Day 2 - June 1st

We'll get up early and eat breakfast at the hotel. This morning walk to the Pantheon. We will start at the Renaissance fountain in front of it. The inscription over its portico - M. AGRIPPA. L.F.COS TERTIUM FECIT (Marcus Agrippa, son of Lucius, Consul for the third time, built this) - incorrectly credits the Pantheon to Agrippa. It is to Hadrian we owe the present Pantheon, which dates back to 125 A.D., and to its 7th century consecration as the church of St. Mary and all saints are credited its survival. It was cannibalized over the years-it's dome stripped bare in 655, the bronze of the portico's beams carted off the be melted down.

From the Pantheon, we will walk to the Piazza di Pietra, named for the Temple of Hadrian, whose 2,000 year old stone columns dominate the Piazza. We will peek over the guardrail to appreciate how "tall" Rome has grown in the millenia since. This is one of the more graphic examples of the many layers of the city.


From the Piazza di Pietra, we will walk to the Trevi Fountain. There are dozens of inexpensive shops around the fountain.

We will walk from the Trevi Fountain, through Piazza Mignanelli. There if you like, we can stop at Cafe Leonardo for a panino, drink, and check your email (30 min. for 3 Euros).



We will climb the Rampa Mignanelli to the top of the Spanish steps for a spectacular view across Rome and a visit to the Church of the Trinita dei Monti. with a brief detour up to the Villa Medici.

Villa Medici's wide mouth fountain sports a curious spout-a relic of Christina, Queen of Sweden's lucky cannonball shot from the ramparts of Castel S. Angelo.

We will walk back down and rest with the tourists on the Spanish Steps.

We'll hop the Metro and go to the Teatro del Marcello, a remarkably well preserved structure began by Caesar and subject to 2,000 years of Roman recycling. We'll walk around to the Portico d'Ottavia erected in the second century B.C. to enclose twin temples to Juno and Jupiter. For centuries, this was Rome's fish market, and later it marked the borders of the Ghetto, where Rome's 5000 Jews were confined by Paul IV in 1555 after a long period of toleration and prosperity. Obliged to wear distinctive garb, forbidden to practice a profession or own land, Jews made their living buying and selling used goods until the walls of the ghetto were torn down in 1870 at the Italian Unification. We will walk by the Synagogue and the frescoed church opposite it that was on of the several places where Jews were obliged to attend Mass, the tiny Tempiettto di Carmelo.

In the late afternoon/early evening we'll explore the Piazza Navona. From 9 am until midnight, the 900 foot long Piazza, which follows the outline of the Circus Agonalis built by Domitian was flooded into the 19th century is thronged with vendors, portrait artists, and tourists who crowd to see the main attraction, Bernini's Fountain of the Four Rivers.

Dinner every evening will be on your own. Often several participants will stop in a supermarket and buy some Italian food. Then share in a picnic in a local park or back at the hotel!