A common trip to Rome, famous capital of Italy

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Rome in 11 to 13 October 2011
Forner of Ferny
I state some practical information: Train: Turin and Rome with the Red Arrow R / T, mini price is 49 euros per person for bed and breakfast, Roman angle to 70 euros in double room including breakfast (free wifi), near meters Cyprus.
Rita and I start going to the Trevi Fountain, one of the landmarks of Rome, not before having admired the Palazzo Barberini and Triton Fountain.
In the Piazza di Trevi, as always crowded, the fountain is a great monument that is linked with the facade of a building, 20 meters wide, 26 m high, to realize impressive enough to think that 3 floors of a building are high 10 meters. It 'a beautiful work of art (XVIII sex.) With giant statues, bas-reliefs, sculptures in white marble, monumental niches that represent characters of ancient Rome as Augustus, Agrippa, etc.. the center of a huge chariot driven by Neptune-shaped shell pulled by horses. Tourists around the tub in the bath throw the good luck coins. We can sit on the steps near the fountain, we are off into the sunset the view is even more striking.
Let the fountain (but we will be back many times), to give us eyes with another symbolic place, the Spanish Steps (seventeenth century), one of the most charming and elegant with its grand staircase, which ends at the church of SS. Trinita dei Monti, also converge on the square's famous shopping streets of labels such as Via Condotti, Rome is celebrated by many movies, meeting place, resting on the steps, also many tourists in front of the Fountain of Four Rivers, the work of Bernini, father and son.
Often the square is chosen to mundane events as a backdrop for fashion shows.
October 12: St. Peter, is a day of public hearing of the Pope, the square is fenced and full of chairs, we surrender to the reservation and take the opportunity to visit the interior of the Basilica of St. Peter.
The basilica has enormous size, said to have a capacity of 60,000 people.
have worked to build the greatest architects and artists.
The interior is decorated with hundreds of sculptures, among them: Michelangelo's Pieta, the only protected by a glass, even the magnificent Bernini's Baldacchino, dozens of tombs carved or decorated with frescoes by famous artists, among all Canova, Bernini , Domenichino, small note you can take pictures everywhere, then again the dome designed by Michelangelo, to enjoy it fully, given the height, we brought binoculars.
At the exit we enjoy the magnificent square in front and the front of the basilica, the square has a semicircular colonnade (Bernini), which symbolically represents the embrace of the church to all people.
We continue to Santa Maria Maggiore, but first we visit the church of S. Peter in Chains, which houses the chains that bound St. Peter, the church is somewhat hidden, has a facade of the sixteenth century., Portal of the fifteenth, the interior is Baroque, Greek marble columns, divide the nave from the side chapels , sometimes wooden, the chains are closed golden urn, apse with Byzantine mosaics, there are also works by Guercino and Pomarancio, but the reputation of the church is mainly due to the imposing and extraordinary sculpture of Moses by Michelangelo, white marble , you can fully enjoy the masterpiece, is not protected by glass or other, the situation has become quite rare, the sculpture is of outstanding beauty.
Then S. Maria Maggiore, with an obelisk in the square of the Roman basilica (IV cent.), Has undergone many surgeries, now seems baroque, one of the largest in Rome, the seventeenth century porch. (The bell tower is among the highest in the city), interior divided into three naves, magnificent mosaics and the walls of the nave (V sec.) Is in the apse (XIII cent.), Contain scenes of wills, of Jesus and Mary, sometimes golden coffer of the sixteenth century, elegant Cosmati floor, marble, one has the impression of great size and elegance, there are works by artists such as Guido Reni, in the square in front of an obelisk from the remains of Basilica of Maxentius.
After a quick bite at The Old Marconi (anything that), go to the Church of St. Praxedes, located in the street, very old church (IX cent.) Rich of mosaics in the Byzantine style, with a precious relic, the column to which Christ was bound to be scourged, stunning mosaics in the chapel of St. Zeno.
Not far away the church of Santa Pudenziana (sister of Praxedes), smaller and less rich in S. Praxedes, like all others, many changes over time, such as ladder access is the nineteenth century, the bell tower of the twelfth century, the great mosaic of the fourth century, I would point out that it is dimly lit.
So we leave this area and reach the beautiful Piazza della Rotonda, not very large, very crowded, bars restaurants around. The Pantheon is an impressive Roman building, virtually unchanged over time, with a front porch with columns of marble, originally a pagan temple, with a single nave interior cylindrical, very large and high, dome-shaped shell open high, funerary chapels on either side with tombs of the first king of Italy, Raphael and other famous Italians.
Nearby we visit the church of S. Maria sopra Minerva, the Dominican church of the thirteenth century, Gothic style, was the seat of the Roman Inquisition, the building on the side of Galileo's trial took place inside the sarcophagus with the body of S. Catherine of Siena, but is mostly visited for the sculpture of Christ with the cross carved by Michelangelo in part, in the side chapels works by Fra Angelico, Filippo Lippi. In front of the church is only partially visible to the Egyptian obelisk work in progress.
The last stop of the day, the famous Piazza Navona, Rome's other symbol, the square-shaped elongated oval, with the famous fountain in the center of the Four Rivers by Bernini, the white marble statues personifying the Nile, Danube, Ganges and Rio de la Plata, built around an Egyptian obelisk, the other two fountains (more recent) located on the midline of the square are very nice, but the sculptures are often copies.
The square is lively both day and night, we can see better at night because there are less stalls in the streets perpendicular to many restaurants for all budgets.
Then dinner at Navona Notte, the average level.