The Pantheon
The Pantheon was built in 27 B.C. to honor all gods (pan - theos). What is so spectacular about this building is the perfect circle that fits inside its walls - from the floor to the oculus and from one wall to the other spans a diameter of 142 feet / 43 meters. The oculus, the hole in the ceiling, is 30 feet in diameter. Of course, they were cleaning the floors during our visit and so the green fencing thwarted our obtaining a photograph that showed the Pantheon from the floor to the oculus.
Italy became a nation-state in 1861 when the city-states of the peninsula, along with Sardinia and Sicily, were united under King Victor EMMANUEL II. An era of parliamentary government came to a close in the early 1920s when Benito MUSSOLINI establis... ... read more 
