Colosseum and other Rome, Italy Things to Do Tips

The Colosseum or Coliseum, originally the Flavian Amphitheatre, is a giant amphitheatre in the centre of the city of Rome, Italy. Originally capable of seating around 50,000 spectators, it was used for gladiatorial contests and public spectacles. It was built on a site just east of the Roman Forum, with construction starting between 70 and 72 AD under the emperor Vespasian. The amphitheatre, the largest ever built in the Roman Empire, was completed in 80 AD under Titus, with further modifications being made during Domitian's reign.

The Colosseum remained in use for nearly 500 years with the last recorded games being held there as late as the 6th century — well after the traditional date of the fall of Rome in 476. As well as the traditional gladiatorial games, many other public spectacles were held there, such as mock sea battles, animal hunts, executions, re-enactments of famous battles, and dramas based on Classical mythology. The building eventually ceased to be used for entertainment in the early medieval era. It was later reused for such varied purposes as housing, workshops, quarters for a religious order, a fortress, a quarry and a Christian shrine.

Nowadays when you visit the colosseum you can take pictures with the people who are wearing gladiator costumes.But they want 10E each for a gladiator and would be very unpleased when u dont pay them :)

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Directions: East of the Roman Forum,in the centre of rome

The Piazza Venezia is a piazza in central Rome.It takes its name from the adjacent Palazzo Venezia.

It is dominated by the imposing Victor Emmanuel II monument. This is the large central square in the hub of Rome.

Piazza Venezia has a constant stream of traffic, yet no traffic lights. Instead, a white gloved traffic police officer stands on a block and directs traffic.

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Directions: The piazza is at the foot of the Capitoline Hill and near the Roman Forum.

Piazza Navona is a city square in Rome, Italy. The piazza follows the plan of an ancient Roman circus, the 1st century Stadium of Domitian, where the Romans came to watch the agones ("games"): today's name stems from the corruption of the latter in in agone, then nagone and navona, which actually means "big ship" in Italian.

Defined as a square in the last years of 15th century, when the city market was transferred here from the Campidoglio, Piazza Navona is now the pride of Baroque Rome. It has sculptural and architectural creations: by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, the famous Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi (Fountain of the Four Rivers, 1651) in the center; by Francesco Borromini and Girolamo Rainaldi, the church of Sant'Agnese in Agone; and by Pietro da Cortona, who painted the gallery in the Pamphilj palace.

The market was moved in 1869 to Campo de' Fiori, but the square has also a role in housing theatrical and costume shows, horse races, buffalo jousts. Since 1652, on every August Saturday and Sunday, the square was turned into a lake to celebrate the Pamphilj family. This feast was suppressed in 1866.

Piazza Navona contains two additional fountains sculpted by Giacomo della Porta — the Fontana di Nettuno (1574), located at the northern area of Piazza Navona, and the Fontana del Moro (1576), located at the southern end of the piazza.

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The National Monument of Victor Emmanuel II is a monument to honour Victor Emmanuel, the first king of a unified Italy. It is located in Rome, Italy.The monument was designed by Giuseppe Sacconi in 1895. It was inaugurated in 1911 and completed in 1925.

The monument is built of pure white marble and features majestic stairways, tall Corinthian columns, fountains, a huge equestrian sculpture of Victor Emmanuel and two statues of goddess Victoria riding on quadrigas. The structure is 135 meters (490 ft) wide and 70 meters (230 ft) high. If the quadrigae and winged victories are included, the height is to 81 meters (265 ft).

The monument holds the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier with an eternal flame, built under the statue of Italy after World War I. The base of the structure also houses the museum of Italian Reunification.

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Address: Piazza Venezia
Directions: It occupies a site between the Piazza Venezia and the Capitoline Hill

The Piazza del Popolo is a square in Rome, Italy. The name in modern Italian literally means "piazza of the people", but historically it derives from the poplars (populus in Latin, pioppo in Italian) after which the church of Santa Maria del Popolo, in the northeast corner of the piazza, takes its name.

The Piazza lies inside the northern gate in the Aurelian Walls, once the Porta Flaminia of ancient Rome, and now called Porta del Popolo. This was the starting point of the Via Flaminia, the road to Ariminum (modern Rimini) and the most important route to the north. At the same time, before the age of railroads, it was the traveller's first view of Rome upon arrival. For centuries, the Piazza del Popolo was a place for public executions, the last of which took place in 1826.

The layout of the piazza today was designed in neoclassical style between 1811 and 1822 by the architect Giuseppe Valadier,who demolished some insignificant buildings and haphazard high screening walls, to form two semicircles, reminiscent of Bernini's plan for St. Peter's Square, replacing the original cramped trapezoidal square centred on the Via Flaminia. Valadier's Piazza del Popolo, however, incorporated the verdure of trees as an essential element, and conceived his space in a third dimension, with the building of the

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Directions: Walk the via del corso street up to the north.

The Trevi Fountain (Italian: Fontana di Trevi) is the largest — standing 25.9 meters (85 feet) high and 19.8 meters (65 feet) wide — and most ambitious of the Baroque fountains of Rome.

The fountain at the juncture of three roads (tre vie) marks the terminal point of the Aqua Virgo (Italian: Acqua Vergine), one of the ancient aqueducts that supplied water to Rome. In 19 BC, supposedly with the help of a virgin, Roman technicians located a source of pure water some 13 km (8 miles) from the city. (This scene is presented on the present fountain's facade). However, the eventual indirect route of the aqueduct made its length some 22 km (14 miles). This Aqua Virgo led the water into the Baths of Agrippa. It served Rome for more than four hundred years. The "coup de grace" for the urban life of late classical Rome came when the Goth besiegers broke the aqueducts. Medieval Romans were reduced to drawing water from polluted wells and the Tiber River, which was also used as a sewer.

-- Coin throwing --
A traditional legend holds that if visitors throw a coin into the fountain, they are ensured a return to Rome. Among those who are unaware that the "three coins" of Three Coins in the Fountain were thrown by three different individuals, a reported current interpretation is that two coins will ensure a marriage will occur soon, while three coins leads to a divorce. A reported current version of this legend is that it is lucky to throw three coins with one's right hand over one's left shoulder into the Trevi Fountain.

Approximately 3,000 Euros are thrown into the fountain each day and are collected at night. The money has been used to subsidize a supermarket for Rome's needy. However, there are regular attempts to steal coins from the fountain, including some using a magnetized pole.

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Address: It is located in the rione of Trevi.

The Mausoleum of Hadrian, usually known as the Castel Sant'Angelo, is a towering cylindrical building in Rome, initially commissioned by the Roman Emperor Hadrian as a mausoleum for himself and his family. The building, located in the rione of Borgo, spent over a thousand years as a fortress and castle, and is now a museum.

The popes converted the structure into a castle, from the 14th century; Pope Nicholas III connected the castle to St. Peter's Basilica by a covered fortified corridor called the Passetto di Borgo. The fortress was the refuge of Pope Clement VII from the siege of Charles V's Landsknecht during the Sack of Rome (1527), in which Benvenuto Cellini describes strolling the ramparts and shooting enemy soldiers.

Leo X built a chapel with a fine Madonna by Raffaello da Montelupo. In 1536 Montelupo also created a marble statue of Saint Michael holding his sword after the 590 plague (as described above) to surmount the Castel.[2] Later Paul III built a rich apartment, to ensure that in any future siege the Pope had an appropriate place to stay.

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Address: East of Vatican before the river Tevere
Directions: Follow the via della Conciliazione from vatican or;
Cross the Ponte Sant Angelo Bridge from the other side