Anthony from Unabellavista has some great podcasts of about a few off-the-beaten sights in Rome. Unabellavista has over 70 podcasts on iTunes which give a comprehensive tour of Rome including St. Peter’s Basilica, Vatican Museums, Borghese Museums and other sights throughout the Eternal City.
On our short walking tour, which if were in Rome would take about 45 minutes, we cover Michelangelo’s Moses, which although it is very famous it is still pretty hard to locate. From the Colosseum Metro Stop go up the escalator and follow the signs for San Pietro in Vincoli, which means St. Peter in Chains. A lot of tourists mistakenly go to St. Peter’s Basilica looking for this statue but its not there.
While you are at St. Pietro in Vincoli take the time to listen to Unabellavista’s podcast about Nero’s Golden Palace, which was located in that general area. At its height Nero’s Golden House / Palace took up, by some estimates, a third of the land mass of what was Rome. The house is now pretty much buried because Nero’s successor Vespasian needed to distance himself from Nero’s unpopular rule, which the extravagant house represented. The house was forgotten about or ignored until circa the 1400s when a renewed interest in Roman art was all the rage. As a matter of fact, it was here that the Laocoon was rediscovered after being lost for 1400 or so years.
Ticket information for Nero’s Golden Palace: www.tickitaly.com/tickets/domus-aurea-tickets.php
The next stop is Trajan’s Market and Trajan’s Column. Trajan was an Emperor in the early AD 100s and enjoyed a few major military victories in what is now Romania. With his booty he returned to Rome and literally moved a hill to expand and consolidate Rome’s shopping center. Some believe that Trajan’s Column represents the height of the hill that was displaced in order for Trajan to build his market. Besides marking the height of the hill the column also recants Trajan’s military success in Dacia, and it has some of the best preserved images of a Roman soldier’s life.
From here, let’s head past the huge white monument dedicated to the unification of Italy in the late 1800’s. Facing the monument, pass it on the right for 100 or so meters and take a left up the Capitoline Hill. One of Rome’s original 7 hills, the Capitoline has remained the seat of Rome’s government for the last 2700 years. Here Unabellavista gives you the scoop on the mythical founding of Rome and the symbolism of the She-wolf nursing the twins Romulus and Remus.
Enjoy and remember to check out the rest of Unabellavista’s podcasts on iTunes.
Happy Travels


2 responses so far ↓
1 Uber Trouble // Jan 9, 2008 at 5:33 pm
What an awesome idea! Very informative, this will make my trip so much more enjoyable.
Mr. Capozolli really did an amazing job!
I’m looking forward to the upcoming series to use on my future travels.
2 Jessica O // Jan 15, 2008 at 9:32 am
Very helpful and well done!
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