Island-hop around the Aeolian Islands, soak up the atmosphere of the Amalfi Coast and explore ghostly Pompeii - all with your trusted travel companion.
Get to the heart of Southern Italy and begin your journey now! The Perfect Choice: Lonely Planet's Southern Italy is our most comprehensive guide to Southern Italy, and is perfect for discovering both popular and off-the-beaten-path experiences. About Lonely Planet: Lonely Planet is a leading travel media company and the world's number one travel guidebook brand, providing both inspiring and trustworthy information for every kind of traveller since.
Go island-hopping across the stunning Aeolian Islands, explore the fabled island of Capri, or wander through ghostly ruins of Pompeii; all with your trusted travel. Go island-hopping across the stunning Aeolian Islands, explore the fabled island of Capri, or wander through ghostly ruins of Pompeii; all with your trusted travel companion.
The Perfect Choice: Lonely Planet Southern Italy , our most comprehensive guide to Southern Italy, is perfect for both exploring top sights and taking roads less travelled. Down here, the ruins are older, the lunches longer, and the landscapes wilder and more intense. Painted in —82 by a crack team of Renaissance artists, including Botticelli, Ghirlandaio, Pinturicchio, Perugino and Luca Signorelli, they represent events in the lives of Moses to the left looking at the Giudizio Universale and Christ to the right.
As well as providing a showcase for priceless art, the Sistine Chapel also serves an important religious function as the place where the conclave meets to elect a new pope. To its right, the Messa di Bolsena Mass of Bolsena shows Julius paying homage to the relic of a 13th-century miracle at the lakeside town of Bolsena.
The seated figure in front of the steps is believed to be Michelangelo, while the figure of Plato is said to be a portrait of Leonardo da Vinci, and Euclide the bald man bending over is Bramante. Galleria delle Carte Geografiche Map Gallery The last of three galleries on the upper floor — the other two are the Galleria dei Candelabri Gallery of the Candelabra and Galleria degli Arazzi Tapestry Gallery — this ft-long corridor is hung with 40 16th-century topographical maps of Italy.
Tickets and other practicalities Check online for the array of available tours, among them are some that include the Vatican Gardens or the Castel Gandolfo. Avoid what can be atrocious lines for the museum by buying your ticket in advance online. Print out the voucher and swap it in for a ticket at the appointed time in the entrance atrium. The museums are well equipped for visitors with disabilities, with suggested itineraries, lifts and specially fitted toilets.
Wheelchairs are available free of charge from the Special Permits desk in the entrance hall, and can be reserved by emailing accoglienza.
Parents with toddlers can take strollers into the museums. An impressive — if rather confusing — sprawl of ruins, the Roman Forum was ancient Rome's showpiece center, a grandiose district of temples, basilicas and vibrant public spaces.
The site, originally a marshy burial ground, was first developed in the 7th century BCE, growing over time to become the social, political and commercial hub of the Roman empire. History The Roman Forum was the center of daily life in ancient Rome, the site of public gatherings, trials, elections and gladiatorial combat. Markets and shops lined the narrow alleys and streets. During the Roman Empire, the Forum became the site of the city's grandest monuments and temples.
Like many of ancient Rome's great urban developments, the Forum fell into disrepair after the fall of the Roman Empire until it was eventually used as pasture land. The area was systematically excavated in the 18th and 19th centuries, and excavations continue to this day. To your right, the BCE Basilica Fulvia Aemilia was a m-long ft-long public hall with a two-story porticoed facade. This barn-like construction was rebuilt on various occasions before being converted into a church in the Middle Ages.
What you see today is a reconstruction of how it looked in the reign of Diocletian r — In front of the Curia, and hidden by scaffolding, is the Lapis Niger, a large slab of black marble that's said to cover the tomb of Romulus.
It is dedicated to the eponymous emperor and his two sons, Caracalla and Geta. In front of the arch are the remains of the Rostri, an elaborate podium where Shakespeare had Mark Antony make his famous "Friends, Romans, countrymen…" speech.
The eight granite columns that rise behind the Colonna are all that remain of the Tempio di Saturno, an important temple that doubled as the state treasury. Behind it are from north to south : the ruins of the Tempio della Concordia, the Tempio di Vespasiano, and the Portico degli Dei Consenti. Its cavernous interior, reopened in after a lengthy restoration, is a treasure trove of early Christian art with exquisite 6th- to 9th-century frescoes and a hanging depiction of the Virgin Mary with child, one of the earliest icons in existence.
Accessible from the church is the Rampa di Domiziano, a vast underground passageway that allowed the emperors to access the forum from their Palatine palaces without being seen. The six virgin priestesses were selected from patrician families when aged between 6 and 10 to serve in the temple for 30 years.
If the flame in the temple went out the priestess responsible would be flogged, and if she lost her virginity she would be buried alive. The offending man would be flogged to death. Continuing up Via Sacra, past the circular Tempio di Romolo, you'll come to the Basilica di Massenzio, the largest building on the forum.
Started by the Emperor Maxentius and finished by Constantine in , it originally measured approximately m ft by 65m ft , roughly three times what it now covers. Nearby restaurants For a restorative coffee break, head up to the Campidoglio and the Terrazza Caffarelli, the Capitoline Museums' panoramic rooftop cafe.
If you want something more substantial, search out Terre e Domus, which serves excellent regional cuisine and fine local wines. Tips for visiting the Roman Forum 1. Get grandstand views of the Forum from the Palatino and Campidoglio.
Visit first thing in the morning or late afternoon; crowds are worst between 11am and 2pm. Comfortable shoes are a must. If you're caught short, there are toilets by the Chiesa di Santa Maria Antiqua. The ticket, valid for two consecutive days, covers the Colosseum, Roman Forum and Palatino. It's a beautiful, atmospheric spot, complete with towering pine trees, majestic ruins and unforgettable views. This is where Romulus supposedly founded the city in BCE, and Rome's emperors lived in palatial luxury.
Look out for the stadio stadium , the ruins of the Domus Flavia imperial palace , and grandstand views over the Roman Forum from the viewing balcony in the Orti Farnesiani. In the discovery of a mosaic-covered cave 15m 49ft beneath the Domus Augustana reignited interest in the legend. According to some scholars, this was the "Lupercale," the cave where ancient Romans thought Romulus and Remus had been suckled by the wolf.
History Roman myth holds that Romulus established Rome on the Palatino after he killed Remus in a fit of rage. Archaeological evidence, however, puts the establishment of a village here to the early Iron Age around BCE.
As the most central of Rome's seven hills, and because it was close to the Roman Forum, the Palatino was the ancient city's most exclusive neighborhood. The emperor Augustus lived here all his life, and successive emperors built increasingly opulent palaces — in fact, the word "palace" is derived from the hill's Latin name, "Palatium. During the Renaissance, members of wealthy families had landscaped gardens laid out on the site.
Most of the Palatino as it appears today is covered by the ruins of Emperor Domitian's vast complex, which served as the main imperial palace for years. What to see On entering the complex from the main entrance on Via di San Gregorio, continue left until you come to a gate giving onto a path open 9am to 3pm. This skirts the hill's southern flank, offering good views up to the ruins and providing a clear chronology of the Palatino's development — as you walk, you're essentially going back in time as the ruins become increasingly older.
Back on the main site, the first recognizable construction you come to is the stadio. This sunken area, which was part of the main imperial palace, was probably used by the emperors for private games and events. A path to the side of it leads to the towering remains of a complex built by Septimius Severus, comprising baths and a palace. Here you can enjoy sweeping views over the Circo Massimo and, if they're open, visit the Arcate Severiane , a series of arches built to facilitate further development.
On the other side of the stadio are the ruins of the huge Domus Augustana, the emperor's private quarters in the imperial palace. This was built on two levels, with rooms leading off a peristilio peristyle or porticoed courtyard on each floor.
You can't get down to the lower level, but from above you can see the basin of a big, square fountain and beyond it rooms that would originally have been paved in colored marble. The former is a frescoed room from a luxurious Republican-era house, while the latter is a Renaissance loggia decorated by Baldassarre Peruzzi.
The white building next to the Domus Augustana is the Museo Palatino, a small museum which charts the development of the Palatino with video presentations, models and archaeological finds. North of the museum is the Domus Flavia, the public part of the palace complex. This was centered on a grand columned peristyle — the grassy area you see with the base of an octagonal fountain — off which the main halls led. To the north was the emperor's audience chamber aula Regia ; to the west, a basilica where the emperor judged legal disputes; and to the south, a large banquet hall, the triclinium.
See All Countries. Cart Shopping Cart. Mobile Navigation. Sign In Your Account. Chapter Details. With From the Source Italy, you'll tour through Northeast Italy's earthy and elegant hot broth-based soups and warming polenta and risotti, Northwest Italy's preserved cods and cakes of forest-harvested truffles and hazelnuts, Central Italy's dark gamey stews and fresh porcini mushroom pastas, and Southern Italy's citrus-scented fish grills and herby salads.
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