Roma Antica - St Peter's/Centro Storico

This walk starts at St Peter's, explores some of the highlights of the centro storico and ends at the Spanish Steps.

St Peter's Basilica: The first church dedicated to St Peter was built at the beginning of the fourth century by Constantine, the first Christian Emperor. It was constructed over what was believed to be the burial place of St Peter, the first bishop of Rome.
Almost 1200 years later the church was rebuilt under the pontificate of Julius II. The first stone was laid on April 18th, 1506, but the task of rebuilding the basilica took well over a century. The new St Peter's would not be consecrated until November 18th, 1626. The programme had taken 120 years to complete, during which time 20 popes had died and 10 architects had been consulted.
A majestic flight of steps designed by Gianlorenzo Bernini leads up to the east front. The steps are flanked by 19th century statues of St Peter and St Paul. We enter the church through the central portal, above which is the benediction loggia, from which newly elected popes give their first apostolic blessing.
The interior with its 450 statues, 500 columns and 50 altars is reputed to be able to hold 60,000 people.

In the first chapel on the right, sits the Basilica's most famous work of art, Michelangelo's 'Pieta'. it was commissioned, in 1498, by the French Ambassador, Cardinal Jean de Billheres Lagraulas. The work was originally in the French chapel of S. Petronilla, which was attached to the south transept of the old St Peter’s. The hands and feet of Christ are marked with the wounds of the crucifixion. His left foot rests against the stump of a tree, which represents life cut off in its prime. And yet the tree also promises renewed life. The position of Christ draped across his mother's lap recalls the origin of his birth. After the sculpture was attacked on May 21st, 1972, it has been protected by plate glass.

St Peter's Square: The square in front of the church was designed by Bernini and begun in 1656 and completed in 1667. At its widest point it measures 196m. The colonnade is made up of two rows of two columns, each13m tall, and is surmounted by 140 statues of Saints, Martyrs and Doctors of the church. In the middle of each arm of the colonnade can be seen coat of arms of Pope Alexander VII, the reigning Pontiff when work first started.
Soaring in the centre of the square is one of Rome's many Egyptian obelisks, which was originally brought to the city by the Emperor Caligula (37-41), in a ship specially built for the purpose. The obelisk was erected a couple of hundred metres from its present site, in the centre of what was then a circus. (This was where the emperor Nero learnt to race chariots). Ancient tradition maintained that St Peter was martyred at the foot of the obelisk and buried in the adjacent cemetery.

Castel Sant’Angelo: The Castel Sant'Angelo was built, in 135, as a mausoleum for the emperor Hadrian and his family.

The mausoleum would have looked very different from the structure we see today. A circular platform, 292 feet in diameter, would have stood 49 feet high. On it would have stood a circular building 69 feet high and 210 feet in diameter. This was crowned by a conical mound of earth planted with trees. Concealed within the earth was a tower-like structure, which served as a base for either a four-horse chariot or a colossal statue of Hadrian. The base and the circular edifice were covered in marble, columns and statues.

Piazza Navona: The huge square was originally the site of the emperor Domitian’s Circus Agonalis, a name which first became n’Agona and then Navona. The shape of the piazza, curved at one end and straight at the other, preserves very closely the original racing track, 192 m. long and 53 m. wide, which was built between 81 and 96 AD.
At the centre of the square sits Bernini's magnificent fountain of the Four Rivers.

Pantheon: Described by an English visitor, in 1549, as ‘the perfectest of all the antiquities’, the Pantheon (119-128AD) is the grandest and most well-preserved monument of ancient Rome. It was built during the reign of the Emperor Hadrian to replace an earlier temple, which had been built between 27 and 25BC by Marcus Agrippa, the right hand man of the Emperor Augustus. For some reason, Hadrian retained the original inscription to Agrippa, which can be seen on the base of the pediment.

Trevi Fountain: Immortalised by Anita Ekberg’s midnight dip in Fellini's film ‘La Dolce Vita', the world's most famous fountain is one of the most crowded sights in the city. The fountain was commissioned, in the first half of the 18th century, by Pope Clement XII (whose coats of arms can be seen at the very top of the fountain). The fountain was designed by Nicola Salvi and work commenced in 1732. It was finally finished in 1762, by which time both the pope and the architect were dead.

Spanish Steps: The Scalinata della Trinita dei Monti, which is what the steps are called in Italian, are probably the most famous flight of stairs in the world. The steps were built by the Italians, paid for by the French and named after the Spanish.

The French church of Santa Trinita dei Monti, which stands at the top of the steps, was built at the beginning of the 16th century; the beautiful fountain, La Barcaccia, which sits at the bottom, was built a century later.
It was long desired to create a flight of steps to link the two squares in which they stand, but it was not until the beginning of the 18th century, when a French ambassador died and bequeathed a sum of money expressly for their creation, that the project was set into motion. They were built to a design by Francesco di Sanctis in the 1720s.