OUR present walk must include a larger circuit than the former. We pass
through the Piazza Barberini, and along the Via di San Basilio, which
will presently lead us beyond the inhabited district of the city, and an
Englishman begins to feel himself in the country, though within the
walls. Here is the Villa Ludovisi, but it is difficult to gain
admission; we therefore turn to the right, and at the Viccolo delle
Fiamme, enter into the gardens, which, like those passed through by
Aladdin, in the Arabian Nights, are not divided by fences from one
another, but merely secured on the part towards the road. The first
thing which offers itself to our observation is a fragment of a wall of
large stones, said to be a remnant of that built by Tarquinius Superbus,
which was itself a restoration in more solid masonry, of the one first
erected by Servius Tullius, to include the Quirinal within the circuit
of Rome. A little farther we trace distinctly the form of the circus of
Sallust, which occupies a continuation of the hollow between the Pincian
and Quirinal hills; and close by it, but not uniformly in a parallel
direction, is a series of arches and substructions supporting the hill;
but the fragment of Tarquinius Superbus seems to have nothing to do,
either with the circus or with these substructions. It is a trifle in
itself, but its antiquity gives it interest, and more is said to have
been disclosed by digging. At some distance, along the foot of the
substructions abovementioned, and close upon the circus, we reach the
Temple of Venus Erycina (let the antiquaries quarrel about the name, I
use that by which it is commonly distinguished). The principal part
consists of a circular, domed chamber, almost buried in the earth and
rubbish which has descended from the hill above, with a small
semicircular niche, and two square recesses on each side, two of which
are open, and give admission to the building. The principal entrance is
from a little vestibule, by means of a large arch; and a corresponding
arch, with a similar vestibule, opens to the deep cell or adytum of the
temple; both these arches interrupt the line of the springing of the
dome. This and the other fragments abound in reticulated work.
Issuing from the vineyards, and crossing the long street of the Porta
Pia, we may follow the Via del Macao, to look at a house built under the
direction of Milizia; but though an able writer on architecture, he was
not a good architect.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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