Self-guided Sightseeing Tour #3 in Rome, Italy

The Lateran Baptistery stands apart from the Archbasilica of Saint John Lateran, Rome, to which it has become joined by later construction. This baptistery was founded by Pope Sixtus III in 440, perhaps on an earlier structure, for a legend grew up that Constantine the Great had been baptized there and enriched the structure. However, it is more likely that if he was baptized it was in the Eastern part of the Roman Empire and possibly by an Arian bishop. This baptistry was for many generations the only baptistery in Rome, and its domed octagonal structure, centered upon the large octagonal basin for full immersions, provided a model for others throughout Italy, and even an iconic motif of illuminated manuscripts, "The fountain of Life".

Wikipedia: Lateran Baptistery (EN), Website

The Lateran Obelisk is the largest standing ancient Egyptian obelisk in the world, and it is also the tallest obelisk in Italy. It originally weighed 413 tonnes, but after collapsing and being re-erected 4 metres (13 ft) shorter, now weighs around 300 tonnes. It is located in Rome, in the square across from the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran and the San Giovanni Addolorata Hospital.

Wikipedia: Lateran Obelisk (EN)

The fountain of the Lateran obelisk is located in Rome, in Piazza San Giovanni in Laterano, leaning against the northern side of the obelisk.

Wikipedia: Fontana dell'obelisco Lateranense (IT)

The Scala Sancta are a set of 28 white marble steps located in an edifice on extraterritorial property of the Holy See in Rome, Italy proximate to the Archbasilica of Saint John in Laterano. Officially, the edifice is titled the Pontifical Sanctuary of the Holy Stairs, and incorporates part of the old Papal Lateran Palace. Replica stairs flank the original staircase, which may only be climbed on one's knees. The Holy Stairs lead to the Church of Saint Lawrence in Palatio ad Sancta Sanctorum or simply the "Sancta Sanctorum", which was the personal chapel of the early Popes.

Wikipedia: Scala Sancta (EN), Website

The Oratory of the Blessed Sacrament at the Lateran is a church in Rome, in the Monti district, in Piazza di San Giovanni in Laterano, next to the Holy Stairs.

Wikipedia: Oratorio del Santissimo Sacramento al Laterano (IT)

Aqua Claudia was an ancient Roman aqueduct that, like the Aqua Anio Novus, was begun by Emperor Caligula in 38 AD and finished by Emperor Claudius in 52 AD.

Wikipedia: Aqua Claudia (EN)

The Porta Asinaria is a gate in the Aurelian Walls of Rome. Dominated by two protruding tower blocks and associated guard rooms, it was built between 271 and 275 AD, at the same time as the Wall itself. Unlike most of the other gates, it was not rebuilt or fortified by Honorius or restored by Theoderic.

Wikipedia: Porta Asinaria (EN)

Porta San Giovanni is a gate in the Aurelian Wall of Rome, Italy, named after the nearby Archbasilica of Saint John Lateran.

Wikipedia: Porta San Giovanni (Rome) (EN)

The Amphitheatrum Castrense is a Roman amphitheatre in Rome, next to the church of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme. Both the Amphiteatrum and the Circus Varianus were part of the palatial villa known as the Horti Spei Veteris and later the Palatium Sessorium. The Regionary Catalogues name it as the "Amphitheatrum Castrense", which could mean it was an amphitheatre connected to an imperial residence.

Wikipedia: Amphitheatrum Castrense (EN)

The Historical Museum of the Grenadiers of Sardinia is located in Piazza Santa Croce in Gerusalemme 7 in Rome.

Wikipedia: Museo storico dei granatieri di Sardegna (IT)

Circus Varianus was a large Roman circus, started during the reign of Caracalla and located in the palatial villa complex known as the Horti Spei Veteris, which included the Amphitheatrum Castrense. This circus was where Elagabalus raced chariots under the family name of Varius, giving the site its name. The circus was later restructured by Elagabalus, who removed the western end to create more space for the palace by moving the starting gates (carcares) back and building two towers at the end.

Wikipedia: Circus Varianus (EN)

The National Museum of Musical Instruments is situated in the Palazzina Samoggia in Rome. The museum, owned by the MIBACT since December 2014 is one of 43 museums pertaining to the Polo museale del Lazio. The museum had 9,164 visitors in 2015.

Wikipedia: Museo nazionale degli strumenti musicali (EN)

The Palazzo Sessoriano was an imperial residential complex built by Septimius Severus and completed by Elagabalus within the Horti Variani, located at the southeastern end of Rome's Regio V Esquiliae near the Claudian Aqueduct.

Wikipedia: Palazzo Sessoriano (IT)

The tomb of Marcus Vergilius Eurysaces the baker is one of the largest and best-preserved freedman funerary monuments in Rome. Its sculpted frieze is a classic example of the "plebeian style" in Roman sculpture. Eurysaces built the tomb for himself and perhaps also his wife Atistia around the end of the Republic. Located in a prominent position just outside today's Porta Maggiore, the tomb was transformed by its incorporation into the Aurelian Wall; a tower subsequently erected by Honorius covered the tomb, the remains of which were exposed upon its removal by Gregory XVI in 1838. What is particularly significant about this extravagant tomb is that it was built by a freedman, a former slave.

Wikipedia: Tomb of Eurysaces the Baker (EN)

The Acqua Felice is one of the aqueducts of Rome, completed in 1586 by Pope Sixtus V, whose birth name, which he never fully abandoned, was Felice Peretti. The first new aqueduct of early modern Rome, its source is at the springs at Pantano Borghese, off Via Casilina. Its length is fifteen miles (24 km), running underground for eight miles (13 km) from its source, first in the channel of Aqua Alexandrina, then alternating on the arches of the Aqua Claudia and the Aqua Marcia for seven miles (11 km) to its terminus at the Fontana dell'Acqua Felice on the Quirinal Hill, standing to one side of the Strada Pia, so as to form a piazza in this still new part of Rome. The engineer was Giovanni Fontana, brother of Sixtus' engineer-architect Domenico Fontana, who recorded that the very day the new pope entered the Lateran, he decided that he would bring water once again to the hills of Rome, which had remained waterless and sparsely inhabited, largely by monasteries, since the original ancient aqueducts had been destroyed in the sixth century. From the source, which Sixtus purchased, there was only a very small fall, and the work required an underground conduit as well as an aqueduct carried on arches.

Wikipedia: Acqua Felice (EN)

The Porta Maggiore Basilica is an underground basilica discovered in 1917 near Porta Maggiore in Rome. It is dated to the first century BC. It is believed to have been the meeting place of the neo-Pythagoreans, and is the only historical site that has been associated with the neo-Pythagorean movement. This school of mystical Hellenistic philosophy preached asceticism and was based on the works of Pythagoras and Plato. It was a precursor to the basilicas built during the Christian period, centuries later. It was opened to small groups of visitors in April 2015.

Wikipedia: Porta Maggiore Basilica (EN)