Via Sette Sale

Today, we had another walking tour class of Rome. Although this tour was parallel to the tour that we took last week, we got to see a lot of different interesting buildings.

This week, the walk traced the Via Sette Sale, a medieval street through Rome. The route began at the Porta di San Vito, which we went through last week. Next, we passed the Baths of Trajan, essentially a large and luxurious complex for ancient Romans to relax. The fact that the Via Sette Sale goes directly through the baths of Trajan indicates that the route is a medieval, and not an ancient monument. The name "sette sale" means "seven cisterns," which is a reference to the large water cisterns that were part of the baths of Trajan.
However, I thought that the most interesting place that we stopped along the walk was the Basilica of San Pietro in Vincoli, or St. Peter's in Chains (photo). This church is considered another one of the big "pilgrimage churches" of Rome. The church contains what is believed to be the remnants of the chains that held St. Peter as he was imprisoned in Rome and the chains from when St. Peter was imprisoned in Jerusalem (The prison where St. Peter was held in Rome, the Mamertine Prison, is next to the forum and open to visitors). According to legend, the two sets of chains were brought together in the middle ages, when they miraculously fused together. The chains can be viewed in a special reliquary inside St. Peter's in Chains.

St. Peter's in Chains is also noteworthy because of the presence of the statue of Moses, by Michelangelo. Michelangelo meant for this statue to be his great masterpiece, however, the statue was never finished to his satisfaction. The statue is part of the tomb of Pope Julius II inside the church.

After St. Peter's in Chains, our tour was forced to make a significant detour, as the Via Sette Sale has been drastically altered from Medieval times. First, we went through a tunnel comprised of a narrow stairwell (photo). On exiting the tunnel, we found ourselves on a parapet above the Via degli Annibaldi. In order to cross to the other side, we had to walk towards the Colosseum, cross a bridge, and then walk back to the point where we had started. However, the bridge did provide a nice backdrop of the Colosseum, and was packed with tourists taking photos. We stopped for a photo as well-- see the group photo below. As we continued our walk, we were able to catch glimpses of the Colosseum whenever we passed a cross street (top photo).

We ended our walk at the Basilica of Constantine, which is part of the Roman forum. The basilica was not actually a place of worship, but essentially the Supreme Court of Ancient Rome.