Aurelian Wall Walk V; from Porta Maggiore to Castro Pretorio, or Annie's Reward

Beautiful Porta Maggiore, where the AD 52 "gate" supporting 2 aqueducts of the same vintage, was built into Emperor Aurelius's 3rd Century AD wall.  Trams a newer addition, of course.

Many of our RST readers have asked us: What happened to the Wall Walks?  And for those few of you who don't recall, in Spring 2014 we set out to walk the 12 miles (19 km) of the 3rd century Aurelian Wall that once completely encircled Rome.  And, for those of you paying attention, we last left our readers with only about a half of the Wall Walk completed.  Perhaps it was the discouragement of Brian, whom we encouraged to accompany us on a section of the Wall Walk.  We titled that one Wall Walk IV: Brian's Lament.  Nope, we were undeterred and we took another out-of-town guest, Annie, on the subsequent walk.  We wouldn't exactly call it Annie's Lament, but she did indeed deserve a reward, and got one. [To recap, in addition to Walks I and IV, here are the links to Wall Walk II and Wall Walk III and, NEW - here's a Google map that includes the itinerary!]

We started this Wall Walk V in a wonderful, if busy, place, Porta Maggiore.  The layers of Rome history here are unbeatable, but so are the weeds and traffic.  We arrived on foot, surviving the pedestrian "walk" button dysfunction; Annie, being smarter, arrived by taxi.

The rest of Wall Walk V--Annie's Reward-- is told in the photo captions.

Buon walking, and Wall Walks VI and VII, the latter, The End, are coming soon!  Dianne

Remains of the distinctive "Tomb of the Baker," from 1st century BC; part of
Porta Maggiore

We braved the traffic and smells to go under the aqueducts and train tracks
to get a view of the wall as it spread out ahead of us.
This is the wall from the "outside" - as it looks in San Lorenzo

Evidence of Papal rebuilding - Clement XI in 1718

Annie gets a shopping  break in an "antique" shop (yes, it had the requisite Toto' and
Padre Pio pictures) in San Lorenzo, opposite the wall.

Monument to war dead (from "all the wars") on the Wall,
a common way of honoring war dead in Rome.

One of the prettier parts of the Wall in San Lorenzo, even though the foliage
is no doubt damaging the brick work; note the crenelated tower.

We admire a new - for us - gate in the Wall here.  Porta Tiburtina - via Tiburtina once passed
under it.  Not today.  Lots of history to this gate (not that it makes the gate unusual in Rome!).
We hadn't seen this gate from scooter level.  Because it's now below the street,
it's not used for traffic. No doubt a good thing.  Some nice notations on this gate at this Web site.

An auto repair shop IN the wall.

The wall disappeared onto private property;
but that didn't deter Annie.

The wall remains shrink in front of the Air Ministry, built in
the 1931.  And we decided to call it a day here.

Annie's reward - freshly filleted fish at Mamma Angela's--
at via Palestro 53, not too far away from where Wall Walk V ended
 between the Air Ministry and Castro Pretorio.