15 March 2020
The Pantheon the best preserved monument of ancient Rome, the largest ancient dome, is tomb for 11 known people. Three are members of the Italian Royal dynasty, the Savoys, Victor Emmanuel II, who died in 1878, who wanted to be buried in the basilica of Superga; Umberto I, assassinated in 1900, son of Victor Emmanuel II, who accepted the request […]
5 March 2020
Did you know? In Rome there was a popess and her ghost still haunts the Romans. Olimpia Maidalchini (1591-1657) was one of the most powerful women ever lived in Rome, protagonist of the history of XVII century Rome. The woman, ambitious, greedy, and extremely strong-willed, married in second marriage a Roman of a noble but impoverished family, 27 years older […]
20 February 2020
Did you know? A saint lived in an arch of the Colosseum. He was Benedict Joseph Labre born in 1748 in Amettes, in the French region of Pas de Calais and died in Rome in 1783. He grew up in a humble family and was rejected since young age by many monasteries in his homeland as unsuitable for communal life. […]
18 February 2020
Did you know? Although many have just seen it, gazing out the window, leaving or arriving to the Termini station by train, even if it is almost swallowed by the rails, the so-called Temple of Minerva Medica was with its 25 meters (82 ft) in diameter and 32 (105 ft) in height. It was the third largest ancient dome of […]
14 February 2020
Did you know? Visiting the magnificent church of Saint Andrew’s at the Quirinal you can also discover one of the little but still stunning hidden treasure of Rome. It’s its sacristy. The church was entirely rebuilt by Gian Lorenzo Bernini in the XVII century, assuming its form just in 1662. The sacristy is accessible – with a small contribution of […]
12 February 2020
Did you know? Not far from piazza Barberini, or more exactly from Palazzo Barberini, one of the most beautiful museums of Rome, next to the monumental intersection called “le Quattro Fontane” (the four fountains) there is a tiny church. Of course, there are more than nine hundred churches in Rome, some of them are huge, some of them are not, […]
27 January 2020
Did you know? The most famous of the legends about the Tiber Island is that in 291 BC, during a plague epidemic in Rome, a galley sailed to Epidaurus, a Greek city sacred to Asclepius, most important healer-deity, with a commission of learned men to ask the god of medicine his help. In Epidaurus, during the propitiatory rites, a large […]
19 January 2020
Did you know? In 1885, on the slopes of the Quirinal Hill, 6 meters underground, between two foundation walls of an ancient building, one of the most stunning bronze statue of antiquity was found: the Boxer at Rest, dating between the IV and the I century BC. Archeologist Lanciani described the discovery: “The statue had not been just thrown there, […]
15 January 2020
Did you know? The bronze of the Pantheon’s beams was reused to make cannons. Many people know that pope Urban VIII Barberini (1568 – 1644) in august 1625 dismantled the ancient bronze joints of the Pantheon’s porch trabeations, allowing Bernini to recast them into the great St. Peter’s Basilica Baldachin. In fact, the dismantling caused the dissatisfaction of the population […]
9 January 2020
Did you know? The famous Spanish Steps are in fact more French than Spanish. Cardinal Mazarin, chief minister of the French king Louis XIV, originally proposed the construction of the stairway. The 1585 church of Trinità dei Monti, visible on top of the stairway, is in fact a French speaking church and the area around it (Villa Medici included) was, […]
6 January 2020
Did you know? The Colosseum, originally called Flavian Amphitheatre, was constructed in just 8 years, between AD 72 and 80 by the first two emperors of the Flavian dynasty, Vespasian and Titus, following the reign of Nero. The construction was almost entirely funded by the opulent spoils taken from the Solomon’s Temple after the Great Jewish Revolt in 70 CE […]
24 December 2019
Did you know? The Pantheon is a solar calendar. Two days a year, 7th of April and 4th of September, a beam of light enters the Oculus, the hole in the middle of the dome of the temple, hitting the door from inside and matching perfectly the architecture of the monumental gate, creating a spectacular effect. On the birthday of […]
20 December 2019
Did you know? Roman funerary monuments can have different shapes. You can think of huge tumuli-inspired buildings like the mausoleum of Hadrian (now Castel Sant’Angelo), or you might picture the tombs that line Via Appia Antica, sarcophagi carved with bas-reliefs. However, if you think pyramidal tombs don’t belong in Rome, think again: along the Aurelian Walls, close to the non-Catholic […]
16 December 2019
Did you know? If you toss a coin in the Trevi fountain with your right hand over your left shoulder, you will come back one day in your life in Rome. That is what tradition holds, but you probably don’t know that everything is collected daily by a catholic charity organization, Caritas, to take care of homeless and low income […]
13 December 2019
Did you know? On the Pincian Hill, in the Villa Borghese park, there is a water clock, made in 1867 by Giovan Battista Embriaco, a Dominican friar keen on engineering. This interesting item looks like a small tower in the middle of a fountain, covered with a cast iron shell that reminds the aspect of the surrounding trees bark. In […]
10 December 2019
Did you know? After being taken from Egypt in Augustan age, many of the obelisks of Rome used to decorate stadiums and circuses of the city. It is just during the Renaissance that Pope Sixtus V’s ambitious urban reform gave to many of the ancient Egyptian obelisks their modern collocation. The pope wanted to mark with the re-erection of the obelisks the most […]
6 September 2019
The “Cordonata Capitolina” is the stairway for people and horses that leads you to Campidoglio. Did you know that the two statues at the end of the stairway represent Castore and Polluce, the two Dioscuri? Castore was wild horses tamer and Polluce a great boxer. Dioscuri are sailors’ protectors during storms and they are associated to Gemini constellation. Join our […]
5 September 2019
It was the first highway of history and therefore it gained this lovely nickname of “Queen of Roads”. Join our bike tour to discover the heart of Rome and all the magical spots of the Eternal City that everybody love. Visit Rome by bike! It is smart and fast! Bicycle lovers, choose an active holiday on bike in Rome to […]
28 January 2019
Did you know that exist in Rome a cemetery for the people “expelled” by the Christian community? Book one of our bike tours and discover all the secrets and interesting facts of the Eternal City.
24 January 2019
Did you know that exist the most ancient worship place in the world? Book one of our bike tours and discover all the secrets and interesting facts of the Eternal City.
20 January 2019
Did you know that someone of the most beautiful squares of today were used for public executions? Book one of our bike tours and discover all the secrets and interesting facts of the Eternal City.
16 January 2019
Did you know that the name of Piazza del Popolo is a grammatical mistake? Book one of our bike tours and discover all the secrets and interesting facts of the Eternal City.
5 January 2019
Do you know why Trevi fountain is call Trevi? Book one of our bike tours and discover all the secrets and interesting facts of the Eternal City.
17 December 2018
Did you know that Colosseum is not really called Colosseum? Book one of our bike tours and discover all the secrets and interesting facts of the Eternal City.
30 April 2017
The first heat is coming and, for those who decide to visit Rome by bike, nothing is appreciated as a sip of fresh water. Rome, by the street, offers high quality water. In 1874 the Mayor of Rome, Luigi Pinciani, to whom everyone thanks!, made a series of public fountains. Cast iron, about 120 cm high. And heavy 100 kg., […]
24 February 2016
There are about three thousand tourists in 2015 rode on Wheely Bike Rental & Tours bikes, visiting Rome, from all over the world. Opera singers, craftsmen, billionaires, bankers, artists, workers, architects, restaurateurs, surgeons, managers and gardeners; hetero newly married couples, gay couples on their honeymoon, CRAL groups, visiting supporters, families, cruise passengers and students on excursion; tall and low, thin […]
21 July 2015
As we had previously imagined …. pedal prolongs life! It was a Dutch study to confirm a nice but expected news. The results of this survey say that those who go by bike usually live an average of six months longer than those who avoid this one. Researchers at the University of Utrecht’s Healthy Urban came to these conclusions after […]
12 July 2015
The GRAB, the GRA of the bike, is a gorgeous project for the construction of a pedestrian/cycling ring of nearly 45km which develops entirely within the city of Rome. It is a light infrastructure, low cost and highly profitable economic and cultural, a magnet for new types of tourism, from cycling turists to fans of urban trekking. The route, entirely […]
25 January 2015
We are Wheely Bike Rental & Tour, a Tour Operator dealing with the organization of tours and guided visits of Rome by bike. We are located a few meters away from the Colosseum, a perfect starting point for tourists discovering Rome. We are in the very heart of the historic city, 100 meters walk from the underground, 100 meters away […]