Come along on a digital walk through Rome’s Campus Martius!

@lclancaster14 led the @AmAcademyRome on a socially distanced tour de force spanning 2,400 years of architecture, from temples & theaters to piazze and palazzi! Follow along in this #thread!
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#Rome #Italy #archaeology

2/ Coming down from the Janiculum, our first stop was Santa Maria in Trastevere.

One of the oldest churches in Rome, it features mosaics by Cavallini, a ceiling by Domenichino, and plenty of #Roman spolia. With the pews removed for distancing, it feels like a different building! – bei Basilica di Santa Maria in Trastevere

3/ On our way to the river, we passed by the monument of the renowned Romanesco poet Gioacchino Belli.

The poet stands beside what appears to be an ancient four-headed herm—like the group from the nearby Ponte Fabricio—but close analysis shows that it’s just an excellent copy!

4/ Stopping halfway across the Ponte Garibaldi, we talked all things Tiber island—long associated with healing and hospitals in Rome.

After a 3rd century visit to Epidauros, the Roman senate established a temple to Asclepius on the island, and it still hosts a hospital today!

5/ It wouldn’t be #Caturday without a visit to Largo Argentina—once the site of four excellent Roman temples, it’s now home to everyone’s favorite cat sanctuary and this ferocious guy certainly stole the spotlight!

– bei Largo di Torre Argentina

6/ Next up was a quick stop at the Theater of Pompey. Primarily famous as the site of the murder of Julius Caesar, there isn’t much to see today...until you realize that the modern buildings preserve the original plan of the theater!

7/ Walking through a narrow tunnel, we emerged at the small Piazza del Biscione. Usually filled with umbrellas, tables, & coffee drinkers, the quiet introduced me to this fantastic painted facade, which I don’t know anything about!

If anyone knows more, I’d love to learn more!

8/ Our next stop was the Campo de’ Fiori & a lesson in spiteful sculpture, featuring Giordano Bruno. A Dominican friar & intellectual, he was burned to death at this spot for building on the heliocentric theories of Copernicus.

His statue, erected in 1889, faces the Vatican. – bei Campo de' Fiori

9/ Next up was a visit to Piazza Navona and my favorite fountain in the city: Bernini’s Four Rivers. Topped by a faux Egyptian obelisk by Domitian, it appears to float above the square!

If that wasn’t enough, Navona also follows the original footprint of the Stadium of Domitian! – bei Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi

10/ Just west of Piazza Navona is this wonderful church: Santa Maria della Pace. Commissioned by Sixtus IV in 1482, Alexander VII added the incredible baroque facade in 1657. – bei Santa Maria della Pace

11/ Now we’re back in my territory—our penultimate stop was none other than the Pantheon!

Finally open for visits again now that Rome is in zona gialla, there’s no better time to see one of my favorite pieces of #Roman #architecture without the usual crowd! – bei Pantheon

12/ Our last stop ended the walk with a bang! Just east of the Pantheon is the #baroque #church of St. Ignazio di Loyola. Built between 1626 & 1650, it’s home to one of my favorite ceilings in the city: Pozzo’s tricky Glory of St. Ignatius! – bei Chiesa di Sant'Ignazio di Loyola

13/ But that’s certainly not all that St. Ignazio has to offer! Pozzo also painted this faux illusionistic dome in 1685, since a proper dome was never built. If you stand in the correct spot, you’d never know it was painted on a flat surface! – bei Chiesa di Sant'Ignazio di Loyola