Via del Piè di Marmo

On one side of the church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva, beyond Via Santa Caterina da Siena, there is a street with the unusual name of via Piè di Marmo. Believe it or not, it is named after a colossal marble foot from a Roman statue with Egyptian features. In ancient times a temple stood here built by Domitian who dedicated it to the gods Isis and Serapis. The foot is a remnant of this temple and is situated in a corner at the crossing with the Via di Santo Stefano in Cacco. It was originally in the Piazza del Collegio Romano, but was later moved from there because it held up funeral processions crossing the Corso Vittorio Emanuele II.