Italy: Rome travel facts & trivia
Romulus, Mark Anthony, Dario Argento, the Colosseum, St Peter & more
Mar 13, 2007
Information and statistics on the Rostrum, Trevi fountain, Vatican, pasta, Nero, Isola Tiberina, gladiator school, basilicas and museums in the Italian capital city, Roma
Italy’s capital, Rome, is one of the most visited cities on earth, and quite rightly so. But here are some things that visitors travelling there on holiday may not know.
- Anyone who likes their museums on the rather grizzly side can enjoy a trip to either Dario Argento’s Horror Museum or the Museum of Souls in Purgatory.
- Rome was supposedly founded by the twins, Romulus and Remus. Legend has it that they were both raised by a she-wolf after being abandoned at birth. So much for brotherly love and shared experience, though – Romulus killed Remus after a dispute over which hill was best to build the city on.
- The Rostrum was where Mark Anthony made his famous “Friends, Romans, countrymen” speech.
- Isola Tiberina, in the middle of the Tiber river, is the world’s smallest inhabited island.
- It wouldn’t be Italy without pasta, and therefore it’s fitting that the capital plays host to the National Pasta Museum.
- If the Colosseum (or watching Russell Crowe bashing the life out of angry tigers) has got you inspired, then why not sign up for gladiator school in the city? Here you can learn useful tricks, such as how to wield your sword to maximum effect whilst dodging burly chaps on chariots.
- The famous Trevi fountain has a superstition attached – if you throw a coin in, you will supposedly one day return to the Eternal City. This became famous in the film Roman Holiday starring Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn, and since then millions or lira (and latterly, euros) have been tossed in. The money is now all collected for charity, although for a while a cunning chancer crept into the fountain in the middle of the night to snaffle as much of the loose change as he could.
- In the Basilica di San Paolo, there is a picture of every Pope lined up in a row. Legend has it that when all the spaces are filled up, the end of the world will come. Unfortunately, there are only eight spaces left, which doesn’t bode well.
- The tomb of the original Pope, St Peter, can be found in the basilica named after him in the Vatican City.
- The ghost of notorious Roman Emperor Nero is supposed to haunt the Chiesa di Santa Maria di Popolo.
- Rome is home to the International Museum of Film and Entertainment.
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