This is an “After-the-Fact” post.
We were in Rome nine years ago for a very brief two days, and we always said we would like to visit again, so here we are!! To our friends and family back home, Happy Thanksgiving!
After checking into the hotel, we took it easy in the afternoon in anticipation of our evening activity – a Rome by Night walking tour!! This was a private tour, which sounds extravagant, but the company concentrates on small groups and prefers to not mix random people. We were excited for the opportunity to see so many Roman sights at night!
Our tour guide was a lovely local who was extremely knowledgeable, answered every question without hesitation, and ensured that we covered as much ground as possible in three hours. It was a lot!!
We passed the Spanish Steps and Trinità dei Monti church (at the top of the steps).
Next stop – Piazza Navona & Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi (Fountain of the Four Rivers). This is a beautiful, enormous plaza with an interesting history as it was used as an arena, including water sports. They would flood part/all of the plaza to create a body of water for sport. Can you imagine the muck left behind each time it was drained?! Yuck!
While there aren’t any rivers that lead to this fountain, the great rivers that were known in the 16th century – Danube (Europe), Ganges (India), Nile (Egypt), and River Plate (Argentina) – are personified in the statuary and obelisk, with one obelisk side and one statue representing one river.
This was absolutely beautiful at night!!
And then – Fontana dei Libri (Fountain of the Books). Compared to other fountains in Rome, this isn’t as popular and is “new” having been built in 1920’s, but it has historical significance.
This is the site of the first university in Rome (hence the stacks of books) which was built in the 1300’s. And for the sake of technicality, this isn’t a fountain but is a “fonatanella” (drinking fountain), and the water is still free, clear, and drinkable.
It is also a dedication to St. Eustace, a hunter to whom Christ appeared as a deer, thus the deer between the books.
We then moved on to the Pantheon. While as noted previously, we had been here before / had seen the Pantheon before, seeing it at night was just… well… it was like seeing it for the first time again. The different sites at night are just A M A Z I N G (not to mention relatively free of the crowds you would see during the day).
And everywhere we went, there were plenty of either Polizia (national), Polizia Municipale (city), or Carabiniere (military/national) protecting the historical monuments of the City as seen here at the Pantheon.
Next we moved on to the famous Trevi Fountain. The travel gods blessed us tonight as there were very few people at the fountain. If you’ve ever been there, you know what a headache it is to fight the crowds and get a clear look at the fountain. What an unusual and wonderful treat this was.
From the Piazza Navona to the Pantheon, to the Campo de’ Firori we got to see the wonders of Rome beneath a beautiful night sky and few people. After our 3-hour tour (hmmm, good thing we weren’t on a boat), we made it back to the hotel for a good nights sleep.
We’ll leave you with a few additional pictures of places and things we saw this evening.
(Starting with the Column of Marcus Aurelius)
For those who know of Tim’s love for all that is Roman, along with his habit of taking pictures of infrastructure on our vacations, we’ll leave you with a combination of both.
He told me that ‘SPQR’ is (in his words) quintessential Rome, as it stands for Senatus Populusque Romanus or translated “The Senate and Roman People” and was proudly flown beneath the eagles and banners of the legions. Yea, whatever, looks like another man-hole cover to me. Joy.