Making our way towards the sacred Capitoline hill, acropolis and political and religious centre of ancient Rome, the goal of every triumph, take a moment to climb the wide stairway on the right of the monument to Vittorio Emanuele II. Don't miss the ruins of a Roman house several stories high and those of a medieval Christian basilica at the foot of the tremendous hill and the steep marble stairs to the austere Church of Santa Maria d'Aracoeli, whose unadorned facade especially at sunset takes on an air of poetry and mystery, when the sky turns violet and gold and clouds of sparrows fly like waves to the sounds of the bells of all the Roman churches.