ASIANOVERLAND.NET WINTER EUROPEAN DAY 13/186: ROME TO BARI, ITALY

“DAY 13, 24/12/80

Rome. Christmas shopping. Onto Bari (hopefully).

Flex shows them how to pour a “wine”. (Who did cook tea that night?)”

Rome is a wonderful place for a walk, the Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain .... lunch ..."

The Pantheon is a former Roman temple, now a Catholic church, in Rome on the site of an earlier temple commissioned by Marcus Agrippa during the reign of Augustus (27 BC – 14 AD). It was rebuilt by the emperor Hadrian and dedicated about 126 AD.

The Pantheon is cylindrical with a portico of large granite Corinthian columns, eight in the first rank and two groups of four behind. Almost two thousand years after it was built, the Pantheon's dome is still the world's largest unreinforced concrete dome, with a height of 43 meters.

The Pantheon is one of the best preserved of all Ancient Roman buildings, mainly because it has been in continuous use throughout its history. Since the 7th century, the Pantheon has been used as a church.

The Trevi Fountain was the brainchild of Pope Urban VIII, who decided in 1629 that the earlier fountain was insufficiently dramatic, and asked Bernini to sketch a renovation.  In 1730, Pope Clement XII organized a contest in which Salvi initially lost to Galilei – but due to the outcry in Rome over a Florentine winning, Salvi was awarded the commission anyway. Work began in 1732. Salvi died in 1751 with his work half finished, and four different sculptors were hired to complete the fountain's decorations.

The Trevi Fountain was finished in 1762 by Pannini, and was officially opened and inaugurated on 22 May by Pope Clement XIII. It’s a great monument, surrounded by classic Roman bistros for lunch and vino.

The Spanish Steps were funded by a French diplomat who died in 1660, leaving part of his fortune for the construction of the stairs, but the project lay dormant until Pope Clement XI Albani held a competition in 1717, which was won by Francesco de Sanctis.

The Spanish Steps are gigantic terraced garden stairs. The first such divided and symmetrical stairs were devised in the 1600s, while shaped and angled steps were introduced by Michelangelo.

Leisurely afternoon at the Spanish Steps, followed by a drive to the Adriatic coast.

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