ONE WEEK IN ROME -PART 13

FROM THE FICTIONAL DIARY OF A BRITISH TRAVELER

Back to part 12

Going down for the Capitol Hill and proceeding along Via del Teatro Marcello, on the right one can see the Theater of Marcellus, one of the living monuments of Rome. It is dedicated to the nephew of Augustus and it was the biggest theater in ancient Rome. After falling out of use it has been transformed, along the centuries, in a residential building.

Theaterr of Marcellus

The dome on the back blongs to the synagogue of Rome located in the Ghetto, a place where there are several good restaurants offering roman-kosher cuisine, likely the one with the most ancient tradition in Rome.

Foro Boario

Just few hundreds of meters after the Theater of Marcellus, there is the Foro Boario, with its two small temples of the late republican period.

Almost in front of the Foro Boario there is the church of Santa Maria in Cosmedin. The marble mask known as Bocca della Verità (Mouth of Truth) is located in its portico. It was probably a drain cover but legend says that if a lier puts the hand in the mouth, the hand will be cut.

Bocca della Verità - Mouth of Truth

Walking along the Tiber you have on your left the Aventine hill. On its top is located the villa of the Grand Priory of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, one of the four sovereign entities that are located in Rome, the other being the Italian Republic, the Holy See and the Vatican City State. It might sound strange but, although connected, Vatican and Holy See are different entities.That is something, again, making this city unique in the world. At my knowledge, no other city in the world is the seat of two sovereign entities, but for sure not of four different ones.

Grand Priory of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta

Turning left to via Marmorata I finally reached the Pyramid of Caius Cestius.
Caius Cestius was a rich man lived in the I century BC. His last wishes were to be buried in a pyramid as an Egyptian pharao. Romans had just conquered Egypt and got in love with everything just smelling to be Egyptian. What's funny about Caius Cestius is that he stated that the pyramid had to be built in less than 330 days otherwise the heirs were going to lose the right to get the heritage. Having that strong motivation, they managed to complete the work even in a shorter period and that is remembered by an inscription on the stone. When it comes to public works, nowadays Romans are still looking for a similar motivator.  On the side of the pyramid there is the non-catholic cemetery, also known as the Englishmen' cemetery, where the two famous poets Keats and Shelley are buried.
And, even most important, there is also the stop of the tramway line number 3 that brought back my tired legs to San Lorenzo Guest House.

By the way, I will write a short post about the tramway lines 3 and 19 that have their stop almost in front of the guest house because they are excellent as hop on - hop off lines to visit Rome.

Link to part 12