Page 182 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Rome

180  ROME AREA B Y AREA

Street by Street: Piazza di San Giovanni

Both the Basilica of San Giovanni and the Lateran Palace look out over a huge
open area, the Piazza di San Giovanni, laid out at the end of the 16th century
with an Egyptian obelisk, the oldest in Rome, in the center. Unfortunately, the
traffic streaming in and out of the city through Porta San Giovanni tends to
detract from its grandeur. Across the square is the building housing the Scala
Santa (the Holy Staircase), one of the most revered relics in Rome and the
goal for many pilgrims. The area is also a venue for political rallies, and
the feast of St. John on June 24 is celebrated with a fair at V I A D I S A N T O
which Romans devour roast porchetta (see p61). S T E F A N O R O T O N D O

The Chapel of Santa Rufina,
originally the portico of the V I A D E L L ´A M B A A R A D A M
baptistery, has a 5th-century
mosaic of spiraling foliage
in the apse.

V I A D E I L A T E R A N I

The Cloister of San Giovanni fortunately
survived the two fires that destroyed
the early basilica. A 13th-century
masterpiece of mosaic work, the cloister
now houses fragments from the
medieval basilica.

The Chapel of San
Venanzio is decorated
Key with a series of 7th-
Suggested route century mosaics on a
gold background. This
detail from the apse
shows one of the angels
flanking the central figure
of Christ. San Venanzio
0 meters 75
was an accomplished
0 yards 75 6th-century Latin poet.

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