Italy > Latium

Posted on 03/03/2010

In the heart of the capital, the wide tree-lined Via Veneto is connected, from the middle of last century, to the social life of the protagonists of the film sets of Cinecitta and that is why it is commonly called "Dolce Vita" road.
The route starts from Porta Pinciana, at the edge of Villa Borghese and it comes with sweet and serpentine pattern, as far as Piazza Barberini, the heart of Baroque Rome, representing a stylish urban link between ancient and modern. It is also the fulcrum of Ludovisi district, built on the remains of one of the most beautiful villas in Rome, Villa Ludovisi, which was destroyed after the allotment of the territory given to the city by the heirs of the noble family whose name the Villa bore, in the end nineteenth century. The noble house survives today the Casino of Monte said "of Dawn", in Lombardy, commissioned in the seventeenth century by Cardinal Ludovico Ludovisi, the place where once stood the Gardens of Sallust. The reputation of the building is due to the rich baroque fresco decoration of the vault of the entrance hall, depicting the Chariot of Aurora, work of 1621 by Guercino. The artist has created a painted architecture open to the sky, on which stands the gig Dawn in flight, drawn by two horses galloping, flanked by allegorical figures of Day and Night.
Returning to the elegant Via Veneto, whose name commemorates the Italian victory Austro-Hungarian army during the First World War, which occurred in Vittorio Veneto, you can follow it on foot to admire the hotel, upscale cafes and shops, especially popular in the fifties and sixties of last century by the movie stars from around the world and still very much in vogue among half the stars of the show. Among the buildings of greater architectural splendor is the Hotel Excelsior, built in 1904 in neo-baroque, and the Hotel Palace, rationalist architect Marcello Piacentini. A small curiosity is the small but elegant fountain for dogs, unique of its kind in the city, on the facade of the same hotel, used to enable an easy relief to the faithful companions of actresses and directors of the time.
Continuing our walk along the tree-lined street, you meet the curved facade of the Hotel Majestic, by architect Gaetano Koch in 1896, followed the steps of the church of St. Isidore, a small jewel of Baroque Rome. The facade of the building, which stands on top of the stairs, has a fine baroque decoration and the two statues in niches, the Saints Isidore and Patrick. According to tradition, St. Isidore was a very devout man, who lived in Spain in the thirteenth century and canonized by Pope Gregory VII in 1621. Through a porch decorated with stucco work, you enter the church with one nave, which again has a fresco decoration depicting the Glory of St. Isidore, while on the spandrels of the dome are represented the four Evangelists. The decoration of the dome itself consists of eight paintings depicting plumes many incidents related to the Virgin, in San Bernardino of Siena and the Franciscan Saints.
When you reach the last corner of Via Veneto, we can admire the Fontana delle Api, designed in 1644 by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, in the shape of a bivalve shell open, which stands on three bees, the heraldic emblem of the Barberini family.
Then we come to Piazza Barberini, authentic creocevia of ancient and modern history, built on a causeway that bridges the deep inlet that separated the Quirinal hill Pincio. The area has been inhabited since the early centuries of the Roman Empire and was an area rural until the second half of the nineteenth century, when the existing roads were built Veneto and Barberini.
The large surface of the square is dominated by the central fountain Barberini, Bernini's masterpiece of 1643, built to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the election to the papacy of Urban VIII Barberini. The fountain is an impressive monument that combines naturalistic and allegorical elements: from a tank at ground level, rise four dolphins with their tails supporting the shield with the bees of the Barberini family and raise a shell, on which stands the figure of a triton blowing up a jet of water. The subject of the work is inspired by the Metamorphoses of Ovid and symbolizes the rebirth of the eternal city, following the election of the new pontiff.
At the end of our walk, let's enjoy a good coffee in one of the many spots in green surroundings of Via Veneto and who knows, maybe with a little 'luck we may encounter one of the great myths of the cinema of yesterday and today.