Page 207 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Rome

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7 San Giovanni an eye on the docks and on the
Decollato bridge where they charged a toll.
Via di San Giovanni Decollato 22.
Map 8 E1. Tel 06-679 1890. @ 23, 44, 9 Temples of the
63, 81, 160, 170, 280, 628, 715, 716,
780. Open only for the feast of St. Forum Boarium
John (9:30am–12:30pm, Jun 24).
Piazza della Bocca della Verità.
Giorgio Vasari’s The Beheading Map 8 E1. @ 23, 44, 81, 160, 170,
of St. John (1553), from which 280, 628, 715, 716. Temple of Hercules:
the church takes its name, Open for guided tours: first and third
dominates the main altar. In Sun of month by appt (call 06-3996
1490 Pope Innocent VIII gave 7700). ∑ coopculture.it
this site to build a church for a
Florentine confraternity. Clad in These incredibly well-preserved
black robes and hoods, they Republican temples date from
Facade of Santa Maria della Consolazione would encourage prisoners to the 2nd century BC and were
repent and give them a decent saved for posterity when they
noble man, paid two gold florins burial after they had been were reconsecrated as Christian
for an image of the Virgin Mary hanged. In the cloisters there are churches in the Middle Ages.
to be placed here, to provide seven manholes, which received They offer rare examples of
consolation to prisoners in their the bodies. The confraternity combined elements from
final moments before execution. still exists, with church funds Greek and Roman architecture.
Hence the name of the church assisting prisoners’ families. The rectangular temple (for-
that was built here in 1470. It The oratory holds a cycle of merly known as the Temple of
was reconstructed between frescoes by Florentine Mannerists Fortuna Virilis) was dedicated to
1583 and 1600 by Martino Francesco Salviati and Jacopino Portunus, god of rivers and ports.
Longhi, who provided the del Conte, depicting events in Set on a podium, it has four Ionic
early Baroque facade at the the life of St. John the Baptist. travertine columns and 12 half-
same time. columns, embedded in the tufa
The church’s 11 side-chapels 8 Casa dei wall of the cella – the room that
are owned by noble families housed the image of the god.
and local crafts guild members. Crescenzi Nearby is the small circular
Taddeo Zuccari was responsible Via Luigi Petroselli. Map 8 E1. Temple of Hercules, its slender
for the 1556 frescoes depicting @ 23, 44, 63, 81, 160, 170, 280, 628, Corinthian columns surrounding
scenes from the Passion (first 715, 716, 780. the central cella. Built around
chapel on the right), while 120 BC, the temple is thought
the Mannerist artist Niccolò Studded with archaeological to be the earliest Roman marble
Circignani painted the scenes fragments, the house is what edifice to have survived to the
from the life of Mary and Jesus remains of an 11th-century present day. It is often referred to
housed in the fifth chapel. In tower fortress. The powerful as the Temple of Vesta due to its
the presbytery is the image Crescenzi family built it to keep similarity to the one in the Forum.
of Mary, attributed to
Antoniazzo Romano.
6 Area
Archeologica di
Sant’Omobono
Vico Jugario 4. Map 8 E2. Tel 06-0608.
@ 23, 44, 63, 81, 160, 170, 280, 628,
715, 716, 780.
Unearthed in 1937, this
important archaeological area
opened to the public in 2013.
The remains of the temple
Mater Matuta, dating from
the 6th century BC, have
been attributed to the time of
King Tullius. The excavations
have also revealed traces of a
pre-Roman cult. Ancient Roman fragments in the Casa dei Crescenzi

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