‘When in Rome…’
Third Installment: Lost and Found in the Eternal City

By Andrea Murphy
4A Architecture

Textbooks for architecture courses vary from dense manuals to fictional novels, but none is as rich or as enormous as the city of Rome. Obviously this isn’t a text in the sense that we have to read it, but there are definitely chapters that need to be ‘read’ and understood before you can navigate and appreciate the architecture of the Eternal City. Since it’s the season of midterms, and we all could use a cheat sheet or two, I have compiled some Cole’s Notes for the figurative textbook of Rome.

Navigation in Rome is practically impossible from the North American mindset of the urban grid, thus knowing some monuments and landmarks prove useful on any adventure into the ancient city. The most important landmark for any architecture student studying in Rome is the Piazza of Santa Maria in Trastevere. Not only is it arguably the most important piazza in the Trastevere district, it is also right next to the Waterloo studio. Finding your way through the winding streets of this old residential area is extremely difficult, and arriving at this piazza can be the breath of fresh air needed to recoup and gain your bearings before trekking off towards the core of Rome.

Heading East across the Tiber River, itself a major landmark, you can find yourself at the Coliseum. An international icon for the ancient world, you can’t miss spotting this enormous structure flagging the district of the city which contains the Ancient Forum, the Palatine hill, and other Imperial remains. This monument, like many, is plagued with tourists and thus is not difficult to find- follow the crowds!

Alternately, upon leaving Trastevere, heading North across the Tiber River will get you to a piazza that is sunk into the ground and contains, amongst four ruined temples, a number of stray cats. This is Largo Argentina, primarily considered an archaeological site, but simultaneously exists as a cat sanctuary where volunteers care for stray cats until they are adopted. Needless to say, these are very privileged cats, since they can roam the ruins freely while the people watch from above, unable to access the ruins. This landmark is excellent for connecting the Campo Marzio, (the ancient training ground of the Roman army and current urban core of the city) with the neighbourhood of Trastevere.

From Largo Argentina, heading North will connect you directly to the Piazza in front of the Pantheon. Like with the Coliseum, simply following the crowds of people will guide you to this monument. Located roughly in the centre of the Campo Marzio, this monument can help even the most lost traveler to find their bearings in the otherwise never-ending maze of narrow streets in this district. The popularity of this site, mixed with it’s central location has made it a common place for signage to appear, which is really useful when trying to visit all the famous tourist destinations.

Heading East from the Pantheon you arrive at the main boulevard of Rome. Via Corso is the local shopping strip with all the chain stores you would associate with prestigious addresses. It is probably as close as you can get to a North American street, cut directly through the meandering medieval fabric of streets and mid-rise buildings. Wandering up Corso on a Saturday can be a pretty daunting experience, with the local shoppers out and about while the tourists are cutting across traffic to get to the next monument- especially the Column of Augustus and the Trevi Fountain.

Easy to spot from every step of Via Corso is the Vittorio Emanuelle monument. A modern intervention in Rome, it’s known as ‘the wedding cake’ and rises high above anything else in the area and sets the southernmost termination point for Via Corso. For navigating Rome, this bright white tall neo-classical building couldn’t be a better landmark for finding your way South.

Finally, if you ever get lost and are hopelessly confused but see a lot of clergy and nuns wandering about, try following them. Odds are that you will be lead to St. Peter’s, which is on the West bank of the Tiber River, and easily recognizable by the huge basilica and sweeping exedra which reach out like arms to form an elliptical piazza centered on an obelisk. If you have read or seen Angels and Demons, or have ever watched a Papal address, then you will recognize the piazza immediately.

There you have it, a crash course in navigating the city of Rome with only monuments and landmarks to guide you. Alla prossima, Waterloo!