The Best Places on Your Holidays to Rome

Rome is spectacular in its origin. A lot of historical events occurred in Rome. Even great people in history were part of the makings of Rome. It is indeed a blissful city and definitely the perfect place to house the most important person among Catholics. If you are planning to spend your holidays in Rome, you must never miss the Roman Forum, St. Peter's Basilica, Pantheon and the Sistine Chapel.

The Roman Forum

The Roman Empire's political, military and social center is the Roman Forums. The oldest and most significant buildings of the empire are usually located in the Forum. These days, the ruins of the Forum consists of the Temple of Julius Caesar, Basilica Emilia, the Arch of Titus and the Holy Road

The tour also visits Rome's greatest amphitheatre built by the Emperor Vespasian in 72 AD - the Colosseum. The last stop is the Basilica of San Pietro in Vincoli that houses Michelangelo's masterpiece, the statue of Moses.

St. Peter's Basilica

The indigenous St Peter's Basilica, nowadays forgotten, was constructed by will of Emperor Constantine around 320 AD in the area where Saint Peter had been martyrized (together with other Christians) close to the circus of Nero that, in fact, rose in the vicinity. For about thousand years the Basilica grew and got enriched, but it was also theatre of pillage in the barbarian hordes.

The first repair and enlargement intervention was ordered in the middle of the 15th century by pope Niccolo V, who entrusted Leon Battista Alberti and his helper Bernardo Rossellino. Later pope Giulio II charged Bramante who in 1506 demolished the old Saint Peter's Basilica planning a new one with a Greek cross plan. But at the time of the death of both pope and architect only the central pillars had been constructed.

Pantheon

The Pantheon in Rome is a rare ancient building because it has resisted the decay of time so well. One reason it is such a treasure is that it is the only intact example of architecture of the time of that size, age and span. The ability of The Pantheon to hold up for centuries is no accident - rather, it reflects a genius of engineering skill.

The basic design is one that is brilliantly simple, placing a round enclosure next to a rectangular entryway. The gateway to the Pantheon is built in the style of a Greek portico, using columns made of granite and finished off with a triangular pediment on top. The entrance is supported by three rows of 39 foot Corinthian columns. Eight of those supports are at the front and then there are two sets further in - each with four supports that lead you onward toward the central rotunda. So the rectangular section serves the function of joining the rotunda and the portico.

The Sistine Chapel

Michelangelo's design is stunning, allowing people to see the tales from the Old Testament. The main panels running down the core of the Sistine Chapel ceiling depict the nine episodes from the Book of Genesis, including the famous scene of the Creation of Adam (1511) located towards the alter. At either end and beneath the scenes are the figures of twelve men and women who prophesied the birth of Jesus. On the crescent-shaped areas, or "lunettes", above each of the chapel's windows are the Ancestors of Christ, identified by name. In the triangular spandrels above them are a further eight groups of figures.

Today millions of visitor's come to Rome and rush to the Vatican Museums, for the most part to make their way to the Sistine Chapel to stand in awe, necks strained to see the work of a genius. No artist since has come close to the scale, technical skill and majestic composition and design of this masterpiece. His Last Judgement (1535) painted on the alter wall completes the most powerful cycle of painting in the western world. In the Sistine Chapel the great sculptor became a great painter.