The Flavian Amphitheater’s silhouette is to Rome what the Eiffel Tower is to Paris. The Colosseum, the largest building from Roman antiquity still standing, continues to serve as a model for modern sports arenas; the shape of today’s football stadiums is obviously inspired by this oval Roman architecture.
The structure was started by Vespasian in AD 72, and after being expanded by his son Titus by adding a fourth floor, it was dedicated in AD 80 with a series of magnificent games.
The Arch of Constantine is about 26 meters wide and 21 meters high. It comprises two identical smaller arcs on either side of the main arch in the center. Between the Colosseum and Palantine Hill is where you’ll find the Arch of Constantine.
The Imperial Court and senior officials viewed events from the lowest level of the Colosseum, while aristocratic Roman families watched from the second level and the general public from the third and fourth. The Colosseum was large enough to host theatrical productions, festivals, circuses, or games.
The Senate erected the Arch of Constantine next to the Colosseum to commemorate the emperor as “liberator of the city and bringer of peace” following his victory in the Battle of the Milvian Bridge in 312. You can save time by joining the Skip the Line because lines are lengthy and move slowly.
The name “Ancient Rome” refers to the major Italian city of Rome and the empire it eventually came to control, which included much of western Europe and the whole Mediterranean basin. When it was at its largest, it spanned from what is now northern England to southern Egypt and from the Atlantic coast to the Persian Gulf beaches.
Since the historical histories of Rome were not written until much later, the regal period (753-509 BC) and the early republic (509-280 BC) are the periods of Roman history with the least amount of written records. Greek historians did not pay Rome much attention until the Pyrrhic War (280–275 BC) when Rome was completing its conquest of Italy and was engaged in combat with the Greek city of Tarentum in southern Italy. Quintus Fabius Pictor, a senator who lived and wrote during the Second Punic War, was the first native historian of Rome (218–201 BC).
Vespasian started the structure in AD 72, and his son Titus expanded it by adding the fourth level. It was dedicated in AD 80 with a series of magnificent games. The Colosseum was big enough to host events like plays, festivals, circuses, or games, which the Imperial Court and important government figures viewed from the lowest level, aristocratic Roman families from the second level, and the general public from the third and fourth levels.
The Arch of Constantine, a triumphal arch erected by the Senate to honor the emperor as “liberator of the city and bringer of peace” following his victory in the battle of the Milvian Bridge in 312, stands next to the Colosseum and is almost as well-known.
Roman Forum
Walking through the forum, which is currently in the middle of a bustling modern metropolis, is like going back in time by two millennia to the center of ancient Rome. The standing and fallen columns, its triumphal arches, and the remnants of its walls still impress, even though what remains of this center of Roman life and government only represents a small portion of its former splendor. This is especially true when you consider that for centuries, the history of the Forum was the history of the Roman Empire and the Western world.
After the seventh century, the structures started to deteriorate, and churches were constructed in the archaic ruins. Its stones were mined for other structures, and it wasn’t until the 18th and 19th centuries that methodical excavations revealed the ancient structures that had hidden beneath a 10-meter layer of dirt and debris.
Palatine Hill
The Palatine Hill, also known as Monte Palatino in Italian, is a four-sided plateau that rises 168 feet (51 meters) above sea level and 131 feet (40 meters) south of the Forum in Rome. It is 5,700 feet in circumference (1,740 meters). On the Palatine, where the city of Rome was established, prehistoric and imperial palace ruins and other archaeological finds have been discovered.
Rome’s center includes Palatine Hill, which is conveniently reachable on a walk. The Circo Massimo Metro station is the closest and is 12 minute’s walk from the Colosseo tram and bus stop.
Trevi Fountain
The famous tourist attraction in the city, this 17th-century masterpiece has been featured in so many films that seeing it is now almost required. It is customary to deposit one coin (not three) into the Fontana di Trevi (Trevi Fountain) to ensure your return to Rome.
The largest fountain in Rome, the Fontana di Trevi, was first built by Agrippa, a famous art patron in the first century BC, to supply water to his baths. Nicola Salvi built the fountain between 1732 and 1751 for Pope Clement XII.
It reflects Neptune, the sea god with horses, tritons, and shells. The water accumulates in a huge bowl filled with coins as it swirls around the sculptures and fake rocks.
Piazza Navona
Piazza Navona, one of Rome’s most recognizable Baroque squares, still bears the outline of the Roman stadium that Emperor Domitian erected there. It is still used for celebrations and horse races. Borromini, who also created the splendid row of palaces and the cathedral of Sant’Agnese on its west side, reconstructed it in the Baroque style.
The Miracle of St. Agnes by Alessandro Algardi was painted in 1653, and there are also the ruins of a Roman mosaic floor in the Sant’Agnese crypt. For churches in Italy and other countries, Sant’Agnese served as a model for Baroque and Rococo styles.
The Fontana del Moro, built by Giacomo Della Porta in the sixteenth century in front of the Palazzo Pamphili, and the Fontana del Nettuno, a Neptune-adorned fountain from the nineteenth century, are the other two fountains on the square. The square is currently crowded with Romans, visitors, street performers, gift shops, cafés, and one of Rome’s best Christmas markets in December.
The National Museum of Sant’Angelo Castle
Castel Sant’Angelo is a huge drum-shaped building with a view of the Tiber that was built in AD 135 as a mausoleum for Emperor Hadrian and his family close to the Vatican. Castel Sant’Angelo has been utilized as a castle, a papal residence, and most recently as a national museum during its 2,000-year history.
Emperor Aurelian built it into his new network of city walls in AD 271 to take advantage of its location guarding the city’s northern entrances.
The castle is accessible through a pedestrian bridge flanked with angel statues by Bernini, and visitors use a spiral ramp to access its five stories.
The Pantheon
The Pantheon, the best-preserved Roman antique structure, is impressively unaltered after 2000 years. Pope Urban VIII scraped and melted down its bronze roof to make the canopy over the altar of St. Peter’s and cannons for Castel Sant’Angelo, despite Pope Gregory III removing the roof’s gilded bronze tiles.
The dome appears to have three continuous arcades, and from the outside, you can see the brick arches that helped to distribute part of the weight of the dome’s stress. Fine marble was once used to face these outside walls, but it has been removed over time.
After a fire damaged the Pantheon in AD 80 was rebuilt, and the masonry that resulted demonstrates Roman builders’ exceptionally high technical mastery. The crowning feat of Roman interior architecture, its 43-meter dome hangs suspended without any discernible support.
