Full Description
Vir in Via is a travel guidebook to the modern city of Rome - but with an ancient twist: it brings together a contemporary city walking guide with a traditional archaeological survey. Whether exploring Italy's vibrant capital or delving into its past is your thing, this rich book will prove both useful and fascinating.
Detailed itineraries escort us around familiar tourist tracks and lesser-known areas of Rome while imagining that we are accompanied by Josephus Publicus, a fictional inhabitant of the ancient city. Sudbury keeps his - and our - eye on what remnants of the ancient and medieval past can be found in Rome, whether readily visible or buried underground, while our imaginary companion relates tales about his haunts and discovers what they have become. Peeling back layers of topography, Vir in Via reveals unexpected connections between past and present. Digging deep into history, it reveals how Rome has evolved into its modern guise.
Walking tours encompass all the most famous landmarks: the Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain, Pantheon, Piazza Navona, Campo de' Fiori, Colosseum, Roman Forum, Imperial Fora, Villa Borghese and the Seven Hills. But the suggested strolls also explore areas not usually included in guides aimed at casual tourists, such as Pinciano, the Parioli hills - haunts of ancient witches and soothsayers - and modern districts such as Prati, where early emperors had their pleasure gardens. In this unique city of history, culture and much more besides, even the most far-flung parts of the city have an absorbing story to tell.
With Vir in Via in your hand, visit 500 churches (many with connections to the pagan past), 24 sets of Roman baths, 32 towers, all 13 original obelisks, 20 sets of catacombs, over 120 fountains. and 6 talking statues. Learn where to find the creepiest crypts, most ghoulish martyrdom frescoes and Roman carvings embedded in street walls, then celebrate by following hot tips on locating the city's very best ice-creams. Whether you are an amateur archaeologist, ancient-history buff or simply a visitor who looks beyond the obvious, let Vir in Via be your guide on an unusual, absorbing tour of Rome.
Contents
CONTENTS
List of Maps and Site Plans
Praefatio
Itinera
Part I IPSA URBS
1. New Banks and Old Altars
The Northwest section of the ancient Campus Martius
2. Meat & Two Veg and Circuses
The Capitoline Hill, the marketplaces of the Velabrum and the Tiber Island
3. Patricians and Bonnie Princes
The area around the Trevi Fountain
4. Jesuits, Jews and Jerkin-Makers
Around the old Ghetto, south and east of Campo de' Fiori
5. Artists and Poets
The streets close to the Spanish Steps and the Ludovisi Quarter
6. Layers of History
The medieval district around Piazza Navona and Via dei Coronari
7. Pilgrims' Progress
The area around Via Giulia
8. Paths Around the Pantheon
Suggestions to help you to get seriously lost in the heart of the Centro Storico
Bonus Tour: A Walk Around the Forum
A tour of the iconic Forum Romanum
Part II AD MONTES
9. Imperial Glory
The Palatine Hill and the Imperial Fora
10. Saints and Martyrs
The Colosseum Valley and the Caelian Hill
11. Two-and-a-Half Hills and a Pyramid
The Aventine and Testaccio areas
12. The Smell of the Subura (and How to Escape It)
The Monti region and the churches of the Esquiline Hill
13. Barracks, Baths and Bernini
The top end of the Quirinal and Viminal Hills
Part III TRANS TIBERIM
14. The Real Romans
A tour of Trastevere
15. Pope and Princeps
Around Castel S Angelo and the Borgo, starting in the Prati district
16. The Eighth Hill
An exploration of the Janiculum
Part IV ULTERIORA
17. Monumental Emperors of the Appia Urbana
The Baths of Caracalla and the Aurelian Walls around the inner section of the Via Appia
18. Pines Near a Catacomb
Visits to some of the most celebrated underground burial chambers
19. Living in Styles
Villa Borghese, the Coppedè Quarter and Villa Torlonia
20. Three Quarters North
A tour of the Flaminio, Parioli and Pinciano districts
Appendices
1. Talking Statues
In which we meet six outspoken citizens
2. The Obelisk Trail
An itinerary around the city's original 13 obelisks
Index
