Beside the Piazza Venezia , a steep staircase leads up to the austere 13th-century Santa Maria in Aracoeli , while another , more graceful and gradual , takes you up between the statues of Castor and Pollux to Michelangelo 's beautifully proportioned square of the Campidoglio ( Capitoline Hill ) .
The statues of Castor and Pollux have been up for over 1,000 years .