Piazza Testaccio

If you’re visiting Rome on your next Italian vacation this year, make it a priority to gaze upon the interior of the Sistine chapel in Vatican city! This endeared chapel is where the famous papal conclave takes place when cardinals gather to vote for a new pope.

Stay in a holiday rental in Rome where you can spend a few days discovering the rich beauty of this capital city, including the interior of the Sistine chapel!

What makes the Sistine chapel so special is its ornate interior with every inch of wall illustrated with frescoes by famous Italian artists. During the reign of Pope Sixtus IV between 1482 and 1483, a team of highly skilled Renaissance painters were commissioned to fill its interior walls with biblical scenes.

These artists were Sandro Botticelli, Pietro Perugino Pinturicchio and Domenico Ghirlandaio.

The origins of what went on to become one of the largest and most powerful empires in the ancient world began on the peninsula of Italy around the 8th century BC near the site where Rome city now stands.

Through its 1200 years of existence the ancient Roman civilisation went through stages of monarchy, classical republic before transforming into the formidable empire that expanded across much of Europe and around the Mediterranean.

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.

Rome is the vibrant capital city of Italy and is visited by nearly twenty million tourists every year!

Of course you will enjoy seeing the magnificent Pantheon, St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City and the Trevi Fountain for example but here are a few other treasures worth discovering!

Stay at a fabulous holiday villa in Rome and spend your vacation exploring this incredible city!

Start off your tourist day in Rome with an entertaining visit to the Pasta Museum in Piazza Scanderbeg. This huge museum has eleven rooms dedicated to the history, production and culture of one of Italy’s most popular staple foods.

Rome, the capital city of Italy is one of the most popular and intriguing attractions for tourists to visit!

Several weeks could quite easily be spent here exploring all its attractions but did you know that Rome has many underground tours to experience as well?

Choose from a lovely range of holiday rentals in Rome where you can relax and unwind after a few days of exciting explorations above and below this capital city!

Rome is a very ancient city where many tunnels, crypts and underground buildings exist and once housed fugitives and provided escape routes for people during times of danger. Discoveries are still being made but already, several exciting underground tours of Rome are available for tourists to book.

Once upon a time according to legend, two twin boys called Romulus and Remus were born and they were destined for greatness as their parents were famous in their own right. Their mother was called Rhea Silvia, a sacred priestess and their father was Mars, the Roman god of war.

Their uncle, a jealous man who wanted to bypass the twins’ right to royal leadership so he could be king, plotted to have them murdered. But the servant he ordered to commit this heinous crime instead placed them in a basket and set it floating down the River Tiber.