Campidoglio and other Rome, Italy Things to Do Tips

The Campidoglio or Capitol Hill used to be the centre of government in Ancient Roman times. Nowadays it's the seat of the city's municipal authorities. The square was designed by Michelangelo in 1536, but when he died in 1546 only the two stairs to the Palazzo Senatorio were finished. It wasn't untill the 17th century before the piazza was finally finished.
During the day the piazza is very crowded because the Capitoline Museums are on the square too. If you don't want to visit the museum or just want to make some beautiful pictures of the square without all the tourists come here some time before sunset (in spring and summer), most if the square will be empty and the sun shines right on the square which gives you very good photo opportunities.

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Address: Piazza del Campidoglio
Directions: Take the metro to Colosseo or even easier any bus that will take you to Piazza Venezia. From there walk up the stairs on the right side of Il Vittoriano or behind the left side of the building.

On the northern side of the Campidoglio you will find the Palazzo Nuovo and opposite it, the Palazzo dei Conservatori. The Capitoline Museums are housed in both these buildings. Michelangelo designed the palazzo's as a part of the renovation.
In 1471 a few years after the Palazzo Nuovo was finished, the first bronze statues were given by Pope Sixtus IV. In 1566 even more more pieces were given by Pope Pius V. It was Pope Clemens in 1734 who made the palazzo the world's first public museum.

The Palazzo Nuovo houses many important works of which most are classic sculptures. Probably the most important piece of the collection is the Marcus Aurelius sculpture.
The Palazzo dei Conservatori has paintings by Veronese, Guercino, Carvaggio, Tintoretto, Rubens, Van Dyck and Titiaan. Most important pieces are a bronze sculpture of the she-wolf that fed the legendary twins Romulus & Remus and the Spinario sculpture.

Open: Tue-Sun 9:30-20:00 (ticket office closes at 19:00)
Tickets are valid for both Museums.

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Phone: 06-67102071
Address: Piazza del Campidoglio
Directions: Take the metro to Colosseo or even easier any bus that will take you to Piazza Venezia. From there walk up the stairs on the right side of Il Vittoriano or behind the left side of the building.
Website: http://www.museicapitolini.org/

In the middle of the Campidoglio you can find this Marcus Aurelius sculpture. It is not the original one, since that it placed in the Palazzo Nuovo after restauration works. There was quite some pigeon poo on it (damn pigeons...) The statue is one of only a handful of ancient bronze statues not to have been melted down. It suvived because it was incorrectly identified as Constatine, the first Christian emperor.

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Address: Piazza dei Campidoglio
Directions: Take the metro to Colosseo or even easier any bus that will take you to Piazza Venezia. From there walk up the stairs on the right side of Il Vittoriano or behind the left side of the building.

At the rear end of the Campidoglio is the Palazzo Senatorio. Beautiful stairs are leading up to the entrance door. In the 12th century the palazzo was used by the Roman Senate, but nowadays it houses the mayor's offices. A tunnel connects the building with the Palazzo Nuovo and the Palazzo dei Conservatori.

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Address: Piazza del Campidoglio
Directions: Take the metro to Colosseo or even easier any bus that will take you to Piazza Venezia. From there walk up the stairs on the right side of Il Vittoriano or behind the left side of the building.
Website: http://www.museicapitolini.org/

Without a doubt the most dominant building on Piazza Venezia and maybe even of the whole city is Il Vittoriano. This massive building is a monument to Vittorio Emanuele II, who was the first king of united Italy. There is a big (12 m long) statue of him on a horse right in the centre.

Housed in the building is the Risorgimento Museum, that shows all the events that eventually led to this united Italy. There is also a spectacular view from the balcony. The locals refer to Il Vittoriano with words such as typewriter or weddingcake, for it is so huge and not very loved.

Open: Tue-Sun 9:00-17:00
The balcony however closes somewhat earlier.

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Address: Piazza Venezia
Directions: Take the metro to Colosseo and walk to Piazza Venezia or siply take the bus to Piazza Venezia. The entrance to the building is on the right side.
Website: http://www.ambienterm.arti.beniculturali.it/vittor

The Colosseum is probably the most famous of all Roman landmarks. And that's no wonder really. In 8 years time 15000 people worked to complete the Flavian Amphitheatre as it was called back then. Vespasian started the construction works in 72AD. The theatre was inaugurated by Titus in 80AD. The theatre had seats for 50000 people and they all came to watch the bloody gladiator fights and wild beast shows. The inaugural games lasted 100 days in which 5000 animals were slaughtered.

In 217AD the Coliseum was repeatedly struck by lightning and all the wooden structures, which included the floor of the arena were destroyed. The city's seven fire fighting battalions and sailors from the fleet failed to quell the flames. After 6 years of renovation the Emperor Alexander Severus restored it to its ancient splendour.Despite the efforts of Constantine and his successors to abolish gladiatorial combats they were finally banned in 404 by Honorius.

For over a century therafter the only entertainments were combats with wild animals. The last spectacle was presented in 523. This led to progressive decay and alteration. Various parts of the structre were stripped of and used for building material. In the 19th century excavation works began.

Open: 9:00-19:00 (in winter untill 16:00)
Buy a Roma Archaeologia Card so you also have free acces to other museums and sites.
Price 20 EUR or discounted for 10 EUR (for EU residents between 18 and 24).

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Address: Piazza del Colosseo
Directions: Take the metro to Colosseo.

Sixty-six numbered entrances led to the three tiers of seatings. At the two sides of the smaller axis of the arena there were honorary stands for the emperor, consuls, Vetal Virgins and other court dignitaries. The topmost tier of the amphitheatre was for the humblest class. The surface was covered with a deck of wooden boards covering a dense network of tunnels.

The spectacles lasted several hours. Professional gladiators were very popular. They might be free men or slaves, who sometimes won their freedom by their victories in the arena and they were named according to their weapons. Gladiatorial combats were not the only form of entertainment though. There were also wild animal hunts, fights between wild beasts or even exhibitions of trained animals without bloodshed.

All the wild animals and slaves from all over the world had brought in seeds of different types of plants and when the Colloseum was abandoned it became overgrown with exotic plants. At the end of the 19th century 420 different types of plants were counted.

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Address: Piazza del Colosseo
Directions: Take the metro to Colosseo.

Right next to the Colisseum is this magnificient looking arch of Constantine. In my opinion it is the most beautiful arch of Rome. There are so many little details that you can really spend some time by looking at all of them. The arch was built for Constantine by the Senate since he defeated his rival Maxentius in 312. Since there was little time to complete the immense structure the Senate reused parts of earlier monuments of the reigns of Hadrian, Marcus Aurelius and Trajan.
After having defeated Maxentius, Constantine moved to Trier in Germany. Three years later he came back to Rome to celebrate his tenth anniversary of his ascent to power, and to inaugurate the arch.

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Address: Piazza del Colosseo
Directions: Take the metro to Colosseo. When you approach the Colosseum from the metro, the arch is on the right side.

For me going to Rome would be a discovery of the Ancient times. I love to know about the Roman times some 2000 years ago. The Forum is one of the best places to discover Ancient Rome, since it was built over 900 years. It was the commercial, political and religious centre of Rome from the Republican era, until the 4th century AD.

Where the Forum is located now the Velabrum, a stream used to flow into the Tiber. The stream made the whole area unhealthy. In the 7th century BC the Velabrum was channelled and soon became the centre of civic life. The importance of the Forum however, declined along with the Empire. During medieval times the area was used to graze cattle andit was plundered for its preciois marble. In the 18th and 19th centuries the area was sytematically excavated and up until now you can still see archeologists at work.

Right through the middle from East to West is the Via Sacra. This was the main road in the area, and is also the best way to walk to see all the Forum has to offer.

In the next few tips I will describe some of the temples, arches and other sites of the Roman Forum. I started at the eastside entrance, so i entered the Via Sacra from the side of the Colosseum.

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Address: The area between Colloseo and Capitol Hill
Directions: Take the metro to Colosseo. The main entrance is on the Via dei Fori Imperiali, but there is also an entrance on the east side, opposite the Colosseum and Arch of Constantine.

The most important temple of Rome was designed by Hadrian. The temple, surrounded by a colonnaded portico, had two cells facing in opposite direction. Both of the cells housed the cult statues of Rome (facing the Forum on the westside) and Venus (on the other side facing the Colosseum).

On the picture you can see the Temple from the side of the Colosseum, so that is where Venus used to be placed. You can see how big the Temple used to be if you look at the columns on the left and right. That used to be the right and left side of the temple!

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