Travel

Rome V Coronari, Pace, Saint John Lateran, Trastevere Largo Argentina

travel videos & photos at: https://townsofeurope.com/ with text, maps & links. Starting at Via dei Coronari, one of Rome's most famous pedestrian shopping streets. Here you will find a delightful series of narrow pedestrian lanes that you could investigate for several days. There are cute little side alleys and staircases branching off. They are luring you into their curves, so feel free to wander. This was the street that led the pilgrims who came of foot from all over Europe to St Peter's. All these neighborhoods all around are just saturated with charm and character. You'll walk on cobbled pedestrian lanes with apartments upstairs and in a pattern that's been followed for about 2000 years. Though the brick buildings may look picturesquely decrepit, you can be sure these are some of the most expensive quarters in Rome prized for their central historic location. You cannot get lost because it is only about one square mile, bounded by the river on three sides and the busy Via Del Corso on the eastern edge. Walking in this quiet neighborhood will be one of the most interesting experiences of your visit. Continue walking along and turn right at one of those little narrow alleys that lead in a few minutes towards the church of Santa Maria della Pace, the heart of yet another precious little neighborhood. The Basilica of Saint John Lateran is perhaps the second most important church in the entire Catholic world. Second to Saint Peter's, because this is really the oldest major church and it's the true home of the pope and constructed in the basilica style, with an amazing golden coffered wooden ceiling, beautiful altar with paintings and mosaics all around it. It's really a grand structure. Trastevere is one of the best neighborhoods for restaurants and for walking and being out among the locals. It's just across the Tiber River from the historic center of Rome. There are numerous little trattoria that abound in the side streets. Maybe you want to come back to this neighborhood, which is more interesting late in the day when it becomes a magical gathering place for eating, shopping, strolling and just soaking up the scene. One of the great pleasure is is just walking in these little alleys and discovering the little piazzas in the neighborhood just behind the Piazza Navona which keep going and going. It's something that takes you off the beaten track and into the neighborhoods where the actual Romans lived. After strolling for an hour or so in these tangle of wonderful lanes, pick your spot, sit down and have a great meal. Take a walk to walk Largo Argentina, which is an unusual collection of four ancient temples right in the middle of the busy streets. And it's also home to Rome's largest collection of semi-wild cats. They're actually very nicely taken care of in this cat sanctuary of Largo Argentina. Its temple complex was only discovered during the 1930s when a construction project uncovered them. The Church of Il Gesu is the Mother Church of the Jesuit Order, which was founded just after the Reformation by 1540. The decor that we see today is from a later period that when the church was initially constructed in the late 1500s, it was built in the Counter-Reformation style, which is the big nave, and that was for preaching so that they could preach to a large number standing. We next visit the Fountain of the Turtles, where you see the turtles on top. And what we've got is life size young naked guys. And then they're standing on these fish, they're spouting out the waters, and it's just a beautiful Renaissance fountain. Continue on the main road of this small ghetto neighborhood. Today, the ghetto is a classic and typical residential neighborhood. It's kind of a back street with no through traffic. So it's like a little village back here and you're bound to see locals sitting around. Mamas with kids. Seniors standing on the corner and talking, or perhaps sitting at one of the small outdoor tables at a cafe along the sidewalk of this charming street.