ONE WEEK IN ROME - PART 4

Porta Pia

 FROM THE FICTIONAL DIARY OF A BRITISH TRAVELER

The day after I was ready for a full immersion in Rome. And especially I was ready to walk, because that was what I understood the day before during the sightseeing tour. Rome is so full of things to see, almost at every corner, that the only way to go into depth is to walk. It is not a case that all the historical center of Rome is in the UNESCO World Heritage List with something like 25000 places of interest.
My new friend Janet was busy on the morning, as she was in Rome mostly for business purposes.
We were appointed in front of the Borghese Gallery in the early afternoon. Although she did not have a reserved ticket, she hoped to find one on sale. Therefore I decided to arrive there walking.
I followed the direction I was given in San Lorenzo Guest House for my itinerary.
So I walked first to Viale Castro Pretorio, taking the name by the Castrum Pretorium, the barracks of the Praetrorian Guard, that was the elite corp of the ancient Roman army, providing personal security to the Emperor. It has to be said that was not alway the case, sometimes the Praetorian Guard was at the center of rebellions againt the reigning emperor.
The area of the Castrum is now moltly occupied by the National Library. Anyhow the walls, that were incorporated into the Aurelian Walss, are clearly visible.
Short after I reached Porta Pia. Among Italians ,Porta Pia is probably the most well known gate of Rome from an historical point of view, because it is where, in 1870, took a short battle against the papal army after which the Italian army entered Rome, bringing an end to the temporal power of the Pope. A monument dedicated to the bersaglieri, the infantry cosp that took part to the battle is located in front of Porta Pia. But Porta Pia is also an important architectonical piece, being one of the last works of Michelangelo Buonarroti. 

The British Embassy

Just behind it, one can see the Embassy of the United Kingdom, a contemporary architecture work by Sir Basil Spence.The previousl building had been destroyed in 1946 by a terrorist attack related to the coflict in Palestine that was rising just in those years. Actually that is not the best part of the british history.
I walked along Via XX Settembre, a street that is named after the day of the battle of Porta Pia, passed the cross with Via Pastrengo, a curious street where circulation as in UK on the left side, and then turned to left to get to Via Vittorio Emanuele Orlando, just after admiring the fountain at the cross, the Fontana dell'Acqua Felice. then I stopped inside the Galleria Esedra, to taste one cannolo alla siciliana of the famous pastry shop Dagnino, to drink a coffe and to write the notes of my first hour of walk.


THE FAN

Link to part 3