Rome in the
Statuto Hotel is glad to introduce you in Rome’s heart . Photos and history of the most important monuments and the most interesting places to visit.
St. Mary Major Basilica
Basilica of St. Mary Major is very close to Statuto Hotel (2 minutes walk from the hotel). It was built in 432 at the request of Pope Sisto III who dedicated it to the Virgin.
The arch and the nave keep the mosaics of the period of Sisto III and represent Jesus’ childhood. and scenes of the Old Testament. The legend tells that on August 4th 358 the blessed Virgin appeared both in Pope Liberio’s dreams and in Giovanni’s dreams to ask them to build a church in the place where, that night in Rome, snow would fall.
The following morning Giovanni went to the Pope to tell him what he had dreamt and they went to Cispio hill where the Pope drew on the fresh snow the perimeter of the new Basilica.
Every year the Basilica of St. Mary Major hold its traditional triduum from August 1 to 3 and two days of celebration on August 4 and 5, in commemoration of the miracle of the snowfall. During the pontifical Mass and the second vespers, the traditional shower of flower petals descend from the ceiling of the basilica to commemorate the August snowfall in 358.
St. Praxedes Basilica
The first church here was probably built in the time of Pope St Siricius (384-399) and was one of the tituli, the first parish churches of Rome, known as Titulus Praxedis. The first definite mention of the church is from 489.
The present church is the one built by Pope Adrian I c. 780, completed and altered by Pope St Paschal I c. 822. It was enlarged at that time mainly to serve as a repository for relics from the catacombs and where about 2000 martyrs are buried.
Among the beautiful masterpieces S Zeno chapel, the apse and the arch mosaics made during the pontificate of Pope St Paschal I, 817-824.
St Zeno chapel is called “Paradise Garden” because of the huge quantità of decorations. The chapel was built by Pope St Paschal I in honour of his mother Theodora, and as her burial place.
St. Peter in Chains Basilica (inside : Michelangelo’s Moses)
St Peter in Chain is on Oppio Hill. The church was known as the Titulus Eudoxiae or the Eudoxiana and it built over the ruins of an Imperial villa in 442 (or possibly 439), to house the chains that had bound St Peter in prison in Jerusalem. The builder was the presbyter Philippus, aided by Eudoxia, the wife of the Eastern Roman Emperor Valentinian.
Inside the Basilica you can find Michelangelo’s Moses commissioned by Pope Julius II for his sepulcher. Its original position was on Pope Julius II’s sepulcher, but then it was moved so that visitors can appreciated it.
According to tradition, when Michelangelo finished his Moses he was himself so taken by its life-like that he banged it with a hammer and shouted: “Why don’t you speak?”
Domus Aurea
This ridge of the Esquiline Hill was the site of Nero's extravagant Domus Aurea (Golden House). To build the palace after the catastrophic fire of AD 64, the capricious emperor confiscated a vast tract of land right in the center of Rome. After fire destroyed much of the city in AD 64, Nero took advantage of the resulting open space to construct a lavish palace so large that it spread over four of Rome's seven hills. A circular opening in the roof of the banquet hall created the illusion that the room itself was revolving.
With Nero’s death (68 AD) and the rise of Vespasian to the imperial throne a year later, the great reconstruction that transformed Rome into the “Caput Mundi”, the extraordinary capital of the ancient world, finally began. Nero’s barely completed “Domus Aurea” on the slopes of the Oppian Hill was destroyed with the intention of erasing every trace of its creator. Intensive building ofnew brick housing began, more durable and hygienic than preceding types ,while the audacious project for the construction of the world’s largest amphitheatre started to take shape.
Colosseum
It takes only 10 minutes walk from Allo Statuto Hotel to reach the Colosseum,
the wonderful amphitheatre of Rome. It is recognize as the symbol of Rome and Romans used to call it "Amphitheatrum Flavium".
It was started by the Emperor Vespasian between 70 and 76 AD, and completed by his son Titus in 80 AD. The Colosseum was dedicated the year after Vespasian's death by Titus. They celebrated the opening by holding 100 days worth of games there.
Roman Forum
Placed on a marshy land the forum was, for the roman culture, the aggregation point par excellence: the market, the tribunal, the most important religious buildings were within it.
In the complex was the Regia, the residence of the kings, and later of the Pontifex Maximus; there was the Curia, where the Senate met; the Comitium and the Rostra, where public meetings were held; important sanctuaries (Temple of Castor and Pollux, Temple of Saturn, Temple of Vesta); markets and tribunals of ancient Rome (Basilica Aemilia, Basilica Julia).
Vittoriano – Victor Emmanuel II monument
Dedicated to Victor Emmanuel II monument , first Italian King, after the union of Italian regions to thank him for the union of the nation.
Vittoriano was inaugurated in 1911 after 25 years of construction. The king is represented by an equestrian bronze estatue The monument keeps also the tomb of the "unknown soldier" chose among all the unburied soldiers of the first world war in Gorizia and brought to Rome by train the 21st of Novemeber 1921. This is the reason why many italians know the Vittoriano simply as "Il Milite Ignoto".
