This year to celebrate the bimillenium birthday of Saint Paul, who is believed to have been born seven to ten years after Christ, between June 28th 2008 and June 29th 2009 "a series of liturgical, cultural and ecumenical events” take place. The Year is known as ”Paolina” and the various pastoral and social initiatives are set to inspire Christians worldwide. 

So now is a goodtime to go on a pilgrimage to the places which the great apostle visited during the final part of his life. These are some of the most important places.

A l’abbazia delle tre fontane – The Three Fountains Abbey 

The place where St Paul was locked in a cell before receiving martyrdom is found in  the abbey of the Three Fountains (ex.Waters Sages) on Via Laurentina in Rome. The church is S.Maria Scala Coeli inside the courtyard of the abbey. Then inside, underneath, the crypt opens, and there is a sixteenth-century altar devoted to St. Zenone and the Martyr soldiers that kept St. Paul prisoner before his decapitation.

To the right of the church crossing a small piece of land full of trees is the place where St. Paul was killed. As the story goes, he was decapitated and jumped three times on the earth below. On those points of contact, it’s said three springs of water miraculously gushed out, and thus the name “The Three Fountains”.

Il Carcere Mamertino:

The Jail Mamertino or Carcer Tullianum is the most ancient jail in Rome, known also as Jails mamertine.

Here St. Paul was imprisoned together with St. Peter .The story is that there was a miracle release of spring water in the jail and the two saints succeeded in converting the custodians of the jails. And it was from here that St. Paul was taken to be beheaded (The Church of the Three Fountains)

La Basilica San Paolo fuori le mura:

The great apostle was buried on the road that leads to Ostia, and for many centuries pilgrims visited his grave. Later, the Basilica was built on that spot, and today you can visit the sarcophagus of the Saint.

The values of the Saint are considered to have a strong influence on Christianity because his missions helped increase the number of Christians in the Greek and Roman world. After St. Giovanni the evangelist (St John), St Paul is the most wise and gifted writer of all the Apostles.

So don’t miss this great opportunity to visit these monuments of religious and historical importance in Rome. And for your own convenience, why not stop by Hotel Des Artistes? Being so centrally located it’s a great choice for your holiday hotel.

Closed on Sunday.

The Saint Peter’s basilica is one of the biggest monuments in the world; it is 218 metres. long and 130 m high . The basilica was built between the 1506 and the 1626 by Bramante, Raffaello Sanzio, Baldassare Peruzzi, Michelangelo, Giacomo della Porta, Carlo Maderno and Bernini.

The Basilica has 5 main doors but the most important is the “Holy Door” in bronze by Vico Consorti (1950), which is by tradition, only opened for great celebrations such as Jubilee year.

The Sistine Chapel is a chapel in the Apostolic Palace, the official winter residence of the Pope in the Vatican City, while in Summer his Holyness moves to nearby Castelgandolfo .
The Sistine Chapel is is famous for Michelangelo’s ceiling painting.

Curiosity : Buying your postcard stamps in the Vatican City is cheaper and if you post your mail within the Vatican it is also faster !

You can get there by metro Line A (stop in Ottaviano and then 10 minutes walking ).
Opening hours:
Sistine chapel entrance from 10.00 am to 12 am
Vatican Museum: visits at set hours 9.00. 10.00. 11.00. 12.00 am.

You can also book a Vatican Museum Tour.
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The Pantheon was built a long time ago-125 AD, they say. But unlike
the colosseum is unbelievably well conserved. In fact, is maybe the
best preserved building of its age.
In other words, it’s definetely worth seeing.

Originally the Pantheon was built as a temple for the seven planets, that were deities in the roman religion. From the 7th century the Pantheon has been used as a christian church, and some people even marry there nowadays.

What you will see is not just a monument, but also an outstanding construction. In fact, the Pantheon holds the record for the largest unreinforced concrete dome in the history of architecture, and still today is puzzling to try to understand how this structure has been able to stand for centuries. This has been possible in part for certain tricks of architecture like the central opening you’ll surely notice in the dome, but the real secret is the roman concrete (of composition unknown to us) used to build it.

Just in case you don’t find all this that intersesting, the Pantheon houses also the tomb of the great painter Raffaello di Sanzio (Raphael, for his english-speaking friends) who besides of giving his name to one of the ninja turtles also painted some of the most celebrated works of art of the italian renaissence.

This historical wonder is very easy to find if you’re staying in the Yes Hotel. Take the buses 64 or 40 from termini to Piazza Navona (the square with two magnificent fountains, one of them with an obelisk in the middle) and once you’re there follow the signs or ask a local for the Pantheon. The streets in that area are crooked and narrow but if you keep asking you won’t get lost.

There are 4 major churches in Rome, which are in order of importance : St John in Lateran, St Peter’s,  St Paul outside the walls and St Mary Major.

St Mary Major, in italian “Santa Maria Maggiore” is close by our My Hotel Rome, about 5 minutes on foot only, and also near the Coliseum : Where Via Fori Imperiali joins Via Cavour take left on Via Cavour and walk all the way up and you will not miss the Basilica, about 500 metres ahead on your right.

The church used to bear the name of St Mary of the Snow (in italian “Santa Maria della Neve”)  due to the fact that Pope Liberio, during 4th century , had a revelation in a dream that it would be snowing overnight over the church.

The inner walls have beautiful mosaic designs depicting episodes from the Old testament and the bell tower, built in 1370 is 76 metres tall which is actually the tallest in Rome.

The church is located on the hill Esquiline one of the seven hills of Rome. 

 

 Rome is  famous for the great roman  food, tasty and genuine and we highly recommend our Yes Hotel nearby restaurants.

and end up your meal with an extra cold limoncello, the famous all italian digestive !

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Vatican City is just 0, 44 kilometres square. It has its own radio station, television station, post office, railway station and helipad. 3000 lay workers also work in the Vatican City along with priests, dignitaries, nuns and guards. The Vatican City is all that remains of the papal states of 1859. This was originally 44,030 kilometres square. Other property also still retained by the papacy includes the Lateran palaces and Castle Gandolfo, which is also the Pope’s summer residence..

The Vatican Museums, Sistine Chapel and of course St Peter’s Basilica, which is also the largest in the world are all situated here. The walls running around the city also serve as the international boundaries. The Swiss Guard also served as the personal guard of the Pope and of the state. They are extremely well trained and disciplined. They are also all Swiss, single and devout Catholics.

Pope John Paul II transformed many policies of the Vatican in the eighties. One of the policies that changed was that Catholicism was no longer the state religion in Italy. The current Pope Benedict the 16th has very big shoes to fill. John Paul II left a big legacy and everyone expects Benedict to carry on in the same way.

A trip to Rome would not be complete without a visit to Vatican City. Please don’t forget that to get into St Peters there is a strict dress code. No bear shoulders or any skirts or pants above the knee and no open shoes. Obviously with the weather heating up and being extremely warm, clothing for outdoors will probably not be appropriate to gain entry. Take a bag with you and pack a long sleeve top and pair of pants. They are very strict so no amount of crying or begging will get you in.

The best time to go to the Vatican Museums is at least an hour before opening as the queue here is very long and slow.This means that with the current opening time you should get there by the very latest at nine in the morning. At the moment St Peter’s is open from seven in the morning till 7 in the evening. Go here after you have been to the museum. It’s also really great because at some points in the queue you get to wait under the colonnade that encompasses the square.

You can take the metro line A from Termini Station, which is the main station in Rome, it is only a 5 minute walk from our Hotel in Rome Des Artistes, which will take you directly to the Vatican.

If you want to see the latest pope the best place to go to is St Peter’s Square. Here you can celebrate mass with the Pope and hear his Sunday message. He is the latest head of the Roman Catholic church which roughly has 1 billion followers. Although the responsibility he has is enormous and the power he has is equally so, his seat of office is within one of the smallest city states on earth.

The Vatican city is just 0,44 kilometres square. It has its own radio station, television station, post office, railway station and helipad. 3000 lay workers also work in the Vatican City along with priests, dignitaries, nuns and guards. The Vatican City is all that remains of the papal states of 1859. which was originally 44,030 kilometres square. Other property also still retained by the papacy include the Lateran palaces and Castel Gandolfo, which is also the Pope’s summer residence.

The Vatican Museums, Sistine Chapel and of course St Peter’s Basilica, which is also the largest in the world are all situated here. The walls running around the city also serve as the international boundaries. The Swiss Guard also serve as the personal guard of the Pope and of the state. They are extremely well trained and disciplined. They are also all Swiss, single and devout Catholics.

Pope John Paul II transformed many policies of the Vatican in the eighties. One of the policies that changed was that Catholicism was no longer the state religion in Italy. The current Pope Benedict the 16th has very big shoes to fill. John Paul II left a big legacy and everyone expects Benedict to carry on in the same way.

A trip to Rome would not be complete without a visit to Vatican city. Please don’t forget that to get into St Peters there is a strict dress code. No bear shoulders no skirts or pants above the knee and no open shoes. Obviously with the weather heating up and being extremely warm, clothing for outdoors will probably not be appropriate to gain entry. Take a bag with you and pack a long sleeve top and pair of pants. They are very strict so no amount of crying or begging will get you in.

The best time to go to the Vatican Museums is at least an hour before opening as the queue here is very long and slow. This means that with the current opening time you should get there by the very latest at nine in the morning. At the moment St Peter’s is open from seven in the morning till seven in the evening. Go here after you have been to the museum. Its also really great because at some points in the queue you get to wait under the colonnade that encompasses the square so you may get some respite from the sun.

Any traveler who comes to the Eternal City will want to visit this must see ancient area steps away from the Coloseum and Piazza Venezia and the San Clemente Basilica and along the street of the same name “via dei fori imperiali”.

The Imperial Forums were originally large squares with porticos around them and bearing a statue of the Emperor in the middle. They were markets and places of meeting for the citizens of that time. The forums are various and to name a few only : Forum of Trajan and the Forum of Augustus. The Caesar’s Forum is probably the most famous and here rest Caesar’s ashes. Not far away stands the Temple of Venere Genitrice (Mother Venus), the mother of Enea whom Caesar claimed to be descended. Steps away you will see another temple, the Temple of Mars Ultor which was planned by Augustus and represented a warning when his adoptive father Julius Caesar died.

The Trajan’s column high 40 metres recount various victories during the war of Dacia (now Romania) all sculpted on its surface. The Trajan Markets around were used for services and distribution. Not far away stands the Palatine Hill and the Capitole on the other side where you can enjoy the wonderful Capitoline Museums.

The Imperial forums are open until dusk and you can get there by metro from Termini station on line B, and they are only 2 stops away. Our hotel Yes hotel is by the Termini station so that all great sights of the city are within easy reach.

The site has experienced several phases of which different architectural levels have been conserved up to our days: in the 2nd century more building work took place, and a beautiful and spacious private residence was constructed. About 100 years later, a part of this building was transformed into a sanctuary of the divinity Mitra, whose cult was getting more and more popular in Rome at that time, especially amongst the army. During this phase an altar was built, and the sanctuary was transformed to look like the interior of a cave. The cult of Mitra was practised actively here at least until the beginning of the 4th century, and at some point after that the temple seems to have been intentionally destroyed in order to transform it into a Christian church towards the end of the 4th century. In the Middle Ages, in 1084, it was destroyed by the Normans.

The current basilica, only slightly lower than the street level, was constructed in 1108 by the Pope Pasquale II on top of the earlier layers, which at that time remained covered. The medieval basilica, adorned by amazingly beautiful and sumptuous mosaics, was restored in the beginning of the 18th century. The ancient layers were uncovered only in the 1857, and can now be visited with a guide.

The basilica is located just a short walk from the Colosseum, in Via Labicana 95. You can book a guided visit to the underground layers either by e-mail or by phone: 0039 06 8530 1758. You can also attend without reservation, especially in low season. To get there for example from the Termini station, take the metro line B. To be able to move around the city easily, be sure to book a central hotel, such as the hotel Carlito’s Way or the Nice Hotel, located in the Termini neighbourhood.