Welcome to Rome! This loop starts at the Colosseum, follows the Roman Forum up to the Capitoline Hill, and then winds through the historic centre past the spot where Julius Caesar was killed, the Pantheon and the Trevi Fountain before returning past Trajan's Column.
Each stop's audio starts by itself when you're within about 100 ft (free and unlocked stops only). Keep this page open with the screen on. Distances are straight-line, so follow the streets and watch for traffic.
Welcome to the Colosseum, officially the Flavian Amphitheatre. The emperor Vespasian began it around 72 AD, and his son Titus finished it in 80 AD, with more work under Domitian, who added the hypogeum, the maze of tunnels and cages beneath the arena floor where animals and gladiators waited. It could hold an estimated 50,000 to 80,000 spectators, shaded by a huge retractable awning called the velarium. Games and public spectacles went on here for centuries.
Look at the uneven outer wall: the south side collapsed in a great earthquake in 1349, and for centuries afterward the fallen stone was carted away and reused in churches and palaces across the city. Today it is one of the New Seven Wonders of the World, and every Good Friday the Pope leads a Way of the Cross procession here by torchlight.
🚶 Walk to the next stop (620 ft · ~2 min walk): Walk southwest across the square to the great triple arch beside the Colosseum. About 2 minutes.
This is the Arch of Constantine, the largest surviving Roman triumphal arch, about 69 feet high. The Senate dedicated it in 315 to celebrate Constantine's victory over his rival Maxentius at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge in 312. Look closely and you'll notice the decoration doesn't all match. Much of it was taken from earlier monuments honouring Trajan, Hadrian and Marcus Aurelius, with the portrait heads of those emperors replaced with his own.
The round reliefs, for example, show Hadrian hunting, while the narrow frieze running around the arch dates from Constantine's own time. That mix of old and new makes the arch a kind of museum of Roman sculpture. It stands on the route that triumphal processions once took on their way toward the Forum.
🚶 Walk to the next stop (0.5 mile · ~9 min walk): Walk back past the Colosseum and head northwest along the wide Via dei Fori Imperiali, with ancient ruins on both sides, until the Roman Forum opens up on your left. About 9 minutes.
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That was the last free stop. The full tour continues with 7 more stops: Roman Forum, Piazza del Campidoglio, Victor Emmanuel II Monument, Largo di Torre Argentina, Pantheon, Rome, Trevi Fountain, Trajan's Column, each with narration, audio and walking cues.
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The first person to use code FIRSTROME at checkout gets the full tour free.
