TOUR C) FIRE (3h, on foot, by private car or public transport)

1. The Pantheon
“The Pantheon is a single room. A circular cell made of stone and cement. It has one entrance. No windows. One narrow entrance”.
“The dimensions of the Pantheon’s main chamber were a tribute to Gaea – the goddess of the Earth. The proportions were so exact that a giant spherical globe could fit perfectly inside the building with less than a millimetre to spare”.
The huge temple devoted to all pagan gods and goddesses that became a Christian church.
It is covered by the largest dome ever built in ancient times.
The secrets (still unsolved) of its construction (2nd cent. A.D.).
The mysterious oculus (famous circular opening) at the top of the tremendous cupola, the subject of sinister folk stories.
Raphael’s tomb.

2. The church of St. Maria della Vittoria, where the third cardinal is burnt alive.
Inside the last chapel on the left (Cornaro Chapel), the astonishing Ecstasy of St. Teresa, “a woman inflamed by passion’s fire”, Bernini’s masterpiece in the field of sculpture and also “the most unfit ornament ever to be placed in a Christian church”, according to an English critic, who considered it as “pornographic”.
The triumph of Baroque style.

The Bernini Hotel
The location of the novel final scenes (high above, like some sort of modern shrine to a bygone hero, an enormous neon sign blinked on the roof of a luxurious hotel. the sign seemed eerily befitting “Hotel Bernini”.

3. The Tritone Fountain by Bernini, “the Greek god of the sea”

4. St. Peter’s Church
“Crossing the open expanse of St.Peter’s square he sensed Bernini’s sprawling piazza having the exact effect the artist had been commissioned to create – that of humbling all those who entered”.
The largest Christian church in the world, mother to all Catholic churches and The Swiss guards
The papal altar “the golden coffer surrounded by ninety-nine glowing oil lamps. It was said they would burn until the end of time.”
The baldachin (or canopy) covering the very tomb of St.Peter and hiding place of the anti-matter canister.
The dome
The obelisk
The grand staircase.