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| “CHRISTIAN ROME”: The Visits |
| BASILICA OF SAINT MARY IN ARACOELI
AND THE CAPITOL HILL |
From USD$ 14 |
Duration: 2 hours
Beginning of Itinerary: Line A “St. Peter”, Stop
17 (Piazza Venezia)
Next Bus Stop available: Line B “St. Paul”, Stop
20 (Piazza Venezia) |
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| This tour takes place at the Capitol, a
sacred place in ancient Rome and a sacred place for Christianity.
On this hill was located that temple of Jove, the place
most venerated and tied together profoundly with the history
of Rome. Upon the remains of the ancient temple of Giunone
Moneta, the Christians constructed an oratory, a convent,
and then in the 14th century, thanks to the Franciscans,
the current church. The slow ascent of the stairway of
the Basilica of Saint Mary in Aracoeli brings us gradually
to forget the traffic that flows at the feet of the Capitol
in order to leave space for the great sacredness of the
place. Every corner of this basilica, the only Christian
monument on the hill, is a precious testimony of faith,
art, history, and religiosity: here is the altar on which
Mary and the Child appeared to the Emperor Augustus, here
is a pillar of the bedroom of the Emperor, here is the
highly venerated Marian icon of the Salus Populi Romani
and the statue of the Holy Child, dispenser of graces
and miracles. Leaving the church, the visit will conclude
in the mysterious square of the Capitol conceived by Michelangelo,
which was that center of the city until the Middle Ages.
In the center of the square dominates the statue of Marcus
Aurelius, the philosopher emperor; other antique statues
provide company, all around it, in a spectacular open
theater looking out on Rome and the world. |
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