Caravaggio, with his Rest on the Flight to Egypt, is the star of a prestigious collection of paintings and sculptures. You can see works by Velasquez, Brueghel the Elder, Annibal Carracci, Quentin Metsys and Titian, as well as fine sculptures (including one by Algardi), while visiting the palace of the Doria Pamphilis, one of the most powerful Roman families.

The shops of Via del Corso and Via del Tritone make it one of Rome's liveliest squares. At the centre, the Column of Marcus Aurelius, was erected between 176 and 193 A.D. It tells of the emperor's military feats on the banks of the Danube. But, St. Paul has replaced the emperor at the top. People in the crowd below are indifferent to great historical episodes and charge back and forth all the time, weighed down with bags, but with ears stuck to their telefonino.

Inside the Monte di Pieta (pawnshop) palace, this small, oval-shaped edifice is a jewel of Baroque Art. It was built by Giovanni Antonio de Rossi and Carlo Bizzaccheri (students of Bernini and Fontana, so a real reference !). The chapel is decorated with themes depicting the mission of the public pawnshop, which was founded to fight against usury: edifying allegories about charity and, finally, a statue of Hope.

Executions were plentiful in Rome, as elsewhere, during the 14th century, and when future victims arrived to the place of execution (on the Capitoline Hill), some would find consolation from catching sight of this church. Its name stems from that feeling. The present building, with its white facade, perched at the top of a staircase, was built from 1583 to 1600, according to Martino Longhi the Elder's designs. The facade was only completed in the 19th century, in Counter-Reformation style.