We spent our last Roman afternoon wandering around Campo Marzio, whose medieval winding streets makes for great walking. The church of Maria Sopra Minerva, with the sky blue interior, is a popular stop, its gothic interior a rarity, as Rome's sights tend to be either ancient or renaissance, with a thousand year gap in between while gothic flourished in the rest of Europe. Rome also has the coolest stock exchange in the world (also pictured), with the modern exchange decorated with seven huge pillars from an ancient temple.



We took in one last art museum as well, housed in the stunning palace of the Doria Pamphilj family (ornate hallway in the photo). The family had a terrible reputation, based on the way they amassed their fortune. The family made their money the usual way, by winning the papacy via pope Innocent X, who promptly outdid his predecessors in the amount of church wealth diverted for his family's benefit. Notwithstanding his unparalleled efforts to enrich his family, they were hardly loyal to their benefactor. As the pope lay dying, his extended family ransacked his palace, stripping everything from the place, not just the art and jewels, but all the furniture, dishes, clothes, everything. They left him in an empty palace, with just one bronze candlestick in his room for light, which his servants stole. The family then refused to pay for his burial, and his corpse was left in a toolshed behind the house. Nowadays, the family is firmly in the upper echelon of society, and they still own the palace and the art collection, which is probably the most attractive art museum in the city.