rebuilt by Hadrian, who considered himself a very artsy-fartsy type guy. He was a classy guy, too, since he left the original inscription on the front, which reads

M(arcus) Agrippa L(ucius) F(ilus) Cos Tertium Fecit

and can be translated as

Marcus Agrippa, son of Lucius, built it.

The pronaos - the front part - consists of a row of eight gray granite columns in front and a series of four columns in two rows inside. The pavement was lower in ancient times (you can see how low on the left side of the building). The large rectangular structure placed on top towards the dome's edge serves no structural purpose, but it blocked the sight lines to the dome.

Thus when one walked inside, the domed space had an enormous impact as you'll soon see.

The roof is bare now, but until the 16th century it was covered with bronze tiles. One of the Barbarini Popes removed the tiles and used them for the baldachino in St Peter's. I told you Romans were recyclers!

As you approach, think about this; for hundreds of years, the pronaos of this magnificent building sheltered Rome's fish market. As you walk into the building, stop for a moment and examine the huge bronze doors. These are original; they've been on those hinges and mounted in that doorframe for nearly 2, 000 years. I think that's worth thinking about, too.

As you enter the building, you will be stunned by the space above you. This is the largest unreinforced concrete dome in the world. No modern structure exceeds it. It is 150 Roman feet across (approximately 44 meters) and sits on a drum that's 75 Roman feet high. The result is a perfect proportion; a sphere inside a cylinder.

The Pantheon was consecrated as a temple honoring all the gods, but especially Mars and Venus, the two protectors of the Gens Iulia - the Julian extended family (and thus the emperors). In 609 AD Pope Boniface IV transformed it into the Church of Santa Maria ad Martyres, thus ensuring its preservation. Take a few minutes to look around. The floor is a spectacular example of opus sectile, a typical Imperial Roman flooring style. Note also the dome's coffering and think about the compression force that the ring around the oculus (the hole in the dome center) is experiencing.

I love the Pantheon. It captures everything that is magnificent about the ancient Romans and shows the foresight their inheritors had in preserving it. I visit it every time I come to Rome and it is by far my favorite place in the city.

We are going to the Mamertine Prison next, which is part of the Roman Forum. If you are trying to combine my Ancient Rome walking tour with this one, go to Piazza Navona using the directions in the Ancient Rome Walking Tour book.

Facing the Pantheon by the fountain, the street on the right is Via della Rotonda and the street on the left eventually becomes Via dei Cestari. The former takes you past the Largo Argentina Sacred Area (also on the Ancient Rome tour) and the latter takes you into Piazza Minerva and Santa Maria Sopra Minerva.

Either of these streets with get you to Corso Emmanuele II. Once you've arrived at Corso Emmaunuele II (a major street), turn left and walk to Piazza Venezia. Cross the piazza in front of the Emmanuele II monument (that big ugly white thing) and continue to the left, so that the Roman Forum is on your right and the Imperial Forums are on your left across the street. As soon as you are past the Emmanuele II monument you'll see a road to your right. Take it and no more than 50 meters or so you'll see the ancient cobblestone pavement diverging to the left. Walk down it to the prison.

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Catalogue Information

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