May 3 Trevi Fountain, Foro Italico, MAXXI, Neighborhood Walk

One of the truly iconic sights in Rome is the Trevi Fountain.  We waled there from the hotel.  It is pretty spectacular and coins are thrown into it over the shoulder by people hoping that will bring them back to Rome.  The city collects the money and gives it to the poor.   We then had lunch and went for a van ride along the Tiber River to the Foro Italiano, formerly known as the Foro Mussolini.

I had not heard of this Foro, but learned that it was built under the direction of Mussolini between 1928 and 1938.  The Olympic logo is from when it was used for ceremonies in the 1960 Olympic Games.  The centerpiece of this sports complex is a stadium surrounded by marble statues of men engaged in sports, such as the one below:

Below is how it looks today.  A huge parking lot was the first thing I saw.  The stadium is still used today for sports events. There is this track, a swimming pool, tennis courts and probably other sports venues.  The statues are actually not very inspiring.  Compared to those of the Renaissance, they are stiff and overly posed.

The formal entry to this complex is actually a huge marble obelisk that is a tribute to Mussolini. 

....and there are black and white mosaics between that obelisk and the rest of the complex that are tributes to Mussolini, and to fascism generally.  Below is a photo of one with of them showing the symbol of fascism:

I do wonder how these survived and why they are not found to be offensive, but I think Italians have dealt with so many difficult eras over centuries that they just don't worry too much about it.

We then went to a very modern museum called MAXXI celebrating art and architecture of the 21st century.  There were quite a few architecture displays that were innovative and then some of our group just relaxed in the lobby on some unusual lounge chairs:

We went back to the hotel and took a walk around the neighborhood before dinner.  Below is the building that dominates the cityscape.  It is the Victor Emmanuel Monument, also called the "Altar of the Nation."

This view is from the side.  It is much larger in the front. It was built to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the 1861 unification of Italy.  We did not go in it, but you couldn't avoid seeing it.

We also saw something interesting and typical of Rome.  Below is a theater that was abandoned.  People have built homes above it and are living there.  Building on top of ruins is a theme of the city!

We also walked through part of the Jewish Quarter, where we'll see more in a couple of days, and saw the ruined church in the photo below.  It is a church and was spared when most of the Quarter was destroyed, though it is pretty much ruins now.  We learned that Christian churches were in the Jewish Quarter and that Jews were forced to attend them.