THE "Gladiator's" Tomb Discovered

Archaeologists have discovered what they to believe to be the tomb of the man who inspired the movie Gladiator (which was really just a remake of the movie The Fall of the Roman Empire starring Sophia Loren, James Mason, Christopher Plummer, Alec Guiness and Omar Sharif!). An inscription on the tomb reveals that the monument belonged to Marcus Nonius Macrinus, one of the emperor Marcus Aurelius' generals. The tomb's location along the banks of the Tiber has made major restoration possible, as mud from centuries of the river's floods has preserved almost every piece of the marble structure. Read more about the excavation on Discovery News.com.

Santa Maria della Concezione-The Height of the Macabre

On the Via Veneto is an old Capuchin church built above an underground ossuary (bone depository). The bones of four thousand friars who died in the 17th through 19th centuries have been gathered here and arranged in a mad, macabre decorating scheme. Look closely-those are not mosaics but actually human bones. There is also a Caravaggio of St. Francis in the convent, but let's face it, the bones are the draw. The crypt at Santa Maria della Concezione (Via Veneto 27) is open from 9-12 and 3-6 every day except Thursdays.

Protestant Cemetery in Rome

For centuries in Rome it was illegal for non-Catholics to be buried in churches or consecrated ground. In the 18th century, the pope decreed some unused pasture land as suitable for burying foreigners. This land was bounded by two impressive ancient monuments, the Pyramid of Cestius and the Aurelian Wall. In the centuries since then the poets Shelley and Keats were buried in the Protestant Cemetery as well as the founder of European Communism, Antonio Gramsci and Gregory Corso, the "4th Beat Poet." Even Henry James buried his character Daisy Miller in the cemetery. Some have compared this cemetery to Pere Lachaise in Paris, not only because famous artists, writers and thinkers are interred there, but because the setting is dramatic, romantic and as quintessentially Roman as Pere Lachaise is Parisian. To visit the Cemetery, take the Metro Line B and get off at Piramide.

Day Trips from Rome- Etruscan Tombs at Cerveteri

Near the medieval town of Tarquinia, about an hour's drive north from Rome, is an Etruscan necropolis. Dating all the way back to the 9th century BCE when it was actually a Villanovan burial ground, Cerveteri is the site of thousands of tumuli, circular tombs dug into the ground. The burial ground, eerie even on the sunniest day, actually served as a location for scenes in the 1976 film "The Omen." Today you will find it a peaceful spot for a morning's diversion. To get there from Rome, take the E80 toward Civitavecchia. Not far past the exit to Cerveteri on the E80 is Santa Severa, a beachside community known for its medieval castle and the ruins of an Etruscan fortress, known as Pyrgi. Have some lunch, clear your head, and take a swim!

Bernini and the Ponte Sant'Angelo

The bridge to the Castel Sant'Angelo (a.k.a. the Mausoleum of Hadrian) is no ordinary bridge. Pope Clement IX asked Gian Lorenzo Bernini, the famous sculptor, to design 10 statues of angels to line the bridge. From Bernini's designs, the pupils in his studio executed the sculptures in 1670. The angels tower over the sides of the bridge at a height of 15 feet. At the foot of each angel is an inscription in Latin. Pictured here is an angel with a lance by Domenico Guidi whose inscription reads: vulnerasti cor meum-"you have wounded my heart." The bridge, open to foot traffic only, was historically the route of pilgrims to St. Peter's. The original bridge was built in the 2nd century CE to provide access to Hadrian's tomb.