Spectacularly transformed by Michelangelo's late-Renaissance designs, the Campidoglio was once the epicenter of the Roman empire, the place where the city's first and holiest temples stood, including its most sacred, the Temple of Jupiter. Originally, the Capitoline Hill consisted of two peaks: the Capitolium and the Arx. The hollow between them was known as the Asylum, and it was here, in the days before the Roman Republic was founded in 509 BC, that prospective settlers came to seek the protection of Romulus, legendary first king of Rome -- hence the term "asylum." Later, during the Republic, temples occupied both peaks, and, later still, in 78 BC, the Tabularium, or Hall of Records, was erected to house the city archives. Throughout the Middle Ages an earlier incarnation of Palazzo Senatorio that stood over the Tabularium was just about the only building remaining on the Campidoglio, then an unkempt hill strewn with the classical rubble of temples and used mainly as a goat pasture. Nonetheless, the fame of the spot lingered on. Petrarch, the 14th-century Italian poet, was just one of many to extol its original splendor, though its sumptuous marble palaces and temples had long since crumbled.

In 1536 Michelangelo was charged with restoring the piazza on the summit of the Campidoglio to its former glory, in preparation for the impending visit of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, triumphant after the empire's victory over the Moors. In emulation of ancient Roman triumphal processions, it was decided that Charles V should follow what was believed to have been the route of the Roman emperors, through the city to the fully restored Campidoglio. Much of Michelangelo's plans for refurbishment were not completed for several centuries, but almost everything visible today follows his original designs, including the distinctive stellate pattern set into the pavement, added in 1940.

You approach the piazza on the cordonata (a gently graded ramp), designed by Michelangelo to allow a carriage to be drawn up the hill with minimal difficulty. As you climb, the buildings and visual effects of the site gradually reveal themselves. The equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius at the center is a copy of the original, from the 2nd century AD, which stood on this spot from the 16th century until 1981. It was placed here as a visual reference to the corresponding glory of Charles V and the ancient emperor; it's said that Michelangelo was so impressed by the statue's vivid naturalism that, after it was in place, he commanded it to walk. Although bronze statues of emperors were usually melted down after the decline of Rome, this one is thought to have survived because it was mistaken for a likeness of the Christian emperor Constantine, rather than of the pagan Marcus Aurelius. A legend foretells that some day the statue's original gold patina will return, heralding the end of the world. The city's authorities had it restored and placed in the courtyard of the Museo Capitolino, saving not only what was left of the gold but also the statue's bronze, which had been seriously damaged by air pollution. The copy was placed on the original pedestal in 1997.

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