Our tour of “Ancient Rome” starts with an external panorama of Rome’s biggest arena: the Circus Maximus, the Palatino: the ancient dwelling of important historic figures and emperors and of the Terme di Caracalla or Antoniniane baths which represent one of the greatest examples of imperial roman baths, still conserving their original structure and not contaminated by modern buildings.
Our visit will then go on to the Arch of Constantine, an opera dedicated to the Senate and to the people of Rome in 315 AD, the street of the Imperial Forums, the ancient centre of commercial, political and judicial life, Trajan’s Markets, right up to the monument par excellence of the Roman Empire: the Colosseum, which was listed as one of the seven wonders of the world in 2007.
Further on is one of the most important and ancient theatres of Rome, the Argentino Theatre, and in the middle of a rather busy crossroads is a recently discovered archaeological site (1920) the “Sacred Area of Torre Argentina”.
This site is at a lower level with respect to the road and it is possible to find the ruins of ancient temples of the Republican era.
A colony of cats can be found here and in fact a special association runs the sanctuary providing the animals with food.
Julius Caesar was also murdered not far from these excavations and close to the Argentina theatre in 44 BC.
Next stop is the Pantheon (“the temple of all the Gods”), a building of Ancient Rome, built as a temple dedicated to “all deities” of Olympus.
The people of Rome like to call it “La Rotonna” – La Rotonda, which is also the name of the square in front of it.
The first pantheon was built in 27-25 BC by Marco Vipsanio Agrippa and then rebuilt by the Emperor Hadrian between 118 and 128 AD, after the fires of 80 and 110 Ad had damaged the building preceding the Augustan age.
Our tour will conclude with a visit to the Castel Sant’Angelo, also known as Hadrian’s Mausoleum: this Roman monument is linked to the Vatican City by means of a fortified corridor.
