7 memorable sites I almost missed

Here are 7 reasons to keep your smartphone humming as you walk from one major site to another in Rome. Most are in the central city and near landmarks, but they can be overlooked in the overwhelmingly dense and historical areas. 3 are very Catholic churches, 3 are in the open-air, and 1 is a famous house & museum.

1. San Pietro in Vincoli

The first stop is a Roman Catholic minor basilica on the Oppian Hill near the Cavour metro station, which is a short distance up the hill from the Colosseum. Its name in English means Saint Peter in Chains and it’s the home to the Christian relic of his chains.

It’s easy to find by locating the Engineering School of La Sapienza University in your mapping app, because it’s in the former convent of the basilica. Our very nice BnB was in the next block, so it was an easy stroll for our visit among the boisterous students.

The first reason to visit is to see the relic for which the basilica is named: the actual chain used on St Peter during his imprisonment. It’s just under 6 feet long, with a fixed ring at one end – and it’s visible in a glass box under the main altar. During the Middle Ages, its presence here made the church one of the most important venues in Rome for pilgrims, but now the church is a bit lost since it’s mixed in with the University.

The second reason for your visit is to see the monumental Tomb of Pope Julius II set here in 1545. At the center of the tomb structure against the wall is the imposing statue of Michelangelo’s sitting Moses from 1514 that you can look right in the eye. The tomb was stuffed into the end of the transept here in 1545, where it is completely out of scale and even blocks a chapel archway . To be fair, it was never intended to be here.

The current wall monument is a massively downgraded and delayed version of the original freestanding tomb, which when started in 1505, should have had about forty statues by Michelangelo and be in the Sistine Chapel with the body of Julius II next to his uncle, Pope Sixtus IV.

Not much of this entire 40 year project went well, really.

The project became one of the great disappointments of Michelangelo’s life when the pope, for unexplained reasons, interrupted the work, possibly because funds had to be diverted to Donato Bramante’s rebuilding of St. Peter’s. Plus, Julius’ remains aren’t even here, but in St. Peter’s Basilica.

The tomb serves more as a glorification of Michelangelo than a reminder of a Pope. Guidebooks often refer to the site as “Michelangelo’s Moses” and, though Julius II is remembered for many other accomplishments, his name seems lost in San Pietro.

But you and I are now left with a towering statue of Moses that is stunning in its realistic detail. Standing in front of it, you can’t help but be in awe. Many previous visitors thought so too.

Sigmund Freud wrote of the Moses: “No piece of statuary has ever made a stronger impression on me than this” in an essay that Freud published anonymously (Imago, 1914).

“How often have I mounted the steep steps from the unlovely Corso Cavour to the lonely piazza where the deserted church stands, and have essayed to support the angry scorn of the hero’s glance! Sometimes I have crept cautiously out of the half-gloom of the interior as though I myself belonged to the mob  upon whom his eye is turned.”

I have to agree with Freud’s version of Moses as paternal, intense, and even frightening. When I spent a long time looking at the detail on his face and beard, I found it to be coolly sensual too. He is handsome and powerful: with well-developed shoulders, strong arms, well-defined muscles, and even veins and sinews. And that glare. Get close and look at that glare – it’s arresting.

2. Largo di Torre Argentina

This major crossroads used to be the home to 4 major Roman temples of the 4th century, but it now only serves as a sanctuary for stray cats. Italy has a no-kill rule for stray cats, so volunteers help sterilize and feed the feral cats who now call this special spot home.

It’s on a main road, Corso Vittorio Emanuele II at Via Di Torre Argentina, and 4 blocks south of the Pantheon, so it’s been easy to find since the 1st century.

A colossal stone head and carved arms of a marble statue were discovered during some metro demolition work in 1927, and the archeological investigation that followed uncovered a holy area with four temples and part of the long-sought Theater of Pompey.

The find has been significant since, according to Greek historian Plutarch (Parallel Lives, 210 AD), Roman Emperor Julius Caesar was assassinated in the Curia across the garden from Pompey’s Theater in 44 BC – and the spot is in this square.

Finally, some positive travel news for after 2020: the Mayor of Rome proposed adding walkways here so the general public can walk down into the ruins by late 2021. So there will be even more reason to look this up.

3. Santa Maria del Popolo

This modest basilica has an amazing legacy, beginning as the entry chapel on the Via Flaminia roadway for pilgrims entering early Rome in 1099.

It was to replace a large “demon-infested tree” which had grown at the foot of the Pincian Hill. The locals wanted both the tree and the demons gone, and were willing to pay for the chapel to be built themselves – hence its name: St Mary of the People.

When the whole tree was exorcized by the Pope and removed, the remains of the mad Emperor Nero were discovered among the ruins, so the Pope ordered these thrown into the Tiber river.

The chapel was demolished (but it kept out the demons for 400 years) and was rebuilt by Pope Sixtus IV, beginning in 1477 as a much bigger minor basilica to push back against the ‘Dark Ages’.

It modestly sits on the north side of Piazza del Popolo, one of the most famous squares in the city and from its steps facing south you can see the many marble fountains, the busy Flaminio Obelisk, and the Twin Churches across the piazza.

The church is hemmed in between the Pincian Hill and Porta del Popolo, one of the gates in the northern arm of the Aurelian Wall which is still the starting point of the Via Flaminia, one of the most important northern Roman roads. Its location made the basilica the first church for the majority of travelers entering the city.

The church contains works by several famous artists, such as Raphael,  Bernini,  Caravaggio, Alessandro Algardi, Pinturicchio, Andrea Bregno, Guillaume de Marcillat and the architect Donato Bramante.

Although Santa Maria del Popolo is a fantastic example of early Renaissance Basilica design, the reason for your visit is the elaborate side chapels which served as resting places for Papal families.

Best known is the Chigi Chapel, originally designed by Raphael in 1512 and remodeled through 1657. The dome of the chapel was executed by the Venetian Luigi da Pace after Raphael’s drawings of 1516, and is the only surviving example of any Raphael mosaic design.

The other chapel is the Ceraci Chapel of 1601 and that’s the reason we went for a visit. In it hang 2 Caravaggio and 1 Carracci religious masterpieces that are each the size of a wall.

Even though both artists were members of the Italian baroque movement, their styles were distinctly different: Caravaggio was famous for being particularly theatrical with his use of bright light, but Carracci preferred a more subtle blend of colors and traditional use of light. The contrasting styles are right there to compare as you stand in this one chapel.

On the left wall, a Caravaggio oil painting depicts the clumsy and inverted “Crucifixion of St. Peter“. The large canvas shows 3 ancient Romans, their faces shadowed, struggling to raise the cross of the elderly but muscular apostle.

On the right wall is his “Conversion on the Way to Damascus“. The painting depicts this moment recounted in the Acts of the Apostles, when the Pharisaic Saul fell off his horse on the road to Damascus after the crucifixion, seeing a blinding light and hearing the voice of Jesus.

At the head of the chapel is the colorful “Assumption of the Virgin” by Annibale Carracci. It is largely a traditional depiction of the Assumption of Mary that we are used to in Western art, halo and all.

John the Evangelist is portrayed on the left as a beardless young man among the other older apostles, but the painting seems to agree with the two Caravaggio canvasses by focusing in the foreground on the important apostles: Saint Peter on the left and Saint Paul on the right whose detailed stories are told in the side paintings.

The central and colorful “Assumption” meets the observer’s eye far beyond the narrow space of the Cerasi Chapel, enhancing its visibility with visitors from as far away as the transept – and this integration of the painting into a longer perspective makes the panel an impressive altarpiece, plus proves that the altarpiece was designed to be looked at as part of an integrated grouping and not as a standalone painting.

4. The Nativity of Arnolfo Di Cambio

At this site, we are here first to view the remaining fragments of a Nativity sculpture attributed to 13th century sculptor Arnolfo di Cambio that are in a museum beneath the altar of the large Sistine Chapel within the 5th century Santa Maria Maggiore Basilica on Via Liberiana – and literally in the heart of old Rome on top of the Esquiline Hill.

This building is huge – it fills a whole square and the old Roman streets have been built around it – plus it’s got a unique history:

In 432 AD below the primitive basilica, Pope Sixtus III (432-440) created a “cave of the Nativity” similar to that in Bethlehem. During the following centuries, several popes took care of this ‘Holy Cave’, until Pope Nicholas IV in 1288 commissioned a sculpture of the ‘Nativity’ by Arnolfo di Cambio, a gothic sculptor and architect from Tuscany, in tribute to his Franciscan roots.

The figure of Mary, however, is much younger, having been added 300 years later. A figure of the Virgin Mary was never discovered with the other original figures. The difference in styles is obvious.

Based on 21st century scientific analysis, these 730-year-old marble figurines are the world’s oldest known nativity scene.

And for over 500 years, the figures have been kept locked out of sight in an oratory inside the basilica – and in a tradition that predates St. Francis of Assisi, it has only traditionally opened to the public on Christmas Eve.

Luckily for visitors like us, they have left their preservation laboratory for the last time, and we can see them on permanent display in the basilica’s public museum after its major $2.6 million restoration.

Each one of the streamlined medieval figures shows a subdued attitude that is almost touching. They silently witness the miracle of this child, and quietly tell this story to anyone looking, without evangelizing.

So, why are these figures here?

Because, according to the Catholic Church, 5 of the original sycamore boards of the manger that held Jesus on Christmas night have been here since 644 in the crypt under the central altar. This has also given this church the name of “Sancta Maria and Praesepe”, or in English, “Saint Mary of the Crib”.

Fragments of this holy crib – or Sacra Culla – remain on view in a confession chapel under the basilica’s high altar. This chapel was built on the orders of Pope Pius IX, who had a great devotion to the Holy Crib.

He even commissioned a kneeling marble statue of himself as a guide for visitors meditating before the beautiful crib-shaped reliquary of crystal and silver that holds the cunambulum. Now that’s a legacy.

5. Villa Borghese

The Villa and its grounds are the largest park in Rome and it’s easy to compare it to New York’s Central Park. It’s an easy escape just up the hill from the Piazza Del Popolo – but it seems miles away from the chaos of the city and its motor-driven noises. It is so large that you can climb steps from Piazza del Popolo on the west side or come in from the south next to the top of the Spanish Steps.

This stop is on the list because it’s usually skipped by most visitors because of its size, but it houses the impressive Galleria Borghese art collection including some works by Raphael, Titian, Bernini, and Caravaggio, so this is a must-see.

The famous Galleria Borghese, is open from Tuesday through Sunday, and tickets are €13 per person. Reservations are mandatory and can be made online here.

The Villa grounds are perfect for people who enjoy walking or running in the open air amongst the trees or for families and lovers that want to have a grassy picnic. At the lake, try a boat rental at €5 for 20 minutes, or a bike rental at €10 for the whole day. You can easily spend the whole day, inside and outside.

6. Keats – Shelly House

This stop is a literary one. There is a house and museum next to the bottom of the Spanish Steps in the Piazza di Spagna where the 25-year-old poet John Keats died of tuberculosis in 1821 – and it’s full of mementos of both Keats and Percy Bysshe Shelley, who drowned in 1822 in Lerici. Ironically, when his body was found, Shelley had a little book of Keats’s poetry in his pocket.

On the floor directly above the museum, an apartment with period decor can be rented for longer visits to soak up the 17th century atmosphere.

A lock of Keats’ hair and his death mask, a minuscule urn holding tiny pieces of Shelley’s charred skeleton, along with copies of documents and letters, and a massive library make this a deep dive into the 2 Romantic poets’ last years in Italy.

It helped me connect my degree and writing experience to the history of these 2, and their sad last years here in Italy. They are both interred in Cimitero Acattolico, surrounded by cats on patrol in this next gem.

7. Cimitero Acattolico

This is a quiet, beautiful, and leafy graveyard called the Cimitero Acattolico, (or the Protestant Cemetery) next to the Pyramid of Cestius in south Rome on Via Caio Cestio. The Pope denied non-Catholics from being buried in consecrated earth, so another resting place had to be found for them.

It is mostly a lesser-known destination, except for those, like me, who want to visit the literati graves, including Andrea Camilleri, John Keats, and Percy Bysshe Shelley – and the famous cats who bask on their stones in the sun.

Shelley interred his three-year-old son William here in 1819.

Keats was laid to rest here in February 1821.

And just 23 months after John Keats’s death, Percy Bysshe Shelley’s ashes were also placed in the cemetery after his drowning.

Shelley wrote, “The cemetery is an open space among the ruins, covered in winter with violets and daisies. It might make one in love with death, to think that one should be buried in so sweet a place.” ( (Preface, Adonais, 1821).

Then after Oscar Wilde visited in 1877, he added “Keats’s grave is a hillock of grass with a plain headstone, and it is to me the holiest place in Rome” (The Letters of Oscar Wilde, 1962). I can’t top that.

It was a somber end to our dip into history that day. Except for the cats.

So, these are my 7 gems worth the extra time to see among all the other main landmarks that make Rome one of the great cities. There is only 7 since most visitors only have 3-5 days here, but luckily they are all convenient to the main piazzas and contribute to a more memorable experience. Ciao!

Sources: Cats of the Pyramid, Santa Maria Maggiore, Non-Catholic Cemetery of Rome, Keats-Shelley House, Villa Borghese, WikiPedia, my pictures, WikiArt, stock images.