When I worked in travel and when someone wanted to know about Rome’s must-do sights, the usual always popped up. The Coliseum, The Trevi Fountain (FYI so beautiful), The Pantheon and of course, the infamous Spanish Steps. The latter, I stood at the bottom, looking up with my husband. It was teaming with tourists and we just looked at each other.
“What is so amazing about these steps?”
To say I was a little disappointed, (I don’t know why, they really are just steps), would be an understatement. It was the first sight we set our eyes upon and I felt my heart sink. Audrey Hepburn had run up and down these steps in “Roman Holiday” eating an ice-cream. Surely there was meant to be some amazing plot twist where she would jump out (yes, I know this is categorically impossible) or at least some tacky tourist cart selling Audrey memorabilia? SURELY?
Was every tourist spot going to be so dismally, disheartening.
Spoiler alert: It wasn’t.
Thank God.
I have so many posts to share with you, but my first post had to be about the Altar of Fathers Monument, that is en-route to the Coliseum. A hot spot that certainly did not fail to impress me. For me, I can’t understand why this not-so hidden gem is spoken about a lot more and it most definitely has to be on your hit list to explore.
Firstly, the one thing about Rome is, even though we did a hell of a lot of walking, it seemed like everything was very close together. It surprised me how we would fall on the next sightseeing spot one after another, which is how we found the “Monumento Vittorio Emanuelle” or “Altare della Patria.” The monument was built to honour of Victor Emmanuel, the first king of a unified Italy. The size of it is pretty impressive too, it’s pretty hard to miss it, The structure itself is 135m wide and 70m high. It spans an area of 17,000 square metres.
In 2007 a lift was added to the monument which allows you to view the city from way up high, enjoying a panoramic view of everything below. It almost took my breath away whilst standing there, taking in the narrow streets, the view of the Coliseum from a similar height and more.
Rome had been teaming with people from the moment we set foot in the capital and it was hard to find a moments peace to take everything in. I’d found Rome equally beautiful as it was claustrophobic and finally, on our last day we got a moment to really soak up the city in all it’s glorious matter. With no bobbing heads interrupting photos, no getting bumped in to. It was finally time to breathe in Rome with no interruptions.
I always feel like on the last day I store so many memories in to my head for when I’m no longer there. And this was one of those moments where I was computing everything and placing it in a store to remember when I’m craving some Italian sunshine.
Have you ever been to Rome? Did you know about this little gem?
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