The Colosseum and Roman Forum Tour usually starts with the visit of the Flavian Amphitheater, also known as the Colosseum. It is the biggest amphitheater of the World, symbol of the city of Rome and icon of the Roman Civilization, and Unesco world heritage site since 1980.
The Colosseum was the very center of the populistic propaganda of the roman emperors: in the amphitheater, the emperor offered to the people of Rome free performances, which followed a schedule shared with all the other amphitheatres of the Empire: hunting in the morning, capital executions during the lunch break and gladiator fights in the afternoon.
During the guided tour, we will discover together how the shows took place in the impressive architecture of the Colosseum, what was the original structure of the amphitheater and what successive structural changes were made, how the Colosseum was robbed of its decorations during the centuries, and how the Christian tradition has interpreted the amphitheater, taking a look at the archaeological studies from 1800 until present day.
Before to continue the Colosseum and Roman Forum Tour with the Roman Forum, we will take a short break to the nearby Arch of Constantine, a monumental arch put in the Triumphal Road from the Roman Senate, to celebrate the victory of the emperor Constantine against Maxentius in the Battle of Ponte Milvio.
We will take a very close look to the majestic marble arch, its inscriptions and its reliefs, before to move on to the Roman Forum.
The last step of our Colosseum and Roman Forum Tour will bring us to the real center of the political power in Ancient Rome: the Roman Forum.
In this final part of the guided tour we will visit the places of roman political power, such as the Comitium, the Curia and the Rostra, where the people met the Senate and foreign congregations were receive. We will walk along the Via Sacra, the main street of the Roman Forum, where the spectacular parades of triumph marched for centuries to celebrate the victorious generals in war.
We will visit the Arches of Titus and Septimius Severus and, in the end, the Colosseum tour with Roman Forum will end in the central area of the Roman Forum itself, where is the most recent monument: the column of Phocas (608 A.D.), ordered by Pope Boniface VI to thank the Byzantine emperor of the same name, for the donation of the Pantheon.
