152 GEOGRAPHY. 



33. Sacramento Ospedal. 36. Villa Marchese Tomasi. 



34. San Giovanni a Carbonara. 37. San Gennaro o le Catacombe. 



35. Reale Collegio de' Miracoli. 38. Reclusorio (House of Correction), 



10. Rome {Plate 41). 



This ancient city, once the capital of the most powerful nation on the 

 earth, and now the capital city of the States of the Church, is situated on 

 the Tiber, about fourteen miles from where it discharges into the sea. It is 

 fourteen to twenty miles in circumference, and has a population of about 

 160,000, amongst which are over 6000 ecclesiastics, monks, and nuns, and 

 about 4000 Jews. Its walls still inclose the seven ancient hills, the Pala- 

 tine, Capitoline, Quirinal, Coelian, Aventine, Viminal, and Esquiline. The 

 principal of the public squares are : the Capitol Square, wdth the gilt 

 equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius, and the statues of Castor and Pollux, 

 together with the Palace of the Senate, the Capitoline Museum, and the 

 Palace dei Conservatori ; 2, the Piazza (square) del Popolo, wdth the 

 beautiful churches de' Miracoli and di Monte Santo, as also with an Egyptian 

 obelisk eighty-two feet high ; 3, Piazza Colonna, with the column of Anto- 

 nine, and the Palaces Chigi and Spada ; 4, the Piazza del Monte Citorio, 

 with the obelisk of the Sun and the Palace of Justice ; 5, the Piazza di S. 

 Pietro, in front of St. Peter's, with the Custom House ; 6, the Piazza Rotonda, 

 with the Pantheon ; 7, the Piazza Navona, an ancient circus, with the Church 

 of St. Agnes, and three fountains ; 8, the Piazza della Trinita del Monte ; 

 9, the Piazza di Monte Cavallo, with the palace of the Pope (Quirinal), two 

 antique horses, and the Palace della Consulta. The ancient Forum is now 

 covered to a depth of thirty feet with rubbish, and is called Campo Vaccino 

 (Cowmarket). Rome's three principal streets are the Corso, a straight line 

 for 2700 paces, the Via Ripetta, and the Via Babbuina. Among the 341 

 churches and chapels, stands pre-eminent the celebrated St. Peter's, 640 feet 

 long, 470 feet broad in the cross, 408 feet high in the spire, and with a 

 dome 220 feet high in the interior, with twenty-nine altars and innumerable 

 statues ; a still more gorgeous church, although of less size, is that of St. 

 John in the Lateran, with 335 columns, the Parish Church of the Pope, and 

 the principal church of Catholic Christianity ; other churches are St. Mary's 

 Church, or the ancient Pantheon; the Church of Sta. Maria Maggiore, w^th 

 40 columns of granite and marble ; Trinita del Monte, with a beautiful 

 flight of steps ; Santa Maria, in Trastevere, the oldest church in Rome, &c. 

 Among the palaces may be mentioned : the Vatican, connected with the 

 Castle of St. Angelo by a covered way ; it is 1200 feet long, 1000 feet broad, 

 with twenty-two courts, and several thousand chambers, containing count- 

 less treasures of books, manuscripts, records, antiquities, and works of art ; 

 the Quirinal, residence of the Pope ; the Palaces Pamfili, Barberini, Aldo- 

 brandini, Spada, Colonna, Borghese, Caffarelli, Braschi, Orsini, Corsini, 

 Farnese, &c., all remarkable for their size, architecture, or collections of 

 art. Of the innumerable ruins, from the times of the ancient Romans, some 

 152 



