The 7 Hills of Ancient Rome: An Itinerary

 

The Seven Hills of Rome were the setting of one of the greatest travel experiences of my life!  Not only did my husband and I deeply explore many Ancient Rome Sties and popular Rome Attractions, we also had an incredibly memorable encounter.  We still talk about this amazing day, more than ten years later!

 

Seven Hills of Rome

 

In a recent Pod Cast Episode, I told my listeners about one of the most memorable encounters and experiences I’ve EVER had while traveling!  You can listen to this Pod Cast by clicking on the player below:

 

 

As promised in that episode, I am sharing with y’all the exact itinerary Will and I followed as we spent a day exploring the Seven Hills of Rome.

But, first, as I always do, here’s a little history about the Seven Hills of Rome.  The origins of Rome, as with many ancient cities, are wrapped in fable and legend. The Roman story is of Romulus and Remus, twin sons of Mars, abandoned on the banks of the flooding Tiber River and deposited by the receding waters at the foot of the Palatine Hill. Rescued and nursed by a she-wolf, they were raised by a shepherd and grew up to found Rome. By the way, the bronze statue of the wolf, is now in the city’s Capitoline Museum, which I detailed in this post.

Seven Hills of Rome, are group of hills on or about which the ancient city of Rome was built. The original city of Romulus was built upon Palatine Hill.  The other hills are the Aventine Hill, Caelian Hill, Esquiline Hill, Quirinal Hill, Viminal Hill, and the Capitoline Hill.

 

 

 

Rome Attractions

 

As I discussed in my pod cast episode about the Seven Hills of Rome, Will and I spent a whole day visiting many amazing Rome Attractions, Ancient Rome Sites, and Churches that coincided with the Seven Hills of Rome.  The whole day was easily an eight to ten hour day, so most of y’all might not want to recreate this experience exactly, but rather split into two days.

The overarching goal was to find an important church or one of many Ancient Rome Sites to visit, and express a Gratitude.  Seven Hills of Rome…..Seven Gratitudes.

Here’s our itinerary:

The Quirinal Hill

• The Piazza Barberini to admire the Triton Fountain by Bernini
• The Palazzo Barberini to admire the Italian Art and ornately decorated interior
• The Santa Maria della Vittoria to admire the Ecstasy of St. Theresa and the Alter by Benini, and to offer our 1st Gratitude
• The Piazza della Republica

 

The Viminal Hill

• The Santa Maria Maggiore to admire the gold ceiling and to offer our 2nd Gratitude
• The Quattro Fontane at the intersection of Via delle Quattro Fontane and Via del Quirinale

 

The Esqueline Hill

• San Pietro in Vincoli to admire the Chains of St. Peter, and to offer our 3rd Gratitude

 

The Caelian Hill

• The 4th Century Basilica of San Clemente with its gorgeous mosaics and frescos, to offer our 4th Gratitude

 

The Aventine Hill

• The Basilica dei Santi Bonifacio e Allesio, the burial place of Thomas a’ Becket, to offer our 5th Gratitude

 

The Palatine Hill

• One of the most important Ancient Rome Site, The Forum
• The Circus Maximus, known for exciting chariot races
• The convent of the Missionaries of Charity at San Gregorio al Celio.  This is where we had our AMAZING experiences detailed on my Pod Cast.  Our 6th Gratitude.

 

The Capitoline Hill

• Basilica dei Santa Maria in Aracoeli, where pilgrims often climb the steep stairs on their knees.
• We offered our 7th Gratitude sitting in the Campidoglio as the sun set on a practically perfect day!

 

What a day!  What an experience!  A day of Gratitudes and a day of Rome Attractions!  Pretty perfect, in my opinion!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tags: Ancient Rome | Aventine Hill | Caelian Hill | Capitoline Hill | Esquiline Hill | Gratitude | Palatine Hill | Podcast | Quirinal Hill | Rome | Rome Attractions | Seven Hills of Rome | She-Wolf of Rome | Viminal Hill