THE Piazza del Popolo

The Flaminio Obelisk behind me is the second oldest obelisk in Rome, first started by Sety I in 1279 BCE, granite quaried in Aswan in southern Egypt, it was unfinished when Sety I died and erected later by his son Ramesses II in Heliopolis. In 10 BCE. The emperor Augustus had it transported to Rome and erected at the central turning point in the Circus Maximus, so that means every chariot race that took place on that racecourse would have circled around this obelisk. In 1589 it was moved here where I stand now. ⁣
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Behind the obelisk on that ridge where the stone pines and poplars are is the base of Pincian Hill. Pincian Hill extends from here all the way to the Spanish Steps and covers quite a large area, the Villa Borghese is within it. What I find interesting is that this hill in Rome, aside from a temple and the Villa Borghese, nothing was ever built here. It’s probably the only spot in all of Rome that you can say that about. ⁣
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In 60 BCE it was the Gardens of Lucullus, Lucullus being a wealthy general who was the first to bring cherries to Rome from the Black Sea. ⁣