Mirabilia Urbis Tours: Discover the Wonders of Rome

Rome Walking Tours

Treat yourself to one or more private walking tours!  A variety of itineraries will tickle your fancy, whether you want to talk about the spice trade over an ancient Roman lunch, discuss quality engineering while crossing a bridge built in 130 A.D., follow the evolution of Christian art in mosaic-spangled churches, or giggle at the risque interior decorating of a Renaissance villa.  Choose the private visits that most interest you and their themes will come alive, whether you’re a single traveler, a couple, a family with kids, or a school groups.

Daniella Hunt is an experienced and friendly American guide, who will offer you the benefit of her training, her ongoing research, her many years in Rome, and her linguistic expertise.  If this is your first trip to Rome, one or more private visits with her will make “the standards” unforgettable.  If you’ve been to Rome numerous times, she’ll gladly accompany you to less frequented attractions.  In either case, she is willing to tailor visits to meet your needs.

Whatever visits you choose, Daniella will awaken your interests and deepen your appreciation of Rome.  While meandering through the city’s spectacular side-streets, artistic attractions, and archeological areas, you’ll start feeling Roman yourself!

What does “Mirabilia Urbis” mean?

Guidebooks are nothing new. Around 1000 A.D., pilgrims, travelers and merchants coming to Rome were already using several different guidebooks (such as the one shown in the illustration to the right) to find and enjoy the Eternal City’s treasures. Mirabilia Urbis was just one of many titles that were circulating back then. The author of its contents, which are in Latin, remains anonymous.  Its title, Mirabilia Urbis, means “The Marvels of the City” — “the City” is Rome, of course!

Mirabilia Urbis Walking Tours welcomes you to Rome and explains the sights you want to see using as many primary sources as possible.  After all, the best explanation of “the City’s” monuments and history is going to come from the biographers, poets, historians and everyday people who have lived here over the centuries…

For more information about Daniella Hunt, please visit her account on Facebook and Linked In

Explore some of my private tours – Click here to see more

Roma Barocca, Baroque Rome, is the Borghese Gallery, seen here in the picture

Roma Barocca: The Borghese Gallery and the Capuchin Crypt

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The art-collector Cardinal Scipio Borghese considered himself the luckiest man alive: thanks to his uncle-Pope, he possessed unlimited funds in an era in which talent abounded. He collected his contemporaries' masterpieces (six Caravaggio paintings and four remarkable Bernini sculptures) as well as stunning works from the past (such as Raphael's "Entombment"), not always ethically... Meanwhile, on what was once the property of the neighboring Barberini family, a nondescript Capuchin church boasts a Baroque crypt with an unusual memento mori...

Christ in an Early Christian Church Mosaic glittering with gold tessera

The Medieval City: “All That Glitters,” Early Christian Mosaics in Rome from the Late Empire to the XIII century

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What can mosaics tell us about early Christian communities, the concerns of the faithful in the Middle Ages, and the politics of the Church of Rome? Santa Pudentiana (whose mosaics date to the end of the fourth century or the very beginning of the fifth), the imposing Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore (with mosaics from the fifth and thirteenth centuries), and the nearby church of Santa Prassede (which sports ninth-century mosaics), will answer those questions (and more).

Roma Barocca, Baroque Rome, is the Borghese Gallery, seen here in the picture

Roma Barocca: The Borghese Gallery and the Capuchin Crypt

,

The art-collector Cardinal Scipio Borghese considered himself the luckiest man alive: thanks to his uncle-Pope, he possessed unlimited funds in an era in which talent abounded. He collected his contemporaries' masterpieces (six Caravaggio paintings and four remarkable Bernini sculptures) as well as stunning works from the past (such as Raphael's "Entombment"), not always ethically... Meanwhile, on what was once the property of the neighboring Barberini family, a nondescript Capuchin church boasts a Baroque crypt with an unusual memento mori...

Christ in an Early Christian Church Mosaic glittering with gold tessera

The Medieval City: “All That Glitters,” Early Christian Mosaics in Rome from the Late Empire to the XIII century

,

What can mosaics tell us about early Christian communities, the concerns of the faithful in the Middle Ages, and the politics of the Church of Rome? Santa Pudentiana (whose mosaics date to the end of the fourth century or the very beginning of the fifth), the imposing Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore (with mosaics from the fifth and thirteenth centuries), and the nearby church of Santa Prassede (which sports ninth-century mosaics), will answer those questions (and more).

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