HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
A neighborhood rich in monuments, in ancient times a center of public life, Campo Marzio was re-populated only in the 15th century, thanks first to the port on the Tiber and then to the Porta del Popolo, a new gateway to the city opened up by Sixtus IV. In the 16th century the area between Via del Corso and the Tiber began to be developed and Via di Ripetta, Via del Babuino, and the Via Trinitatis, where Palazzo Borghese was built at the end of the century, were laid out. Other palaces were built in the less populous areas: Palazzo Mignanelli, Palazzo di Propaganda Fide, and Villa Medici. The famous steps leading to the Trinità dei Monti date from the 18th century and the Pincio promenade, the work of Giuseppe Valadier, from the 19th century. This neighborhood has always been a favored destination for pilgrims and tourists and still retains an international atmosphere. It is the shopping district par excellence for luxury fashion and antiques, and owes much of the charm it exerts on tourists and visitors to its recent artistic and literary past: in the sixties and seventies Via Margutta - since the 17th century a favorite venue for artists and foreign visitors - was the main backdrop to the latest artistic trends and the cafés of Piazza del Popolo and its environs were a preferred meeting place for intellectuals and writers.
NOT TO BE MISSED
The list is long: we might start from Piazza del Popolo, with the church of Santa Maria del Popolo, whose works of art include two masterpieces by Caravaggio: the Conversion of St Paul and the Crucifixion of Saint Peter. Walking up through the Pincio, Rome's first public park, you reach Villa Medici, now the Academy of France: on the way, a stop at the terrace of Piazzale Napoleone I, to admire one of the best views in Rome, is a must. Just a short distance away is Trinità dei Monti: from here the steps lead down to Piazza di Spagna, and there is not a street between this square and Via del Corso that does not merit a stroll. Palazzo di Propaganda Fide - one of Borromini's most remarkable works - deserves attention, especially the part looking on to Via di Propaganda. The church of Saints Ambrogio and Carlo al Corso is one of the most important of the Roman baroque: behind it lies Piazza Augusto Imperatore, with the mausoleum of Augustus in the center. The Ara Pacis Augustae, one of the finest examples of Augustan art, lies between the square and the nearby Tiber.
CURIOUS FACTS
It is more than likely that many vestiges of the Augustan age still lie buried beneath this district. Some traces are still visible: in the cellar of number 48 Via di Campo Marzio, for example, there is a fragment of Augustus's great solar clock, with some marble slabs on which are depicted the zodiac signs of Aries, Taurus, Leo, and Virgo. The gnomon, or pointer, of the Augustan meridian was the obelisk that is now to be found in Piazza Montecitorio, and the area over which the clock cast its shadow extended from Via della Lupa to Piazza San Lorenzo in Lucina. It could show the time, day, and month and every 23 September, Augustus's birthday, the gnomon threw its shadow directly onto the Ara Pacis.
