Ancient Rome

The Roman Forum and Imperial Fora

The Roman forum was the first “piazza” of the city, where a bustling market and various commercial activities took place, politics were practiced, cult rites were celebrated in the temples and justice was administrated in the basilicas, architectural structures born in Rome with these purposes that only later would be used as gathering points for religious communities.

In this area the visitors can admire the most beautiful ruins of Ancient Rome: the Temples of Saturn, Dioscurus, Vesta, the deified Julius Caesar, the facade of the Tabularium (the first archive of the Roman State), the first seat of the Senate. Continuing along the Via Sacra toward the Arch of Constantine you will come across other wonders, such as the Basilica of Maxentius and the Temple of Venus and Rome. On both sides of the Via dei Fori Imperiali, below which are hidden invaluable archeological treasures, the guests can observe the ruins of the “piazze” that every emperor, from Julius Caesar on, erected to celebrate his personal triumphs as well as those of his dynasty. From the Fora of Caesar and Augustus to those of Vespasian and Nerva and to the fora of Trajan, which is the masterpiece of Apollodoro of Damascus and that also includes the largest basilica ever constructed in Rome, the two libraries and the infamous “coclide” column. The so-called Trajan’s markets, among the most successful functional Roman architecture projects, have always been considered one of the most fascinating works in the classic world.

Colosseum

The monumental symbol of Rome, the masterpiece of unsurpassed engineering and architecture of the Roman Empire, was constructed in just eight years and inaugurated by the Emperor Titus of the Flavian Dynasty in 80 A.D., on the low lying area which was previously the site of the pond of the Domus Aurea of Nero. The festivities lasted one hundred days, with non-stop public spectacles that featured naval combats (naumachiae), animal hunts and fights (venationes) and gladiator battles (munera). The arena held 65,000 spectators, from senators to common people, everyone with an assigned seat. Even today, walking through the cavea, the visitors can easily imagine the screams of the gladiators and the horrid howls of the fierce animals entering the arena. The Romans spent their free time in the amphitheater, entire days not only enjoying the events, but socializing, playing dice… A normal day in an exceptional place of entertainment.

The Palatine

In “The Aeneid” Virgil tells us the compelling adventure of the Greeks who arrived from Arcadia with Evander and Pallas and colonized one of the seven hills, the Palatine. According to the myth, the Palatine was the hill where Romulus and Remus were raised. Between history and legend, the Palatine is still enchanting today.

Retracing the most famous sites, from the legendary Lupercal to the huts of Romulus and the Imperial buildings, the excursion on the hill offers an evocative view of the Colosseum and the Forum.

Capitoline Hill

The Capitoline Hill was the main center of power in ancient times. Here, more than anywhere else, the ancient and modern worlds flowed one into the other without interruption. On one peak of the Capitoline Hill stood the Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus, center of the cult of the Roman State, an ideal contrast to the one that was erected in Alba Longa and sacred to the Latin population. Here the Roman generals closed triumphal processions in sign of devotion and hommage to god. On another peak of the hill, the so-called Arx, stood the Temple of Juno Moneta, which held the ancient state mint. From the Medieval period on, the forces of power competed for settling in the Capitoline Hill and the popes of the Renaissance assigned to Michelangelo the project to design the splendid piazza which we still admire today.

From this hill it is possible to enjoy one of the most suggestive views of ancient and modern Rome.

Entertainment complex favored by Romans, the baths offered treatments and comfort for the body and soul. Concerts, readings, scholarly debates and art exhibits all took place there. The Romans finished working in the early afternoon and went to the baths, which opened at mid-day, just before the main meal. The activities began with exercises in the gymnasium or playing sports, such as games with little leather balls or Greco-Roman wrestling in a field outside. Afterwards the visitors proceeded to the baths crossing three rooms, starting from a pool with tepid water, until one with hotter water. The “tepidarium” was the next step, the biggest and most luxurious room of the baths, where oils were applied to the body during a one hour stay. Then it was time for the “calidarium”, smaller rooms, generally built on the sides of the main pool. The treatments would end in the “laconicum”, the last and warmest room, heated with dry and particularly hot air. After the cleansing of the body and massages, bathers would enjoy a swim in the “frigidarium” pool. Refreshed and scented, the guests continued into the other areas of the baths to enjoy additional recreational activities. Currently it is possible to visit:

The Baths of Caracalla, which are among the biggest and best conserved baths of ancient times.

The Baths of Diocletian, the most impressive thermal bath complex built in the Roman Empire. Today the site hosts one of the locations of the Museo Nazionale Romano and the Basilica of St. Mary of the Angels and Martyrs, designed by Michelangelo.

The Pantheon

An emblem of western architecture and model for every central-plan building, the Pantheon continues to arouse admiration from everyone, after more than two-thousand years since its construction. Prodigy of Roman genius, it is perhaps the only ancient building still working. Constructed by the General Agrippa, son-in-law of the Emperor Augustus, to consecrate the dynasty of the Emperor, over time accumulated further symbols and meanings, which today contribute to give a particularly unique experience to the visitors as they step into the entrance. Raphael was buried here in the Renaissance as, in the later years, the corpses of the kings of Italy.

The Altar of Peace (Ara Pacis)

Symbol of the Roman Peace (Pax Romana or Augusta), it was built between 13 and 9 B.C. to celebrate the victory of Augustus’ armies in Spain and Gaul. The structure, quadrangular enclosure out in the open and on podium with an internal altar, was created totally in Carrara marble. Today the visitors can still admire the exquisite workmanships of the reliefs which decorated the internal and external walls of the enclosure, for the most part splendidly conserved.

The Temple of Hadrian

In the area of the ancient “Campo Marzio”, today called the Piazza di Pietra, one can view the ruins of the great temple dedicated to the Emperor Hadrian by his son and successor Antonino Pio. The building, erected in 145 A.D., was in the center of a porticoed square. From the ancient structure remain just eleven of the original fifteen columns which formed one of the long sides, and only the signs of the marble that was covering it. The street level where the podium of the Temple stood, a few meters lower than the current one, and part of the cornice that crowns the columns, are original. In 1879 the ruins were reused and incorporated into the building of the stock market and chamber of commerce creating one of the most significant examples of historical recycling.

The tomb, today Castle St. Angelo, is one of the biggest ancient funerary monuments. It hosted the remains of the Emperor Hadrian and his successors up until Caracalla, as before the tomb of Augustus received the imperial corpses of Augustus and his ancestors. The Elio Bridge, nowadays the St. Angelo Bridge, connected the castle to Campo Marzio, the area designated for noteworthy state funerals. After his death, the emperor received the divinization, or the apotheosis, which declared his divine transformation (divus), title reserved for the persons that sacrificed their own lives for the good of the state. The mausoleum was later incorporated into the city walls and becomes a castle when, in the grim and tumultuous VII century Rome, Pope Gregory Magnus ascended to the papal throne of a lawless and dearth Rome, where a tiny group of citizens wandered among the ruins of what was once the capital of the world. During the procession with which the pope sought to invoke the mercy of God to stop a terrible plague, the crowd saw, above the tomb, the luminous silhouette of an angel in the act of sheathing a flaming sword. The very same night the pestilence ended and the mausoleum became the Castle St. Angelo. From 1400 on the Castle became an impenetrable bastion, the fortress of the popes. It is well known the escape of Pope Clement VII who hides in the castle via the “Passetto” (elevated passage-way that links the Vatican to the Castle) to flee from the German Landsknecht during the sack of Rome.

From the XIX Century the Castle was no longer used as a city fortification but as a fortification for political prisoners, falling into a state of disrepair. The structure served the same purpose during the “Risorgimento”.