The San Marcello al Corso Church is located along Rome‘s main shopping street, Via del Corso. Its main attractions are frescoes and paintings by important artists such as Jacopo Sansovino, Francesco Salviati, the Zuccari brothers and Antonio Algardi.
Continue reading “San Marcello al Corso Church Rome”Category: Rome
Santa Maria del Rosario in Prati Church Rome
The Santa Maria del Rosario in Prati is a church in the Prati district of Rome. Built in the early 20th century, it should not be confused with the much more interesting Santa Maria del Rosario Church on Via Trionfale.
Continue reading “Santa Maria del Rosario in Prati Church Rome”Carabinieri Museum Rome
The Carabinieri Museum is housed in a building on the Piazza del Risorgimento in Rome. As well as being a museum, the palace also serves as the seat of the archives of the military unit of the carabinieri.
Continue reading “Carabinieri Museum Rome”Museum of the Souls of Purgatory Rome
A small but extremely unique museum in Rome is the Museum of the Souls in Purgatory (Museo delle Anime del Purgatorio). It is located in a room next to the neo-Gothic Sacro Cuore del Suffragio Church. The collection consists of objects that show the marks deceased people seeking contact with their next of kin supposedly left on items of cloth or other objects.
Continue reading “Museum of the Souls of Purgatory Rome”Agosta City Guide
Agosta is about 70 kilometres east of Rome. It is named after the well that supplied the water for the Roman Acqua Marcia Aqueduct. Apart from archaeological finds (sometimes from far before Roman times), the attractions are the medieval Castle and the Santuario della Madonna del Passo.
Continue reading “Agosta City Guide”House of the Knights of Rhodes Rome
The House of the Knights of Rhodes, in the Forum of Augustus in the Monti district of Rome, currently houses the antiquarium of the Forum. It can only be visited with a guided tour.
Continue reading “House of the Knights of Rhodes Rome”Capitolium Rome
In Roman antiquity the Capitolium was considered the centre of Rome. It was the site where the city’s three main temples were located. Unfortunately hardly anything is left of the temples of Jupiter, Juno Monets and Minerva.
Continue reading “Capitolium Rome”Palazzo Doria Pamphili Valmontone
The Palazzo Doria Pamphili is located on the highest point of the hill town of Valmontone, south east of Rome. It is considered to be the symbol of the city and is one of few buildings having survived World War II in a reasonable condition. At the moment it is the seat of the Valmontone Archaeological Museum.
Palazzo Doria Pamphili Valmontone
Useful information
Address: Piazza Umberto Pilozzi – Valmontone. Phone: +39 06 95990460. Opening hours: From Tuesday till Friday from 09.00 till 13.00 and Saturdays and Sundays from 09.30 till 13.00 and from 16.00 till 20.00. Entrance fee: Free. A reservation is necessary to visit the piano nobile. (Note that the palazzo during the Covid-crisis is not open for visitors).
History and description
The Palazzo Doria Pamphili is an enormous fortified building in the centre of Valmontone. It was built in the 17th century and consists of 365 rooms, spread out over four floors.
It stands 30 metres tall and has a width of 60 metres.
The piano nobile is reached by a monumental staircase and is decorated with an impressive series of ceiling frescoes. Some of these are themed according to the elements, including the “fire room”, the “air room”, the “water room” and the “earth room”. A second series of frescoes is dedicated to the four (yes!) continents. The frescoes were painted between 1657 and 1661. Mattia Preti painted the “Allegory of Air”, which is considered the highlight. Other contributing artists were Pier Francesco Mola, Guglielmo Cortese, Gaspard Dughet and Francesco Cozza.
The most important room is the Sala del Principe, which is also decorated with wall frescoes.
After the war Prince Doria sold the building piecemeal those inhabitants of the city whose homes had been destroyed during the bombings. They stayed there till the 1970’s, when the city of Valmontone acquired the entire building.
Palazzo Doria Pamphili, Valmontone
Santi Marcellino and Pietro Church Rome
The Santi Marcellino and Pietro Church in Rome is a small church on the corner of the Via Labicana and the Via Merulana, at a couple of minutes’ walking distance from the Colosseum. The first version of the church, which now is several metres below the present street level, was constructed in the 4th century.
Continue reading “Santi Marcellino and Pietro Church Rome”Viterbo city guide
Viterbo is the capital of the province of the same name in the Lazio region. The city is located around 100 kms north of Rome, in an area that is also known under the name Tuscia. Viterbo‘s nickname is “City of the Popes” (Città dei Papi). Several of its main tourist attractions are related to the former presence there of these religious leaders. Continue reading “Viterbo city guide”
