Sunday Morning ROMA

Pictures taken this Sunday 9 January 2011, between 09:30 and 11:30 walking between the Amphitheater of the Flavians down Via dei Fori Imperiali to Piazza Venezia and then up the Capitoline hill and back down towards the Corso and ending up in Piazza Spagna.

Arch of Emperor Constantine located at the beginning of the Via Sacra

Amphitheater of the Flavians, started by Emperor Vespasian in 70 AD and completed and inaugurated by his son Titus in 80 AD. It could seat 50,000 spectators. It remained in use until 550 AD. and only became a shrine of the Church at the time of the Renaissance.

Ruins of the basilica of Emperors Maxentius and Constantine and the Vittoriano on Via Fori Imperiali

A glance in the background at the Temple of Saturn and the Arch of Septimus Severus, seen from Via Fori Imperiali

The columns of the Temple of Saturn where the Saturnalia took place on December 21 and the entrance to the Mamertime, State Prison of Rome were all the famous rulers defeated by Rome ended up after the triumphal parade through the Roman Forum, all died either strangled or starved to death.

Palazzo Venezia on the piazza of the same name, next to the house of the Bonaparte family, where Napoleon's mother, spent her last days looking out unto the Piazza in imperial splendor, not bad for a peasant women whose son did good.

It must be Sunday morning, just married, newlyweds kissing on the stairs of Rome Campidoglio City Hall.

Church of Santa Maria AraCoeli entrance, tombstone of Flavio Biondo, (1392-1463) born in Forli, Romagna, first modern historian, father of archeology, he coined the term Middle-Ages. He wrote 3 encyclopedias on Italian history from the foundation of Rome to his time.

A side view of the Altar to the Nation (Vittoriano), all white marble and the facade unfinished of the Church of Santa Maria Ara Coeli.

The column of Emperor Trajan and the 2 churches at the corner of Via Fori Imperiali and Piazza Venezia.

The Spanish Steps and the French Church Trinita di Monti