COLOSSEUM
The Colosseum of Rome was built in bricks and clad of travertine in a valley among the Palatino,
Esquilino and Celio hills after having dried a small lake that Nerone was using for the Domus Aurea.
The edifice of four floors, with a total height of 52 metres and an extension covering and elliptical area
of about 19000 square metres, is with no doubt the most reknown symbol of Rome all over the world.For the
enjoyment of Rome people, here were organized fights between gladiators or against wild animals and fabulous
spectacles as "naumachie", real navy battlements in the arena filled with water. Under the arena of
the Colosseum there were numerous corridors and rooms aimed at welcoming the gladiators and the ferocious beasts
that could be brought at the centre of the arena thanks to elevator carriages and access ramps.
PALATINO
The museum is located in Caesar’s Palace where, among the monuments collected from the hill site,
various artefacts of Iron Age tombs and works of art from imperial buildings are exhibited. The most important
of these works are the decorative pictures in the lecture room of Isiaca. According to ancient tradition, it was
on this hill that the first settlement of Rome was made by Romulus in the middle of the eighth century B.C.
Excavations have revealed huts and tombs from the Iron Age and, an ancient fortification. The Palatino was also
the centre for some important cults as, for example, that of Magna Mater (Cibele). Between the second and first
centuries B.C. it became a residential quarter for the Roman aristocracy. In this period the House of Grifi, famous
for its pictures, was built. The Emperor Augustus made the Palatino his official power-centre and initiated
a building program: the construction of imperial palaces and various restructuring and enlargement of existing
buildings built by previous emperors.
ROMAN FORUM
The valley of Foro, nestled between the seven hills of Rome, was in ancient times a marsh.
From the end of the seventh century B.C., after the improvement and drainage of the marshes,
the Foro Romano (a forum) was constructed and this served as the centre of public life in Rome
for over a thousand years. Over the course of the centuries, the various monuments were constructed:
firstly, those structures which served political, religious and economic purposes and, later, during the
second century B.C., the civil buildings or 'basilicas', which functioned as juridical centres. At the end of
the Republic era of Ancient Rome, the Foro Romano was inadequate in its functioning as a civil and administrative
centre. The various Emperors and their dynasties added only monuments of prestige: The Temple of Vespasian
and Titus and that of Antoninus Pio and Faustina dedicated to the memory of the Divine Emperors, the monumental
arch of Settimo Severo, built on the extreme west of the square in 203 A.D. to celebrate his military victories.
The last great addition was made in the first years of the fourth century A.D. under the Emperor Massenzio, a temple
dedicated to the memory of his son Romulus. The imposing Basilica on the Velia was restructured at the end of the
fourth century A.D. and the last monument to be erected in the Foro was the Column of 608 A.D. in honour of the
Byzantine Emperor Foca.
