|
 |
::
informaciones tursticas -
Discovering Rome
:: |
 |
| |
Discovering Rome
Medieval Rome (4 hours )
It is not easy to find artistic remainders of the Middle Ages in Rome, also because they are often incorporated into buildings built during later periods, or hidden in places rarely visited by the occasional tourists. In addition to the ancient, Renaissance or Baroque city, there is also a medieval Rome with its monuments and works of art which can, in part, be discovered through this itinerary.
Of the numerous churches built in the Middle Ages in Rome, around 40 remain with their original appearance. And of the 300 existing towers, we can count 50 of them, many of which are absolutely unknown because they are hidden by the buildings against which they stand.
In the Middle Ages Rome was obviously smaller than it is today, and extended along the Tiber, a fundamental resource for water supply and as a communication route. In the Trastevere quarter, along the right-hand riverbank, there are still churches and residential buildings dating from the Middle Ages.
The visit may thus begin from the Isola Tiberina and end in the heart of Trastevere, in Piazza Santa Maria in Trastevere.
On the Isola Tiberina today it is still possible to admire what remains of the Castle of the Caetani, built against the Torre dei Pierleoni dating from the 10th century. In 1087 Matilde di Canossa and Pope Victor III hid in the tower to escape the dangers of the army of the antipope Clement II and, in 1089, Pope Urban II resided there. The Caetani became the owners of the fortress in around 1294, the year Benedetto Caetani was elected pope with the name Boniface VIII. The tower, which today is still at the head of the Ponte Fabricio, is also known as the Torre della Pulzella (Tower of the Maid), referring to the small marble head of a young woman set into the brick facing.
The towers were residences and fortresses of the aristocratic families, and symbols of their power. Down through the years, many of the tower-houses suffered damage from earthquakes or were torn down as ordered by Senator Brancaleone degli Andal |
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
