Archive for 'Central Italy'

In 1732 Pope Clement XII awarded the celebrated sculptor Nicola Salvi the commission to create an elaborate fountain in the Trevi district of Rome city. The task was so huge that it had to be completed by another architect called Pietro Bracci.

The Trevi fountain is situated in front of the beautiful Palazzo Poli and the water which supplies it comes from an ancient Roman aqueduct called the ‘Acqua Virgine’.

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The Papal Basilica of San Francesco d’Assisi in Umbria is an important landmark of Christianity in Italy. It's dedicated to the famous monk called St. Francis who was born here and went on to found the Franciscan Order. As a reward for its historic and cultural importance it was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2000.

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Construction of the Basilica of St. Francis began in 1228 and originally comprised of two adjacent churches and a stone chamber where the body of the saint was buried.

The beautifully built town of Assisi lies in the region of Umbria close to Monte Subasio. It’s most famous for being the birthplace of St. Francis who founded what is now the worldwide Order of Franciscan Monks.

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As the fame of Assisi’s beloved St. Francis grew large and more widespread, more and more elaborate plans were set in place to build basilicas, churches and chapels in his honour in the surrounding area. And St. Francis is not the only endeared saint to hail from here; St. Clare, St. Agnes and St. Sylvester also came from here and also have sacred buildings erected in their honour.

Continuing on from our introductory article on the gods of ancient Rome, here are some more familiar faces that you may already know a little about!

Pluto was god of the underworld and another brother of Jupiter’s. He was a gloomy fellow, jealous of his siblings who had a better life of it high up in the clouds!

Mars was a son of Jupiter and god of war. He wasn’t that popular with the other gods as he was extremely vain and quite cruel. The only other deity that liked him was Venus, goddess wife of Vulcan.

The civilisation of ancient Rome was a major believer in higher powers. They had gods and goddesses for almost anything imaginable! There were gods of war, sea, love, and wisdom for example and each one would be specifically prayed to for a corresponding crisis or wish in that area.

There were hundreds of Roman gods, many of which transcended into being through influences of Greek and Latin civilisations. In many cases, each of these cultures had equivalent gods for different purposes.

For example the Greek god, Zeus was the god of gods and was the equivalent of the Roman god Jupiter. Hades was the Greek ruler of the underworld, very similar to Pluto the Roman version.