Page 105 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Rome

P ALA TINE  103

the same small bedroom for 9 Farnese Gardens
40 years on a low bed that had See Visitors’ Checklist.
“a very ordinary coverlet.”
A flight of steps leads down In the mid-1500s, Cardinal
to a mosaic-paved corridor Alessandro Farnese, grandson of
into a courtyard. Its imitation- Pope Paul III, bought the ruins of
marble wall frescoes have Tiberius’s palace on the Palatine.
been detached in order to He filled in the ruined building
preserve them, but they still and had the architect Vignola
hang in place. They are faded, design a garden. The result was
but you can make out the Vaulted ceiling painting in the House one of the first botanical gardens
veining patterns nonetheless. of Augustus in Europe, its terraces linked by
Off the courtyard are three steps stretching from the House
small reception rooms. of the Temple of Cybele, a of Vestal Virgins in the Forum to
The frescoes in the central popular fertility goddess the Palatine’s Germalus peak. The
one include a faded scene imported to Rome from gardeners introduced a number
of Hermes coming to Asia. The priests of the of plants to Italy and Europe,
the rescue of Zeus’s cult castrated among them Acacia farnesiana.
beloved Io, who is themselves in the Farnese was at the center of a
guarded by the 100- belief that if they glittering set that included a
eyed Argos. In the left- sacrificed their own number of courtesans, so the
hand room are frescoed fertility, they would parties here are likely to have
figures of griffins, and guarantee that of the been somewhat unholy.
other beasts, while natural world. The The area was dug up during
the decor in the right- annual festival of the excavation of the Palatine
hand room includes Cybele, in early spring, and re-landscaped. The tree-
both landscapes Statue of the culminated with frenzied lined avenues, rose gardens, and
and cityscapes. goddess Cybele eunuch-priests slashing glorious views make it an ideal
their bodies to offer up place to unwind.
6 House of their blood to the goddess, and
the ceremonial castration of
Augustus novice priests. VISITORS’ CHECKLIST
See Visitors’ Checklist. Practical Information
Entrances & ticket kiosks: Via di
Painted in about 30 BC, the 8 Huts of Romulus San Gregorio 30. Map 8 E1–8 F1.
frescoes in the House of See Visitors’ Checklist. Tel 06-3996 7700. Open
Augustus are among the most 8:30am–approx 1 hour before
impressive existing examples According to legend, after sunset daily; (last adm: 1 hour
of Roman wall paintings, similar killing his brother Remus, before closing). Closed Jan 1,
in quality to those found in Romulus founded a village on Dec 25. & (includes entry to
the Palatine Museum, the
Pompeii and Herculaneum. the Palatine. In the 1940s a Forum & the Colosseum).
In vivid shades of red, blue, series of holes was found, and 8 9 =
and ocher, they include various archaeologists deduced that
trompe l’oeil effects, including these must originally have Transportation
a room with walls painted to held the supporting poles @ 75, 85, 87, 117, 186, 810, 850
resemble a stage with side of three Iron-Age huts – the to Via dei Fori Imperiali. v 3.
doors, and a garden vista. first foundations of Rome q Colosseo.
Although the frescoes are (see pp20–21).
impressive, the house itself is
modest. This is where Augustus
(or Octavian, as he was then
known) lived before assuming
supreme power as Rome’s first
emperor. Only a few visitors are
allowed in at any one time.

7 Temple of
Cybele
See Visitors’ Checklist.
Other than a platform with
a few column stumps and
capitals, there is little to see Farnese pavilions, relics of the age when the Palatine was a private garden

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