Rome was built not only for walkers and joining limousine or minibus tours is still one of the best way to see the city.
Few cities like Rome have as many as pleasant places to explore. Just a turn at a corner can reveal a ruin or present an unexpected bit of entertainment, like the popular Pyramid of the first century AD built as tomb of the roman governor Caius Cestius sent to Egypt by the emperor Augustus to represent the Roman empire.
If you land at Rome airports in early afternoon you will see, when getting into the city, that many shops close down for lunch and the Romans love to stroll in parks or across big open squares such as Piazza del Popolo or Piazza Navona.
Another important attraction that people getting to Rome can see are the remains of the roman city walls built by the emperor Aurelian in the third century AD. Not everybody know that these city walls were built by the roman soldiers and have the huge extension of eleven miles with almost 400 military watch towers.
Remains of this archaological belt around Rome are everywhere including along the Appian way.
Rome's airport, called Fiumicino or Leonardo da Vinci, is located in the west of Rome, at the end of the Tiber river and is the major airport in Italy.
From this airport it takes about 40 miutes to reach downtown entering the western district of Rome called Ostiense.
It's also good to remember that there are several minor airports in Italy that have now found a niche market in serving low-cost airlines.
The single important monument to be seen on the Ostiense area is the basilica of saint Paul outside the walls, one of the four patriarchal churches in Rome. This church belongs to the Vatican ( that is to say it's not italian territory but part of the vatican in Rome ) and , before it burned to the ground in 1823, the original basilica of the fourth century surpassed even saint Peters in grandeur and lavish decoration.
When instead people drive to Rome because they landed at the minor airport of Ciampino, located in the south of Rome, the main sights to admire is the roman acqueduct built by the roman emperor Claudius in the first century AD and the Appian way, the queen and the first of the roman consular roads.
The appian way was built in the IV century AD in around 20 years to connect Rome and the minor colony of Capua, located near Naples and was used by the Romans to bring the legions until Greece. |
