Location: Aventino
Top Things to do in Aventino
5 Architectural Buildings in Aventino That You Shouldn't Miss
Rome wasn't built in a day--and you'll need much more than a day to take in this timeless city. The city is a real-life collage of piazzas, open-air markets, and astonishing historic sites. Toss a coin into the Trevi Fountain, contemplate the Colosseum and the Pantheon, and sample a perfect espresso or gelato before spending an afternoon shopping at the Campo de’Fiori or Via Veneto. Enjoy some of the most memorable meals of your life here, too, from fresh pasta to succulent fried artichokes or a tender oxtail stew.
Restaurants in Rome
1. Istituto Nazionale Di Studi Romani
Overall Ratings
5.0 based on 4 reviews
2. Priorato dei Cavalieri di Malta
3. Tempio di Vesta
Overall Ratings
4.0 based on 104 reviews
Reviewed By ChiefGuru - Decatur, United States
The Temple of Vesta beginnings date to the initial settlement in this area (later 8th - 7th century B.C.). The temple was dedicated first and foremost to the cult of Vesta, the goddess of the hearth and home. This is a small round temple. its round form has been traced back to simple straw huts of the early Roman settlement. It has been assumed that such a hut served as the first cult site. Numa Pompilius (legendary second king of Rome, succeeding Romulus - reigned 715–673 BC ) is believed to have built the first round temple along with the Regia (office of the Pontifex Maximus, highest religious official of Rome) and House of the Vestal Virgins in their original forms. The Pontifex Maximus was the superior of the Vestal Virgins. The Regia and House of the Vestal Virgins are both nearby to the Temple of Vesta. The center of the Temple had a hearth which geld the sacred Flame. The vestal virgins, a group of six or seven virgin priestesses, maintained the eternal holy hearth. As the handmaidens of Vesta, the principal duty of the six Vestals was never to allow the flame to be extinguished. The Temple had restricted access; only the highest priest in Rome (the Pontifex Maximus) and the vestal virgins were allowed in the temple. The Temple saw reconstruction and remodeling in the 3rd century B.C., 1st century A.D., and 2nd century A.D. The last time it burned, in A.D. 191, the temple was restored by Julia Domna, the wife of Emperor Settimio Severus (his Arch is too in the Forum). Sadly, the Temple was completely stripped of its marble (which was reused in churches and papal palaces) in the mid-sixteenth century, a section of the temple was reconstructed in 1930, during the dictatorship of Benito Mussolini. Some of the columns, part of the entablature with a frieze of cultic objects, and elements of the cella wall are original; the majority of what can be presently seen is the result of the partial rebuilding. However, a good impression of the overall dimensions of the temple can be gained from the foundation (still visible today), which is composed of opus caementicium (Roman concrete) and has a diameter of around 50 feet.
