regiments wear steel helmets with a gold crest. The Artillery
wear a dark blue uniform with yellow facings (officers with a broad
yellow stripe on their trousers) and the Engineers have a dark
blue uniform with crimson facings. To these we may add the Cara-
binieri, or gendarmes (p. xiv), who wear a black uniform, scarlet
edging, white belt, and three-cornered hat. The officers and mounted
men have a broad red stripe on their trousers. — The royal body-
guard (Guardie del Re), about 80 men strong, is recruited from
the Carabinieri (dark blue uniform with silver buttons and red
facings, dark blue trousers with a wide red stripe for the foot
guards, and light grey trousers with black stripes for the horse-
guards, who in full dress wear white leather breeches and high boots
and cuirass, metal helmets with black horsehair plumes, etc.). After
three years' service the guardsman may rejoin the Carabinieri.
j. Best Time for visiting Churches and Hours of Ad-
mission to Public and Private Collections, Villas, etc.
Changes in the arrangements take place so frequently that the
following data make no pretence to absolute accuracy. The lists of
sights contained in some of the daily newspapers, e.g. the Popolo
Romano, are not always trustworthy. Information may be obtained
from the Strangers' Enquiry Office mentioned on p. 156. Intending
visitors should, however, make additional enquiry.
Free Tickets for artists, etc., and admission of Scholars, see
p. xxiv. — Public Holidays on which the collections are closed,
see p. xxiii; Fees, see p. xiii. — Guides, see p. xiii.
Churches (comp. p. xxiii) are closed from 12 till 3. The five pa-
triarchal churches, however, San Pietro in Vaticano (p. 362), San
Giovanni in Laterano (p. 344), Santa Maria Maggiore (206),
San Paolo Fuori (p. 445), and San Lorenzo Fuori (p. 210), as
well as the two pilgrim-churches, Santa Croce in Gerusalemme
(p. 213) and San Sebastiano on the Via Appia (p. 443), are open
all day. Many of the smaller and remoter churches are accessible
only by means of the sacristans, except on the festivals of their
titular saints.
Parks and Views. The gardens on the Pincio (p. 181), with
their fine view of Rome, are usually crowded towards evening by
both natives and foreigners. The fashionable world appears in
carriages with coachmen and footmen in livery, and visits are mut-
ually paid and received. The pedestrians present a lively scene
also, varied by the many ecclesiastical costumes (p. 169). A military
band plays there about two hours before sunset on Tues., Thurs.,
Sat., and Sun. (except in the height of summer, when the band
plays in the Piazza Colonna and on the Pincio on alternate evenings,
beginning at 9 o'clock). The gardens are closed one hour after Ave