Montebello

The nucleus of classical Rome is around the Colosseum, with the Forum to the north-west and the Baths of Caracalla to the south. Don´t be daunted the mystery itself is more than half the charm of these vestiges of a vanished world. Take them in your stride, slower and more realxed than ever when it comes to walking the ruins. Avoid the midday sun in the shadeless Forum and finish your visit with a picnic and siesta on the Palatine.
The Colosseum, the gladiator´s bloody circus, that is the symbol of the city´s eternity. Built in A.D. 80 by 20000 slaves and prisioners, the four.tiered elliptical arena seated 50000 spectators onstone benches. Flowing in and out of 80 arched passageways known as vomitoria, aristocrats and plebs alike came to see blood: bears, lions, tigers and leopards starved into fighting each other and against criminals, war captives and Christians, Gladiators butchered one another to the crowds cries of Jugula!!!! (slit his throat!!!!).
For their churches and palaces, popes and princes have stripped the Colosseum of its precious marble, travertine and metal.
The nearby Arch of Constantine , celebrates the 4th century emperor´s battlefield conversion to Christianity.
With an exhilarating leap of the imagination, you can stan among the columns, arches and porticoes of the Roman Forum and picture the hub of the great imperial city, the first in Europe to house a million inhabitants. Earthquake, fire, flood and the plunder of barbarians and Renaissance architects reduced the area to a muddy cow pasture until the excavations of the 19th century. Today, a detailed plan and the portable sound-guide rented at the entrance (on the via dei fori imperiali) will make sense of the apparent confusion and help you trace the layout of palaces, temples and market halls.
Part of the Curia , home of the Roman Senate, still stands, including its original marble floor. Steps nearby lead underground to the Lapis Niger a black marble pavement laid by Julius Caesar over the presumed grave of Romulus, the city´s founder. To the south of it are remains of the Basilica Julia law court and the Rostra orators platform from which Mark Anthony informed the people of Caesar´s assassination. Countless Renaissance and Baroque sculptors have drawn inspiration from the friezes on the Arch of Septimius Severus.
The Temple of Saturn doubled as state treasury and centre of the merry December debauschery known as the Saturnalia, pagan precursor of Christmas. In the circular Temple of Vesta , the sacred flame perpetuating the Roman state was tended by six Vestal Virgins who, from childhood, observed a 30 year vow of chastity on pain of being buried alive if they broke it.
At the end of the Via Sacra, the Arch of Titus conmmemorates the sack of Jerusalem in A.D. 70.
Most impressive monument of the imperial Forum, built as an adjunct to the Roman Forum in honour of Julius Caesar, Augustus, Trajan, Vespasian and Domitian.
South the Roman Forum, the Palatine Hill is Rome´s legendary birthplace and today its most romantic garden, dotted with toppled columns among the wild flowers and spiny acanthus shrubs.
A kilometre south of the Colosseum, the huge 3rd century Baths of Caracalla werw built for 1600 people to bathe in considerable style and luxury.
South of the baths begins the Old Appian Way , over which the Romans legions marched on their way to Brindisi to set sail for the Levantand North Africa.