Rome Walking Tour: 2h40 with 23 Immersive Audio Commentary

Just a note on the door you see on your left. It is the gate of Settimiana. It is part of the remains of the ramparts built by Emperor Aurelian in the 3rd century.

You cross the Tiber again thanks to the Sisto Bridge facing Trilussa Square. This bridge, rebuilt by Pope Sixtus IV in the 15th century, replaces an ancient bridge probably destroyed during a major flood of the river in 791.

You will certainly have noticed these plates marked SPQR and scattered all over Rome. It is the motto of the Roman Republic, then of the Roman Empire.

We now arrive at a small, lesser-known square in Rome, which is, however, home to one of the city’s most beautiful fountains: the Fountain of Turtles.

You see on your left, the remains of the columns that once belonged to the Temple of Nymphs. In ancient Greek folklore, nymphs are personifications of nature, represented as young girls and often linked to a particular place.

Before diving into the Roman Empire and rubbing shoulders with Caesar and Augustus, it is perhaps important to salute the main character of reunited Italy. The one called the Father of the Fatherland.

You have here on your left, some rather interesting remains since it is the only example of a Roman insula that we have access to today. An insula, which in Latin means island, is the ancestor of our buildings.

Here you are in the heart of Rome. At the top of the smallest of its seven hills. Capitol Hill. In antiquity, there was a fortified square, symbol of the political and religious power of the city, open to the Forum.

Here, from the top of her column, is the famous She-Wolf of Romulus and Remus. The original, from the Middle Ages, is in the Capitoline Museum, but at least if you didn’t intend to enter, you can admire the replica!

So here, be ready to make a real good in time. Try to imagine yourself around the 10th century BCE. It is a marshy and inhospitable terrain that you have before you, it serves as a necropolis for the villages of the seven surrounding hills.

You now have a breathtaking view of the Arch of Septimius Severus and its superb bas-reliefs. Built in 203 AD, it is dedicated by the Senate to Emperor Septimius Severus and his sons, to commemorate his military victory over the Parthians.

This small walkway, which appears in front of you, offers a beautiful unobstructed view of the Forum of Trajan. It is the last imperial forum erected in Rome, in the first century AD.