We spent the morning on a walk about the Unification of Italy, which occurred in the mid-1800s. Italy marks its birth at 1871. The walk took us up the Janiculum hill, an area we had not been to before.

We started in Piazza Farnese in the Campo di Fiore. Then to nearby Palazzo Cancelleria, which is owned by the Vatican and once was the meeting place for the Pope-appointed short-lived government of Rome and the Papal States.

Then to Trastevere where we detoured to look at Santa Maria in Trastevere,  one of Rome’s oldest churches.

A steep climb took us up Giancolo or Janiculum hill.

En route was this surprise: a church by Borromini:

Then on to San Pietro in Montorio, an area where the key battles occurred and where there’s a Bernini:

Bramante’s Tempietto, considered a perfect Renaissance building because of its symmetry:

At the top of the hill Piazza Garibaldi:

Views from the top; the wall has Italy’s constitution written on it:

Garibaldi’s wife Anita gets her own statue; as she should since she fought along with him while pregnant:

Lunch at Antico Arco including some good tomato dishes:

Back to the apartment where we discovered we could see Hadrian’s column:

A quick look inside the Pantheon:

Went on an evening Vatican Museum tour. The evening tour was much more crowded than we anticipated. May is clearly a busier month for tourists than our past April visits have been. Still don’t allow photos in the Sistine Chapel:

Dinner was at Da Sergio, a family run restaurant recommended by our docent, Richard from the morning walk:

House made sausages with beans, and penne arrabiata: