Photograph of the Roman Forum taken from the bell tower of the Basilica of Santa Francesca Romana . On the left you can see the church of Santa Maria Liberatrice and the buildings on the slopes of the Campidoglio , towards the Rupe Tarpea area. The details are many, what do you notice interesting?
From the Facebook page
Carlo : “Work on the Vittoriano was beginning.”
Mauro : “Many of the arches of the Tabularium were still walled up.”
Anna : “I see the Tabularium, the Basilica Iulia on the left, on the right above the arch of Septimius Severus, on the right below the temple of the god Romulus (the son of Maxentius), in the center the column of Phocas…”
The Tarpeian rock (Latin: Rupes Tarpeia or Saxum Tarpeium ) is the rocky wall located on the southern side of the Campidoglio in Rome, from which traitors sentenced to death were thrown, who in this way were symbolically expelled from the City. It is a tufa hill that hosts various green areas, such as the Belvedere Garden of Villa Tarpea.
According to the mythographic tradition, the name Saxum Tarpeium derives from the eponymous figure of Tarpeia, whose story is linked to the war between Rome and the Sabines of Tito Tazio. Tarpeia was a vestal virgin, daughter of the Roman commander Spurio Tarpeo, guardian of the Capitoline fortress. It was Tarpeia who let herself be corrupted by Tito Tazio, king of the Sabines, commander of their army, allies of the Samnites, and who opened the gates of Rome to the enemy army, causing the Roman army to be caught off guard. If this is the story, the reason for the betrayal instead becomes part of the legend that many Roman poets and storytellers have told, making it reach today. (wiki)
The "jars" that can be seen on the left corner of the Palazzo Senatorio are the domes of the Astronomical Observatory of the Campidoglio. Founded in 1827 by Leo XII as an observatory of the Sapienza and entrusted to the astronomer Feliciano Scarpellini, it will be merged, welcoming it, with the observatory of the Roman College in 1923. Finally, with the move to Montemario in 1938 it will take on the name of Astronomical Observatory of Rome and from 1999, with the birth of INAF, it will move its official headquarters to Monte Porzio Catone. The installations on the Palazzo Senatorio (the "jars" in the photo) were demolished in 1937.
Thanks Angelo, illuminating comment. ☺️