Rione III - Colonna

In this district, you can walk along the main shopping streets of Rome to make your purchases and breathe politics among the buildings where all the big decisions about Italy are made.

Among the places and monuments of interest you can find: Palazzo Chigi, the seat of the Government and the Council of Ministers, and Palazzo Montecitorio, that of the Chamber of Deputies, Via Vittorio Veneto, where the sparkling Dolce Vita took place, Via del Corso and via Frattina, the top shopping streets for all budgets; Via Sistina, the road that connects the Pincio to the Basilica of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme; the Temple of Hadrian, dedicated to the deified emperor; Piazza del Parlamento, with the Column of Marcus Aurelius.

In the place of the Basilica of San Silvestro, in ancient times, was a unique building: the Senaculum of Semiamira, mother of emperor Heliogabalus. It was a sort of "parlor" where Roman matrons gathered to talk about fashion, hairstyles, and feminine bon ton. But not only that! What kind and how many kisses could a classy woman snap? What were the days of the week when it was appropriate to ride a litter?

Via Sistina was once called via Felice after Pope Sixtus V, whose name was Felice Peretti. It was opened around 1590 to connect the Pincio to the populous Rione Monti. Between the 18th and 19th centuries, some of the most prominent artists and writers chose to live there. Among these, we can mention the sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen, the novelist Hans Christian Andersen, the Russian writer Nikolaj Gogol' and the Italian engraver Giovanni Battista Piranesi.

Borders: Piazza Mignanelli, Via Frattina, Piazza San Lorenzo in Lucina, Via di Campo Marzio, Via della Maddalena, Via del Pantheon, Piazza della Rotonda, Via del Seminario, Piazza Sant'Ignazio, Via del Caravita, Via del Corso, Via delle Muratte, Via di Santa Maria in Via, Piazza San Claudio, Via del Pozzetto, Via del Bufalo, Via del Nazareno, Via del Tritone, Piazza Barberini, Via Vittorio Veneto, Via Sant'Isidoro, Via degli Artisti, Via Francesco Crispi, Via Capo le Case, Via dei Due Macelli.

The coat of arms of the district is a silver column of Marcus Aurelius on a red background.