The stories we tell
along the way.

Stories & legends · 3 min readThe Mouth of Truth: a drain cover that became a lie detectorA Roman drain cover, a medieval test for liars, a wife who outwitted it and a scream that stayed in a film. The Bocca della Verità, in five minutes.

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Places · 3 min readThe Pantheon: Agrippa's name on Hadrian's buildingThe inscription says Agrippa built it. The bricks say Hadrian. Why the Pantheon still stands, what the rain does inside and the pearl that hung on its Venus.

See it from the cartGolf cart highlightsVintage Model T

Stories & legends · 3 min readBernini against Borromini in Piazza Navona: a feud that never happenedThe statue that shields itself from the church, the stadium under the pavement and the summers when the whole piazza was flooded. Navona's three stories.

See it from the cartGolf cart highlightsVintage Model T

Stories & legends · 3 min readThe Barberini bees and the curse of the twenty-second yearA small fountain at the foot of Via Veneto, an inscription that counted one year too many, and a pope who died eight days short. The Barberini bees, explained.

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Places · 4 min readCastel Sant'Angelo: an emperor's tomb, an angel and a goldsmith on the runBuilt as a tomb, turned into a fortress, named after a vision. Castel Sant'Angelo in five minutes, including the night Cellini climbed down its wall.

See it from the cartVintage Model TGolf cart highlights

Places · 3 min readWhere Caesar really died: Largo di Torre Argentina and its catsCaesar was not stabbed in the Forum. He died in a theatre hall that is now a sunken square full of cats, and was burned where Romans still leave flowers.

See it from the cartGolf cart highlightsVintage Model T

Places · 3 min readThe Colosseum: a prophecy, 420 wild plants and the sailors on the roofWhy it is called the Colosseum, how a botanist counted 420 plants growing in it, and why sailors worked on its roof. The amphitheatre as your driver tells it.

See it from the cartGolf cart highlightsVintage Model T

Places · 3 min readThe Aventine keyhole, the orange garden and the quietest hill in RomeA dome seen through a keyhole, a garden of bitter oranges, a church door from the year 430 and the fresco that started Santa Claus. The Aventine in one morning.

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Places · 3 min readThe Spanish Steps were paid for by the French (and other surprises)French money, a Spanish embassy, a boat stranded by a flood and a poet who died at number 26. What to know before you stand (not sit) on the Spanish Steps.

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Places · 4 min readWhy a cannon fires over Rome every day at noonSince 1847 a cannon has fired at noon so Rome's bells ring together. The Janiculum: the Fontanone, Garibaldi's last stand and the view everyone photographs.

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Places · 3 min readThe Appian Way: the toll that saved a road, and the question at the crossroadsWhy the Via Appia survived while every other Roman road was paved over, who Cecilia Metella was, and the question Peter asked at a fork in the road.

See it from the cartCatacombs & Appian Way