Incantato welcomes you to St. Peter's Basilica

The Papal Basilica of Saint Peter is located within the Vatican City. St. Peter's Basilica has the largest interior of any Christian church in the world, holding 60,000 people. It is the symbolic "Mother Church" of the Catholic Church and is regarded as one of the holiest Christian sites in the world. It has been described as "holding a unique position in the Christian world" and as "the greatest of all churches of Christendom".

In Catholic tradition, it is the burial site of its namesake Saint Peter, who was one of the twelve apostles of Jesus and, according to tradition, first Bishop of Rome and therefore first in the line of the papal succession. Tradition and some historical evidence hold that Saint Peter's tomb is directly below the altar of the basilica. For this reason, many Popes have been interred at St. Peter's since the Early Christian period. There has been a church on this site since the 4th century. Construction of the present basilica, over the old Constantine basilica, began on April 18, 1506 and was completed on November 18, 1626.

St. Peter's is a famous place of pilgrimage, for its liturgical functions and for its historical associations. It is associated with the papacy, with the Counter-reformation and numerous artists, most significantly Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (1475-1564), an Italian Renaissance painter, sculptor, architect, poet, and engineer. Michelangelo took over a building site at which four piers, enormous beyond any constructed since the days of Ancient Rome, were rising behind the remaining nave of the old basilica. He also inherited the numerous schemes designed and redesigned by some of the greatest architectural and engineering brains of the 16th century.

Incidentally, there are over 100 tombs within St. Peter's Basilica, many located in the Vatican grotto, beneath the Basilica. These include 91 popes, St. Ignatius of Antioch, Holy Roman Emperor Otto II, and the composer Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina. Exiled Catholic British royalty James Francis Edward Stuart and his two sons, Charles Edward Stuart and Henry Benedict Stuart, are buried here, having been granted asylum by Pope Clement XI. The most recent interment was Pope John Paul II, on April 8, 2005.

 

Discover Rome with Incantato Tours

• Rome's early history is shrouded in legend. According to Roman tradition, the city was founded by the twin Romulus and Remus on April 21st, 753 BC
• Due to its centrality on many levels, the city has been nicknamed "Caput Mundi" (Latin for "Capital of the World") and "The Eternal City"
• Its rich artistic heritage and vast amount of ancient, notably architectural and archaeological sites, contribute to the city's UNESCO World Heritage Sites. 
• Rome is the third most visited tourist destination in the European Union
• The city is also an important worldwide hub of the cinematic and filming industry, home to the important and large Cinecitta Studios, which saw the filming of several internationally acclaimed movies, as well as television programs
• The Rome metropolitan area is the world's 35th richest city be purchasing power
• The city hosted the 1960 Olympic Games and is also an official candidate for the 2020 Olympic Games
• Rome is an important center for music, and it has an intense musical scene, including several prestigious music conservatories and theaters. It hosts the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia (founded in 1585), for which new concert halls have been built in the new Parco della Musica, one of the largest musical venues in the world
• A Jewish influence in the Italian dishes can be seen, as Jews have lived in Rome since the 1st Century BC. Examples of these include "Saltimbocca alla Romana," a veal cutlet, Roman-style, topped with raw ham and sage and simmered with white wine and butter, as well as "Carciofi alla giudia" - artichokes fried in olive oil, typical of Roman Jewish cooking

Incantato welcomes you to Rieti: the belly button of Italy

Rieti is a wonderful city to explore the history of Italy, from the Ancient times until the present. It has remarkable monuments and remains from all ages, especially the Middle Ages, as you will also see in some other Italian cities. But what you will not find in other cities – including Rome – is the traditional center of Italy! Even if it is not geographically exact, Rieti has always been known as the Italian belly button – the Umbilicus Italiae since the times of the ancient Romans.

After the Roman domination in the late 3rd Century BC, the village of Rieti already became a strategic point in the Italian road network, dominating the “salt way” (Vía Salaria) that still runs all the way to Rome. During those times, Via Salaria had linked Rome to the Adriatic Sea through the Apennine Mountains. At the time, Rieti could be found in the writings of Virgil and Pliny the Elder, described as the center of the Italian peninsula. 

According to the ancient historians di Alicarnasso and Varrone, Lake Paterno used to lie where Rieti is now. The lake had an island in the middle, which they referred to as the belly button of Italy. The two small lakes you see today (Laghi Reatini) are what is left after the Romans made a cut on a hill near Marmore. The cut created the tallest Italian waterfall, called Cascata delle Marmore.

During the Middle Ages, Rieti kept the title of Italian Umbilicus, as they believed that the distance from the Adriatic to the Tyrrhenian Sea was 104 Italian miles, and Rieti was the center between them. As it was also the exact center between Augusta Praetorio (today’s Aosta) and Cabo dell’Armi (in Calabria), whose distance was 620 miles. Rieti was an important gastaldate during the Lombard domination, a country capital during the times of the Franks, a favorite Papal seat, and a provincial capital, but it has never lost the title of Italian Center.

In the 19th Century, a granite stone was situated in the middle of the Piazza San Rufo, which has been called the center of Italy since then: Piazza San Rufo Centro d’Italia. Some years later, the granite stone was substituted by another stone on which you could read: Medium Totius Italiae. But this inscribed stone was stolen! So on March 29th, 1950, a plaque with the words “Center of Italy” in 20 different languages was placed in the Piazza San Rufo Centro d'Italia.

In the year 2001, the city received as a present a monument nicknamed the “Caciotta”, which you will be able to see in your first days in Rieti, belly button of Italy. Even today, it is still called the Umbilicus Italiae. They even have a facebook group! By the way, Cacciota is a young, mild and small artisan cheese from the center of Italy – specially from Tuscany – which can be found in different varieties: saffron, garlic, mustard… yummy!

Welcome to Italy with Incantato Tours

Italy is located partly on the European Continent and partly on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. Italy shares its northern, Alpine border with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia. The independent states of San Marino and the Vatican City are enclaves within the Italian Peninsula, and Campione d'Italia is an Italian enclave in Switzerland. The territory of Italy covers 301,338 km² and is influenced by a temperate seasonal climate. With 60.2 million inhabitants, it is the sixth most populous country in Europe, and the twenty-third most populous in the world.
The country known as Italy today has been the cradle of European cultures and peoples, such as the Etruscans and the Romans. Italy's capital, Rome, was for centuries the political center of Western civilization, as the capital of the Roman Empire. After its decline, Italy would endure numerous invasions by foreign peoples, from Germanic tribes such as the Lombards and Ostrogoths, to the Normans and later, the Byzantines, among others. Centuries later, Italy became the birthplace of the Renaissance, an immensely fruitful intellectual movement that would prove to be integral in shaping the subsequent course of European thought.
Through much of its post-Roman history, Italy was fragmented into numerous kingdoms and city-states (such as the Kingdom of Sardinia, the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies and the Duchy of Milan), but was unified in 1861, a tumultuous period in history known as the "Risorgimento". In the late 19th century, through World War I, and to World War II, Italy possessed a colonial empire, which extended its rule to Libya, Eritrea, Italian Somaliland, Ethiopia, Albania, Rhodes, the Dodecanese and a concession in Tianjin, China.
Modern Italy is a democratic republic and the world's eighteenth most developed country, with the eighth or tenth highest quality of life index rating in the world. It is a founding member of what is now the European Union and North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Italy is also a member of the G8 and G20. It is a member state of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Trade Organization, the Council of Europe, and the Western European Union as well. The country's European political, social and economic influence make it a major regional power, alongside the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Russia, and Italy has been classified in a study, measuring hard power, as being the eleventh greatest worldwide national power. The country has a high public education level, high labor force, is a globalized nation, and also has 2009's sixth best international reputation. Italy also has the world's nineteenth highest life expectancy, and the world's second best healthcare system. It is the world's fifth most visited country, with over 43.7 million international arrivals, and boasts a long tradition and several achievements in the arts, science and technology, including the world's highest number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites to date.