Capitoline Hill
The smallest but most significant of Rome’s seven hills, Capitoline Hill has evolved through two major stages of Roman history and remains today a place of central activity. On the remnants of an ancient civilization, Tarquinius Priscus, Rome’s first king (after founder Romulus), an Etruscan, built a temple-encrusted townscape on the top of the hill, near the Forum (erected later).
Then known as Mons Saturnis, it was named in honour of the god, Saturn. What was known as the Capitoline Triad was a series of temples erected to worship major Pagan Roman gods, Jupiter, Juno and Minerva.
Fast forward to Christian times and a lot of Romans off in other countries busy conquering this and that, the local population was reduced and the hill was used as a goat pasture. More time passed and the hill was all but ignored until...
Art hero Michelangelo was summoned and commissioned in 1536 to reinvigorate the hill and return it to its deserved importance by designing a square and buildings to sit on all sides. The result was the stunning Piazza del Campidoglio, an attraction in Rome not to be missed.
