Imperial Rome: From the Colosseum to the Vatican

Stand in front of this amphitheater. It's nearly two thousand years old. It was called the Flavian Amphitheater. The name "Colosseum" came later, from a colossal statue of Nero that once stood nearby. Emperor Vespasian ordered it built in 72 AD. His son Titus finished it eight years later, with a hundred days of inaugural games. It held more than fifty thousand people. And entry was free for any Roman citizen. Inside, gladiators fought to the death. Historians estimate hundreds of thousands of people and animals died in this arena over four centuries of spectacles. Beneath where you're st…

A few meters from the Colosseum stands the largest surviving triumphal arch from ancient Rome. It was built in 315 AD to celebrate one very specific victory: the Battle of the Milvian Bridge, where Constantine defeated his rival Maxentius. Legend says that before the battle, Constantine saw a cross of light in the sky with the words "by this sign, you shall conquer." He won. And that moment changed the course of Western history: within a few years, Christianity went from persecuted faith to tolerated religion, and later the official religion of the Empire. Look closely at the arch's sculpt…

You're walking through the exact center of the greatest power the ancient world ever knew. For nearly a thousand years, every major decision in Rome was made in this space: wars, laws, trials, political speeches. That stone street you see is the Via Sacra, the most famous street in Rome. Victorious generals paraded down it with their armies and war spoils, in processions called triumphs. Over there stood the Curia, where the Roman Senate met. And nearby, next to the Temple of Caesar, the crowd burned Julius Caesar's body on an improvised pyre, furious after his assassination in 44 BC. This…

This hill is, according to legend, the exact place where Rome was born. Here, the myth says, a she-wolf nursed two abandoned twin brothers: Romulus and Remus. When they grew up, they decided to found a city. They fought over the name and the exact spot. Romulus won. He killed his brother and founded the city under his own name, in 753 BC, right on this hill. It's a myth, but archaeologists found Iron Age hut remains here dating to that very period. Legend and archaeology, for once, almost line up. Centuries later, this hill became the most exclusive neighborhood in Rome. Emperors built the…

This long, empty valley you see was, two thousand years ago, the largest stadium ever built. The Circus Maximus could hold between one hundred fifty thousand and two hundred fifty thousand spectators. No modern stadium comes close. Chariot races were held here: horse-drawn chariots at full speed, circling a central barrier decorated with obelisks and statues. Drivers were celebrities. The most famous, a man named Gaius Appuleius Diocles, won more than fifteen hundred races and became richer than any modern actor or athlete, adjusted for inflation. The races were violent. Crashes between ch…

This white mass you see dominates the center of Rome. Romans have a not-so-affectionate nickname for it: "the typewriter," for its shape, or "the wedding cake," for how white and overdone it is. It's called the Altare della Patria, built between 1885 and 1935 to honor Victor Emmanuel II, the first king of unified Italy. Because here's something important to know: Italy, as a single country, is barely more than one hundred sixty years old. Before 1861 it was a patchwork of separate kingdoms and city-states. Inside this monument is the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, with a flame that has burned…

You're standing in front of the best-preserved Roman building in the entire ancient world. The inscription at the entrance says it was built by Marcus Agrippa. That's not quite true -it's more of a copy. The Pantheon you see today was built by Emperor Hadrian around 126 AD, but he kept the original inscription as a tribute to the earlier building that stood on this same spot. Go inside and look up. That dome is the largest unreinforced concrete dome ever built. Nearly two thousand years later, it still hasn't been surpassed. At the center is a circular hole nine meters wide, the oculus. It…

This square has an unusual shape: long, oval, almost like a racetrack. That's exactly what it is: a track. You're standing on the grandstands of an ancient Roman stadium, the Stadium of Domitian, built in 86 AD for Greek-style athletic competitions. The buildings surrounding the square today follow the exact curved shape of the old Roman stands. It's archaeology disguised as urban planning. At the center is the Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi, the Fountain of the Four Rivers, a masterpiece by Gian Lorenzo Bernini from 1651. Each of the four figures represents a river from a different continent: …

You hear the water before you see it. And then, suddenly, this enormous fountain explodes into view. It's the largest Baroque fountain in Rome, completed in 1762 by architect Nicola Salvi. But the most incredible thing about this fountain isn't what you see. It's what you don't see: the water feeding it travels through an aqueduct called the Aqua Virgo, built by that same Marcus Agrippa back in 19 BC. Two thousand years later, that Roman aqueduct still works. It still brings water to this very fountain, every single day. Tradition says that if you toss a coin over your shoulder, with your …

In front of you are one hundred thirty-five white marble steps, built between 1723 and 1725. They connect this square to the church of Trinità dei Monti, up on the hill. The name "Piazza di Spagna" comes from the Spanish Embassy, which was based here since the seventeenth century. For three hundred years, these steps have been one of Rome's most famous meeting spots. Artists, poets, travelers from all over Europe came here to see and be seen, to pose for painters, or simply to sit and watch life go by. In the house right at the foot of the steps, to the right, the English poet John Keats d…

This massive circular castle began its life as a tomb. Emperor Hadrian ordered it built in 135 AD as a mausoleum for himself and his family. It was meant to be the eternal resting place of Roman emperors. But history had other plans. Over time, it became a military fortress, and later a residence and refuge for popes. There's a secret elevated passageway, the Passetto di Borgo, nearly a kilometer long, that connects this castle directly to the Vatican. It was actually used in a moment of real panic: in 1527, when troops of Emperor Charles V brutally sacked Rome, Pope Clement VII ran throug…

You're standing in the smallest country in the entire world: Vatican City State, barely forty-four hectares. This square you see was designed by Gian Lorenzo Bernini in the seventeenth century, with two curved colonnades wrapping around it like arms. Bernini said it himself: he wanted that shape to represent the "maternal arms of the Church," opening to embrace every pilgrim who arrived. Inside is the largest Christian basilica in the world, built over what tradition marks as the tomb of the apostle Peter, the first Pope, crucified upside down on this very spot during Nero's reign, around t…