22 Iconic Buildings to Explore in Lazio

A majestic 135-acre building complex in a garden setting in the city of Castel Gandolfo, Italy. It consists of a 17th-century villa, an observatory, and a farmhouse with 75 acres of farmland. It has been a museum since October 2016. It served for centuries as a summer residence and vacation retreat for the pope, the leader of the Catholic Church, and is afforded extraterritorial status as one of the properties of the Holy See. It overlooks Lake Albano.

The Arch of Constantine is an arch in Rome, found between the Colosseum and the Palatine Hill. It was built in honor of Constantine I's victory over Maxentius at the Battle of Milvian Bridge on October 28, 312. It is the latest of the triumphal arches in Rome. The arch is also a tour de force of political propaganda, presenting Constantine as a living continuation of the most successful Roman emperors, renowned for their military victories and good government.

The Arch of Titus is a Roman Triumphal Arch which was erected by Domitian in c. 81 CE at the foot of the Palatine hill on the Via Sacra in the Forum Romanum, Rome. It commemorates the victories of his father Vespasian and brother Titus in the Jewish War. The arch is also a political and religious statement expressing the divinity of the late emperor Titus.

The Aventine Hill is one of the seven hills on which Ancient Rome was built. The legend recounts that Romulus had the idea to build a city on the Palatine Hill and his brother Remus thought the Aventine Hill was the right place where to start construction of a city. The Aventino is ringed with very important churches, monasteries, and the one thing tourists come to see while missing the rest: the Knights of Malta keyhole in Piazza dei Cavalieri di Malta.

One of the most beautiful and luxurious pubic baths in ancient Rome begun by the emperor Septimius Severus in AD 206. There were three main bath chambers: the frigidarium, or cold room; the caldarium, or hot room; and the tepidarium, or lukewarm room. There were also large open-air swimming pools. Marble was used lavishly, and sculpture, mosaics, frescoes, and other decorations ornamented the interior.

Campidoglio is also known as Monte Capitolino, is one of the seven hills on which Rome was founded. Its height is 48 m asl on the Arx, 35.9 m asl in the Asylum, and 44.7 m asl on the Capitolium proper. The Campidoglio is also the representative office of the municipality of Rome. According to the historian Tacitus, the Campidoglio, as well as the underlying Roman Forum, were added to the square Rome of Romulus by Tito Tazio.

The catacombs of St. Callixtus are among the greatest and most important of Rome. They originated about the middle of the second century and are part of a cemeterial complex that occupies an area of 90 acres, with a network of galleries about 12 miles long, in four levels, more than twenty meters deep. In it were buried tens of martyrs, 16 popes, and very many Christians. The area of the catacomb proper is about fifteen hectares, and it goes down for five levels.

The Circus Maximus was a chariot racetrack in Rome first constructed in the 6th century BCE. A U-shaped structure with seats on three sides and a low wall running down the middle of the arena around which the chariots raced. It was also used for other public events such as the Roman Games and gladiator fights and was last used for chariot races in the 6th century CE. In its fully developed form, it became the model for circuses throughout the Roman Empire. The site is now a public park.

Domus Aurea, Nero's famed Golden Palace was the major source of information on ancient Roman painting and decoration for Renaissance artists. which was built by Emperor Nero in the heart of ancient Rome. It covered parts of the slopes of the Palatine, Oppian, and Caelian hills, with an artificial lake in the marshy valley. It was one of the iconic locations in this area which is famous among tourists.

One of the most remarkable and extravagant Roman villa which was built for emperor Hadrian. It was Set among the rolling hills in the countryside of Campagna. It graces an area larger than Pompeii with its many pools, baths, fountains, and majestic classical architecture. it was now the property of the Republic of Italy.

The Imperial Forums in Rome include a series of monumental piazzas built between 46 B.C.E. and 113 A.D. They are considered to have been the hub of Ancient Rome’s political activities, and they were eventually accompanied by other structures over the course of centuries. . These fora were the centers of politics, religion, and economy in the ancient Roman Empire.

The theatre of Marcellus was the largest and most important theatre in Rome and completed in the late 1st century BCE during the reign of Augustus. The theatre had a capacity of between 15 to 20,500 spectators and its semicircular travertine façade originally had two tiers, each composed of 41 arches. Today its ancient edifice in the rione of Sant'Angelo, Rome, once again provides one of the city's many popular spectacles or tourist sites.

One of the largest bath complex in ancient Rome, which has a capacity of over 3,000 people. It served as a bath for the people residing in the Viminal, Quirinal, and Esquiline quarters of the city. This architectural complex, located close to the Termini rail station and the Palazzo Massimo Museum, is one of the most popular archaeological museums and sites in Rome, with about 1 million yearly visitors.

Palazzo Barberini is one of the most overlooked art museums in Rome. The 17th-century palace is incredibly centrally located – just around the corner from the quattro fontane and a few streets over from the Trevi Fountain. The sloping site had formerly been occupied by a garden-vineyard of the Sforza family, in which a palazzetto had been built in 1549. The sloping site passed from one cardinal to another during the sixteenth century, with no project fully getting off the ground.

The Palazzo Colonna is a block of palatial buildings in the center of the city of Rome, located at the base of the Quirinal Hill, and adjacent to the Basilica of the Holy Apostles. This majestic Palace was built on the ruins of an ancient Roman Serapeum and it has belonged to the prominent Colonna family for over twenty generations. One of the beautiful buildings which was a favourite spot for tourists.

The Roman Forum for centuries was the ancient Romans' point of reference in terms of the law, religion, and social life. Originally used as a necropolis, it was later the battle theatre of Lake Curzio, hosting combats between the Romans and Sabines. Such was documented by the Roman historian Livy. For centuries the Forum was the center of day-to-day life in Rome: the site of triumphal processions and elections; the venue for public speeches, criminal trials, and gladiatorial matches; and the nuc

St. Peter's Square is probably one of the world’s most famous squares and one of the most breath-taking. Designed by Bernini during the seventeenth century, it houses over 300,000 people. The most impressive part of the square, besides its size, is its 284 columns and 88 pilasters that flank the square in a colonnade of four rows. Above the columns, there are 140 statues of saints created in 1670 by the disciples of Bernini.

The Arch of Septimius Severus, erected in 203 CE, stands in Rome and commemorates the Roman victories over the Parthians in the final decade of the 2nd century CE. It is arguably the most impressive monument on the Forum Romanum. Although the statues on the top of the arch are now lost, the reliefs have lost their painting, and two reliefs are almost illegible, the monument as a whole is very well-preserved.

The Spanish Steps are a set of steps dating from 1723, climbing a steep slope between the Piazza di Spagna at the base and Piazza Trinita dei Monti at the top dominated by Trinita dei Monti Church. The steps are a wide irregular gathering place consisted of 138 steps placed in a mix of curves, straight flights, vistas and terraces. They connect the lower Piazza di Spagna with the upper piazza Trinita dei Monti, with its beautiful twin tower church dominating the skyline.

The Villa d'Este in Tivoli, with its palace and garden, is one of the most remarkable and comprehensive illustrations of Renaissance culture at its most refined. It was famous for its terraced hillside Italian Renaissance garden and especially for its profusion of fountains. It is now an Italian state museum and is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.