Rome Trivia Quiz

Answer: Tiber

In Italian the Tiber is called the Tevere.

Answer: 1870

When Italy was unified in 1861-70, Rome and the surrounding area (the 'Patrimony of St. Peter') was the last part to be incorporated in Italy, some years after the rest of the Papal States. From 1861-64, the capital was Turin (Torino), in 1864 it was moved to Florence (Firenze) and finally to Rome in 1870.

Answer: The Renaissance and Baroque areas converging on the Piazza del Popolo

The three main streets converging on (or radiating out from) the Piazza del Populo are often referred to as 'the trident' or 'il tridente viario' in Italian. This area contains a wealth of tourist attractions, including the Spanish Steps. Castel Gandolfo, the Pope's summer residence, is outside the city - as is Ostia. Civitavecchia is a town about 45 miles north-west of Rome.

Answer: 2.7 million

Though the biggest Italian city, it's somewhat small for the capital of a European country of the size and population of Italy. Part of the reason is the immense cultural and economic significance of many of the main regional centers, such as Turin (Torino), Milan (Milano), Bologna, Florence (Firenze) and Naples (Napoli).

Answer: The Tyrrhenian Sea

The Tyrrhenian Sea - the body of water between the western coast of Italy and Sicily, Sardinia and Corsica - is in effect an arm of the Mediterranean, but it is customary to refer to it by its own name.

Answer: Gothic

Santa Maria sopra Minerva, started in about 1285, is the only truly Gothic church (or, indeed building) in Rome. The facade was rebuilt in the 17th century, but the interior is still Gothic. To those accustomed to the solemn sobriety of Northern European Gothic it may seem gaudy. This is partly due to extensive redecoration in 1848-55.

Answer: It was consecrated a church in AD 609.

The Pantheon was first begun in 27 BC but completely rebuilt in AD 118-25. In AD 609 it was consecrated a church, which meant that it could not be used as a source of stone and other building materials. This latter practice did more damage to many Ancient Roman buildings than the barbarian invasions.

Indeed, as late as the 1830s visitors to Rome sometimes helped themselves to small stones as souvenirs!

Answer: Piazza Navona

The Piazza Navona 'occupies, as its form still indicates, the [site of the Ancient] Circus or Stadium of Domitian' (Karl Baedeker, "Central Italy", 13th ed., Leipzig and London 1900, p.212).
The four rivers represented are 'the Danube, Nile, Ganges and Rio de la Plata' (ibid.). All four squares ('piazze') mentioned in this question exist and are well worth visiting.

Answer: A mausoleum

It was originally built in AD 135-39 as a mausoleum for Emperor Hadrian. From the reign of Theodric (AD 493-526) onwards it was used as a fortress and prison, and in the Middle Ages it became the main Papal fortress in Rome.

Answer: 1929

After the annexation - if that's the right word - of the remaining Papal States by Italy in 1870 successive Popes remained in the Vatican as a protest, and described themselves as 'prisoners of the Vatican'. In 1929 Fascist Italy reached an agreement with the Vatican, which restored to latter a tiny sovereign state - a mere 108.7 acres. (It is sometimes said that allowing the re-establishment of a sovereign papal state was Mussolini's only lasting achievement).

As many in Quizzyland may well have been told many times in various quizzes, Vatican City is the smallest sovereign state in the world.