Our one day to explore Rome on our own. We took the metro to the stop closest to
the Colosseum and walked.
The yellow wall on the left surrounds a construction area where a new Metro line
is being built. Currently the closest Metro stop to the Colosseum in a long walk away.
Notice the Colosseum behind this small basilica which dates back to the
tenth century.
Guards
The Pantheon
Trevi Fountain
The water really does look this amazing shade of aquamarine.
Along the via Fori Imperiali
"In five years," Mussolini proclaimed in 1925, "Rome must appear marvelous to all the people of the world: vast, ordered, as powerful as it was in the time of the first emperor, Augustus."
In order to achieve this goal, Mussolini had all of the slum housing torn down in the area close to the Colosseum and the Vittorio Emanuela II monument. The wide expanse that he created remains today. In the above article the author says we should thank Mussolini for creating the beautiful setting that exists now. Among his other goals to restore grandeur to Rome was the establishing the many residences in the Academia area. The countries had to build their centers but the land was given to them by the government of Mussolini. He wanted Rome to be a center of learning.
Vittorio Emanuela II monument
Construction began for the monument in 1885. It was not completed until 1935.
Unlike the memorials that we are accustomed to in Washington, D.C. this structure does not have a back side. It abuts on housing.
The Vittorio faces the Piazza Venezia
The Leonardo Express
On our way to the airport Fiumicino
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