The Capitoline Hill (Capitolinus Mons), between the Forum and the Campus Martius, is one of the famous seven hills of Rome, the site of a temple for the Capitoline Triad: the gods Jupiter, his wife Juno and their daughter Minerva. The temple was started by Rome's last king, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, and was considered one of the largest and the most beautiful temples in the city. When the CelticGauls raided Rome in 390 BC, the Capitoline Hill was the one section of the city to evade capture by the barbarians.
The English word capitol derives from Capitoline Hill.
Since the 16th century, the Campidoglio has been transformed by Michelangelo's palazzi.
External link
Samuel Ball Platner, A Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome: (http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/Places/Europe/Italy/Lazio/Roma/Rome/-Texts/PLATOP*/Capitolinus.html) Capitoline Hill
The Capitoline Hill or Campidoglio is the smallest of Rome's seven hills, but it was the religious and political center of the city since its foundation more than 2500 years ago.
Construction of the Piazza di Campidoglio started in 1546 but only the staircase at the entrance of the Palazzo Senatorio was completed when Michelangelo died in 1564.
Near the Piazza del Campidoglio, at the site of the ancient temple of Juno is the Santa Maria in Aracoeli, a church which origins go back to the 6th century.
From earliest times on, the Capitolione hill (or Campidoglio) was the centre of the political, social, and religious life of Rome.
Michelangelo' s Piazza del Campidoglio now stands on its summit, defined by illustrious palaces and magnificently decorated by the statue of Marcus Aurelius, set at the center of the intriguing interplay of elipses and volutes Michelangelo himself designed on the grey pavement of the square.
Formerly in the Lateran square, the Marcus Aurelius was moved to the Capitoline in 1538 and had not apparently been previously taken into consideration by Michelangelo as decoration for the square.
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