Plenty of places to see

Colosseum

This massive 50,000-capacity amphitheatre was inaugurated in 80AD with games that lasted 100 days and cost the lives of over 5000 animals. Entrance was free back then, though ‘tickets’ written on pieces of pottery were handed out with seat numbers, presumably to control numbers. The poor and women, sat on the upper tiers, while senators and equestrians had seats closer to the action.

Entertainments varied. Some featured animal on animal, others were people fighting animals, and others were people fighting people – usually gladiators, but sometimes slaves/prisoners.

Gladiators probably did not fight to the death because they were valuable and popular commodities, though death was naturally an occupational hazard.

Today, the vast Colosseum easily swallows the thousands who visit, though it’s advisable to buy tickets in advance if you want to skip lines. There’s little to actually ‘do’ once inside other than look at the spectacle, though you can maximise your visit by booking special tickets with privileged access to the hypogeum or the upper levels. It’s also advisable to arrange a local or audio guide if Roman history isn’t your subject.

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Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel

The origins of the Vatican might be traced to 324AD when the Roman emperor Constantine started construction of a church with the tomb of St Peter at its centre. It would be a focus of the early Catholic Church, although the first popes lived at the Lateran Palace during the Middle Ages and actually moved to Avignon in France in the fourteenth century.

It wasn’t until the end of that century that the popes returned to Rome and again considered a monumental church. This was a time of great building projects, including the Sistine Chapel, the Belvedere Courtyard and a new St Peter’s. Nevertheless, the growing collection of ecclesiastical buildings was not known yet as the Vatican.

In fact, it wasn’t until 1929 that the Vatican was recognised as a sovereign state, later becoming recognised and protected under the Hague Convention as a cultural heritage site. In 1984, UNESCO recognised the Vatican as a World Heritage Site. Today, it has a population of around 800, its own TV channel, its own post office and telephone service. It is protected by the lavishly uniformed Swiss Guards and even has permission to have a navy, though no ships exist at the moment.

For the visitor, the attractions may be religious (audiences with the Pope draw thousands) or cultural. The museums and galleries are storehouses of great and famous art collections, the gardens are beautiful oases of calm, the architecture is stunning and – of course – there’s the colossal majesty of St Peter’s church to explore.

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The Square Colosseum – Eur

If you always hang around in Rome’s city centre, wandering through the maze of picturesque streets and ancient monuments, it’s easy to forget that the city is much bigger than what you find within the old Roman walls. Taking the metro to EUR and discovering this neighbourhood that’s less than a century old is a completely different experience, but a must-visit for modern architecture enthusiasts.

The Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana is a six-floor geometric building lined by 216 identical arches. Its outside is clad in travertine marble that makes you squint your eyes when it catches the light of the sun. Despite its brutally simplistic beauty that is undeniable, it has a grim history: it was built during the Second World War, commissioned by Mussolini as an icon of Fascist architecture. In 1935, the dictator started with his plan for a business centre and suburban complex in the south of Rome. He planned for EUR to be a symbol of Fascism for the world and for the Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana to be its centerpiece.

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Piazza Navona

Piazza Navona, the most beautiful baroque square in Rome, occupies the track of the ancient “Stadium of Domitian”, or “Circus Agonalis”, of which it has perfectly preserved the elongated rectangular shape of the arena, with one of the smaller sides (the northern ) curved, while the surrounding buildings occupy the place of the steps of the auditorium. The Stadium was built by Domitian perhaps already before 86 A.D. to serve in the Greek athletic games which he particularly appreciated, but which the Romans did not like, considering them immoral.

Piazza Navona has been the scene of popular festivals, races and jousting over the centuries. From the seventeenth century to the mid-nineteenth century, on Saturdays and Sundays in August, Piazza Navona, which then had a concave bottom, was partially flooded to offer refreshment and entertainment to the Romans.