Now it's my turn to teach. I'm the professor and the tour guide. I've studied hard and I know everything by heart perfectly. So I can take tourists around and explain all the details well.
The Velabro was a very important area in ancient Rome, situated between the Roman Forum and the Tiber River, right across from Tiber Island. There's so much important to see because this zone was crucial to the city—thanks to its closeness to the Tiber and its role in commerce.
And I have to say this area is linked to Rome's founding because legend has it that the basket of Romulus and Remus was found right in front of the Velabro. And nearby there's also the Theatre of Marcellus, which I've studied very well and can explain by heart.
First, I take tourists to the church of Santa Maria in Cosmedin where I explain to them what the famous Mouth of Truth is—it's in the portico—and I tell them to take photos for souvenirs. Then I bring them inside the church, which is very beautiful, built in the sixth century. After that I take them to San Giorgio al Velabro, built in the ninth century. In 1993 that church suffered a terrible attack—a bomb was placed there.
The interiors of both churches are beautiful to see.
Then I show them the Arch of Janus, which was built in the fourth century. It's not a triumphal arch but a structure built for bankers who worked in the area.
The last part of my tour takes them to the round temple of Hercules, which is an altar dedicated to the Greek hero, and to the temple of Portunus, which dates from the Republican period.
I studied all these things in books, but then I went there myself in person because the Velabro is close to my house—it takes hardly any time by car. Until last year, when I went to school at the Gioberti hotel institute on via dei Genovesi, I drove past it every morning. Now I go to the campus on via della Paglia in Trastevere, a beautiful neighborhood near via dei Genovesi. In Trastevere I've also learned to guide tourists well through the Basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere and the piazza with the fountain in front of it.