2 days discovering hidden gems in Rome

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[{"address":"Piazza della Scala","location":{"longitudeDelta":0.14321712068773834,"latitudeDelta":0.09219986310369421,"latitude":41.891230514244185,"longitude":12.468140899999973},"media":[{"type":"text","content":"# Day 1\n* Piazza della Scala"},{"metadata":{"width":780,"height":524},"type":"img","version":1,"content":"https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/freeguides-prod.appspot.com/o/assets%2Ftours%2FQcLPUQYrihIxkAFkQxjc%2Fpiazza_della_scala.jpg?alt=media&token=d8049156-07c5-4bed-8501-b2e747f159a1"},{"type":"text","content":"Piazza della Scala is a quaint ivy-filled square in Rome's bustling Trastevere neighborhood and is best known for its cafes and eateries, though inside it holds a real treasure. The Farmacia Santa Maria della Scala pharmacy, built in the hallway of the nearby church, has modern day medicines but a visit to its upper floor allows you to step back to the 17th century when it was the pharmacy of Papal Court. It is still run by Carmelite monks, who guide you through the evocative space, filled with paint cans, hand-labelled bottles and painted ceilings. Tours must be arranged in advance by phone."},{"metadata":{"width":576,"height":1024},"type":"video","content":"https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/freeguides-prod.appspot.com/o/assets%2Ftours%2FQcLPUQYrihIxkAFkQxjc%2Ft%E1%BA%A3i%20xu%E1%BB%91ng%20(6).mp4?alt=media&token=b0fbf8ca-f21a-4789-844f-0607ff5cc0b1"}]},{"address":"Chiesa del Gesù","location":{"longitudeDelta":0.14321712068773834,"latitudeDelta":0.09219986310369421,"latitude":41.89585951424651,"longitude":12.479440649999987},"media":[{"type":"text","content":"* Chiesa del Gesù"},{"metadata":{"width":685,"height":914},"type":"img","version":1,"content":"https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/freeguides-prod.appspot.com/o/assets%2Ftours%2FQcLPUQYrihIxkAFkQxjc%2FIl-Ges%C3%B9.jpg?alt=media&token=12b754f9-5fe2-4eb5-9747-6d0956121834"},{"type":"text","content":"The Church of Gesù, the mother church of the Society of Jesus, has a dramatic trompe l'oeil effect on the ceiling but an even more eerie visual effect is hidden in the Adjacent Chamber of Saint Ignatius, founder of the Jesuits. order. Decorated by Baroque painter Andrea Pozzo, the ornate Pozzo Corridor was inspired by the Galleria Colonna inside the nearby Palazzo Colonna and features scenes from the life of Saint Ignatius. It's fascinating because it's a relatively enclosed corridor, which feels much longer because it's drawn like a diagonal line: indeed, when you get close to the figures, they become distorted and elongated when viewed from near the."},{"metadata":{"width":576,"height":1024},"type":"video","content":"https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/freeguides-prod.appspot.com/o/assets%2Ftours%2FQcLPUQYrihIxkAFkQxjc%2Ft%E1%BA%A3i%20xu%E1%BB%91ng%20(7).mp4?alt=media&token=f987eb2b-b4d9-409a-b14e-2ef63bdd9f20"}]},{"address":"Via del Corso, 305","location":{"longitudeDelta":0.14321712068773834,"latitudeDelta":0.09219986310369421,"latitude":41.897997064247576,"longitude":12.481614249999975},"media":[{"type":"text","content":"* Palazzo and Galleria Doria Pamphilj - Doria Pamphilj Gallery"},{"metadata":{"width":945,"height":1600},"type":"img","version":1,"content":"https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/freeguides-prod.appspot.com/o/assets%2Ftours%2FQcLPUQYrihIxkAFkQxjc%2FPalazzo_doria_pamphili%2C_galleria_degli_specchi_02.jpg?alt=media&token=10ee376d-aed3-41de-82c3-b5cb9cf90059"},{"type":"text","content":"Another hidden gem in Rome is the magnificent Doria Pamphilj Gallery. The museum is simply a joy to visit, a heady blend of yesteryear in situ art and magnificent architecture. It’s a hidden gem in Rome, housed in a lavish 17th century Roman-Rococo palace.\n\nThe art collection was meticulously assembled and is still owned by a powerful Italian family, the Doria Pamphilj (pronounced Pom-fee-lee). The Doria Pamphilj Gallery boasts over 650 works spanning the 15th to the 18th century, including pieces by Velazquez, Raphael, Bernini, Caravaggio, Titian, Carracci, and Bruegel.\n\nThe best works are stashed in the Aldobrandini Gallery and the Aldobrandini Hall. The gallery’s emblematic painting is Diego Velazquez’s Portrait of Innocent X, which has a dedicated room. And the museum has a glittering Hall of Mirrors, reminiscent of the Palace of Versailles."},{"metadata":{"width":576,"height":1024},"type":"video","content":"https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/freeguides-prod.appspot.com/o/assets%2Ftours%2FQcLPUQYrihIxkAFkQxjc%2Ft%E1%BA%A3i%20xu%E1%BB%91ng%20(9).mp4?alt=media&token=b24e110f-d9a3-4d86-9b87-8b6c01385d55"}]},{"address":"Piazza di San Pietro in Vincoli","location":{"longitudeDelta":0.14321712068773834,"latitudeDelta":0.09219986310369421,"latitude":41.893684514245415,"longitude":12.4921741},"media":[{"metadata":{"width":1000,"height":1500},"type":"img","version":1,"content":"https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/freeguides-prod.appspot.com/o/assets%2Ftours%2FQcLPUQYrihIxkAFkQxjc%2F'Moses'_by_Michelangelo_JBU140.jpg?alt=media&token=fdcfe8f7-c660-4c45-a9b7-b27f3005b971"},{"type":"text","content":"# Day 2\n* St. Peter in Chains | Michelangelo’s Moses\n\nMove over David, Michelangelo’s Moses is the sculpture to see. It’s hidden away in Basilica of St. Peter in Chains, an obscure church in the Monti district.\n\nIt’s not far from the much more famous Basilica of Santa Marie Maggiore (which you must see for its mosaics). But it boasts something just as unique — Michelangelo sculptures.\n\nIn 1505, Pope Julius II, art patron extraordinaire, commissioned Michelangelo to build a three story marble tomb to be placed in St. Peter’s Basilica. Michelangelo slaved away on it for years.\n\nBut his work was halted when Julius ordered him to paint the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican instead. When Julius died, funds for the project dried up and Michelangelo never finished it."},{"metadata":{"width":576,"height":1024},"type":"video","content":"https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/freeguides-prod.appspot.com/o/assets%2Ftours%2FQcLPUQYrihIxkAFkQxjc%2Ft%E1%BA%A3i%20xu%E1%BB%91ng%20(10).mp4?alt=media&token=8c7d1471-76cf-465e-bd3f-d9f242c91d2c"}]},{"address":"Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri","location":{"longitudeDelta":0.14321712068773834,"latitudeDelta":0.09219986310369421,"latitude":41.903101114250134,"longitude":12.49669585000003},"media":[{"type":"text","content":"* Michelangelo’s Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri"},{"metadata":{"width":1000,"height":653},"type":"img","version":1,"content":"https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/freeguides-prod.appspot.com/o/assets%2Ftours%2FQcLPUQYrihIxkAFkQxjc%2Fbasilica-s-maria-degli.jpg?alt=media&token=327dca32-fb2a-4f15-9c18-b124e8fdc330"},{"type":"text","content":"T he Basilica of St. Mary of the Anglels is a fascinating church with a facade made of Roman ruins. It’s a fragment of the frigidarium, or cold pool room, from the ancient Baths of Diocletian.\n\nIn 1560, Pope Pius IV commissioned Michelangelo to transform the bath ruins into a church. It was to be his final work.\n\nRomans took their baths seriously. Diocletian’s Baths were meant to surpass the Baths of Caracalla and could accommodate 3,000 citizens. Stepping inside Michelangelo-designed church gives you an idea of their scale.\n\n"},{"metadata":{"width":576,"height":1024},"type":"video","content":"https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/freeguides-prod.appspot.com/o/assets%2Ftours%2FQcLPUQYrihIxkAFkQxjc%2Ft%E1%BA%A3i%20xu%E1%BB%91ng%20(11).mp4?alt=media&token=411a3330-92e3-4e94-94d8-bb19341d8aa0"}]},{"address":"Largo di Villa Peretti, 2","location":{"longitudeDelta":0.14321712068773834,"latitudeDelta":0.09219986310369421,"latitude":41.90163191424941,"longitude":12.498204999999997},"media":[{"type":"text","content":"* Palazzo Massimo alle Terme - Palazzo Massimo"},{"metadata":{"width":610,"height":280},"type":"img","version":1,"content":"https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/freeguides-prod.appspot.com/o/assets%2Ftours%2FQcLPUQYrihIxkAFkQxjc%2FPalazzo-Massimo-museo-nazionale-romano.jpg?alt=media&token=b85edf35-0d28-4dc3-9d8d-1477652664f8"},{"type":"text","content":"Palazzo Massimo is a wonderful hidden gem museum in Rome. It’s one of Rome’s newer museum spaces. The museum is next to Rome’s unlovely Termini station in the north. But don’t let that put you off.\n\nOnce inside, you’re in a magnificently restored building bursting with a wealth of fine sculptures, mosaics, and frescos. Three galleries on the ground floor are dedicated to busts and statuary from the last years of the Roman Republic. You can see the beautiful, and incredibly detailed, statue of Emperor Augustus.\n\nThe other two stand out sculptures are the Sleeping Hermaphrodite and the Discus Thrower, two of the better Roman copies made from Greek originals.\n\nBut my favorite part of this little museum is in Room II on the second floor. That rooms houses the exquisite garden frescos that were removed from the House of Livia on Palatine Hill for conservation. Livia was the third wife of Emperor Augustus. Other rooms contain frescos taken from the Villa Farnesina."},{"metadata":{"width":576,"height":1026},"type":"video","content":"https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/freeguides-prod.appspot.com/o/assets%2Ftours%2FQcLPUQYrihIxkAFkQxjc%2Ft%E1%BA%A3i%20xu%E1%BB%91ng%20(12).mp4?alt=media&token=da2640e7-9f6a-4647-b084-9e0c5f394bdc"}]},{"address":"Catacombs of Priscilla","location":{"longitudeDelta":0.14321712068773834,"latitudeDelta":0.09219986310369421,"latitude":41.92969601426345,"longitude":12.508656000000009},"media":[{"type":"text","content":"* Catacombs of Priscilla"},{"metadata":{"width":600,"height":400},"type":"img","version":1,"content":"https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/freeguides-prod.appspot.com/o/assets%2Ftours%2FQcLPUQYrihIxkAFkQxjc%2FCatacombs-of-Priscilla-Tour-Rome-and-Italy.jpg?alt=media&token=e9c630bd-7934-497e-b69b-4e729f1eb012"},{"type":"text","content":"Dating back almost 2,000 years, the Catacombs of Priscilla are a series of catacombs built by early Christians. Known as the “Queen of the Catacombs” since antiquity, the catacombs house the bones of early popes and many Christian martyrs.\n\nThe Catacombs of Priscilla are considered one of Rome’s most interesting underground sites, hidden away under Villa Ada Park. After five years of conservation and restoration, the Priscilla Catacombs opened to the public in 2018. Lasers were used to clean the religious frescoes on the walls.\n\nA new function on Google Maps allows you to take a limited tour of the vast complex. You can also see the frescos on this Smarthistory video.\n\n"},{"type":"link","content":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catacomb_of_Priscilla"}]}]