Three In One

We had some lunch, did some shopping, and then left Vatican City to make a brief stop here. On this corner you have the Pyramid of Cestius, the Porta San Paolo, and one of the few remaining sections of the Aurelian Walls.

The pyramid came first, built by in 18 BC by Gaius Cestius, a very wealthy merchant who loved Egypt and wanted to be buried like a Pharaoh.* By 271 AD Rome had expanded and needed a new set of walls called the Aurelian Walls (the first set was called the Servian Walls, just for random, useless knowledge.) The pyramid just happened to be close to where they wanted the new walls, so to save money they literally built the wall right into it. Most of the Aurelian Walls are gone now, either looted for materials or torn down for modern buildings so this little stretch is about all that's left. San Paolo Gate was built along with the new wall, it was the main southern entrance to Rome.

*That's the true story, but Silvana told us the local legend Italians prefer. Gaius Cestius married a beautiful, much younger woman. Because he was gone most of the time he told her he knew it would be hard to remain faithful. If she couldn't stand being alone and had to take a lover, he would understand but she had to be honest. She should place a single stone in this garden so he would know the truth. He came back to a pyramid.