Tuesday, 3 October 2017
Headed out early and were one of the first people in the Pantheon. Because it was turned into a church, it was one of the few Roman temples to survive close to the original condition into modern times without being picked at over the centuries. The interior still had all the marble facades which gave us a good idea of what the Palaces on the Palatine Hill must have looked like in their hey day.
Then onto the Capitoline Museum which is right next to the Roman Forum ruins and houses many of the finds from there.
One of the most famous exhibitions in the Capitoline Museum is the 2.4 metre bronze statue of Marcus Aurelius (176 CE) to commemorate his victory over the Germanic tribes. It is the only fully surviving bronze statue of a pre-Christian Roman Emperor and it is believed that the Christians did not destroy it (or melt it down to make coins) because they thought it was the Emperor Constantine.
This was the rooftop view from the Capitoline Museum Café.
Constantine’s big head. I think he got a big head after the Christians called him ‘great’.
The famous bronze statue of the She Wolf with Romulus and Remus, founders of Rome.
Then onto the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica Palazzo Barberini to see Caravaggio’s Judith (the one where she cuts of Holofern’s head). Really, really, really wanted to see this particular painting. But there was an exhibition of Caravaggio’s works in Milan and so they had loaned all his good paintings out. Hmmm…shall we say “not happy”.
Nevertheless, here is the original famous picture of Henry VIII.
How weird to find this huge Picasso at the museum.
And finally a wonderful wine bar for Aperitivo.
Before we left Trevor had researched some of Rome's best Enotecas to see where we could buy some good Italian wine. Enoteca Costantini which is just behind the Costello San Angelo, had this massive underground cellar with all this awesome wine from across Italy. We bought a 2004 Valtellina to drink. A thirteen year old wine at bottle shop price (€35) to drink with our aperitivo.
