Quirinale Palace

Date: 5/23/18
Location: Rome, Italy

After having breakfast in our studio we went to Piazza del Quirinale to see if tickets were available to tour Palazzo del Quirinale, where the president of Italy lives.

After securing our tickets for the palace we went to the Trevi Fountain. At the Trevi Fountain we threw coins into the fountain. The proper way to toss a coin in is to stand with your back to the fountain and throw with your right hand over your left shoulder.

The tour of the Palazzo del Quirinale was in Italian, which we knew before going. The tour started with a video and we were given devices to listen to the video in English. Our guide then walked us through the rooms on the main floor and ground floor. The guide talked more, in Italian, about some of the rooms. It was really neat to just see the rooms.

There were many chandeliers and most of them were similar to the one below. There was a lot of detail on the chandeliers with the flowers and rings that went around the light holders.

The tour of the palace went through a lot more rooms than we expected. The tour only cost €1.50 and was very worth it! The tour was 1 hour 15 minutes long. There is a longer tour of the palace that is over 2 hours for €10 that also goes to the vasella, gardens and carriages. The longer tours were full on the day we went but we were really happy with the short tour.

After some food at our studio we went to the Museo Centrale del Risorgimento. It is a museum about the Italian unification and had the different versions of money that were used as the country was being unified. We saw a coin that was equivalent to €50, yet it was no bigger than a dime. It didn’t stay in rotation for very long; we ventured a guess that it wasn’t successful because people were too worried about losing it!

Next door to the museum is the Piazza del Campidoglio. The plaza was designed by Michelangelo in 1538.

From the plaza we went to Bocca della Verità, a.k.a. the “Mouth of Truth”. The legend is that if you put your hand in the mouth and tell a lie, the Bocca will slam shut and bite your hand off. The line was super long to get a picture with your hand in the mouth but we were able to look threw bars and see the monument. This tourist was a brave sole; hopefully he didn’t tell a lie!

Next, we crossed the Tiber River and went to the Piazza Santa Maria and into the Basilica di Santa Maria, the building in the middle.

On our way to Piazzale Giuseppe Garibaldi we went by Fontana dell’Acqua Paola where a couple was taking their wedding photos.

The Piazzale Giuseppe Garibaldi has nice views and you can see in just about every direction.

Here is St. Peter’s Basilica in the distance:

Towards the left you can see the tall white building with the black statues on top, that is Vittoriano and to the right of there is the Roman Forum. I was surprised that I couldn’t make out the Colosseum but it is in a valley.

Here is the center of Piazzale Giuseppe Garibaldi.

The neighborhood of Trastevere was very nice with many restaurants and small cobble stone streets. If you are in Rome make sure you visit that area to get some good food and drinks!