Losing sight of the Eternal City's details is very easy. The chaos, the obligation to visit the most famous monuments, and the lack of time make many who visit Rome return home without seeing many things.
To avoid this, the director of the Instituto Cervantes in Rome has collected secrets and monuments of Spanish origin, which many are unaware of, in the book 'A Spanish Jubilee.â?
SERGIO RODRIGUEZ
Director Instituto Cervantes (Rome)
'It is a book that really interests all visitors, whether with faith or not, a pilgrim or a visitor. It is a book that's almost like a treasure hunt, that with the book in hand you can go discover a hidden Rome. Because maybe in that alley where you've been twenty times, you will discover that there is a corner linked to a culture that is likely Spanish.â?
Sergio Rodriguez recalls that four of the seven pontifical universities in Rome are Spanish, as well as the origin of the Congregation for the Diffusion of Faith.
Rome's hispanic presence has two major highlights: the first being the pope, who speaks Spanish, and another, that says 46 percent of the world's Catholics speak Spanish.
SERGIO RODRIGUEZ
Director Instituto Cervante (Rome)
'Spain has founded orders, set up churches, and palaces. It was only then that I realized that Rome could not be fully understood without its Spanish contributions, and that at the same time Spain was the country that most influenced Rome. There have been Spanish emperors: Trajan, Hadrian, but then also Seneca and great thinkers who have made a contribution to Roman culture in general.'
Some do not know that in Piazza Navona, just next to the well-known Basilica of Borromini, is the Torres Palace, owned by a family from Malaga. Its ceilings are made with the first gold that came from America, just like the cielings in the Basilica of St. Mary Major. These are secrets that one can not keep.
SERGIO RODRIGUEZ
Director Instituto Cervantes (Rome)
'At the end, one marvels at discovering all of this. Almost by responsibility, I chose to write everything and make a book.â?
With his book, more people will now know the Spanish treasures that hide in the city of Rome, the city that was once the most powerful in the world.
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