Just across from the Colosseum is Palatine Hill, containing the palace built by Emperor
Domitian. According to the Rick Steves guidebook, Domitian built the palace to distance himself from nasty Emperor Nero, who’s house we visited later in the trip. Domitian liked to have enough room in a house to stretch his legs and the grounds go on for acres.
Click here for previous chapters of “A Week in Rome.”
The path weaves through ruins such as Domitian’s private stadium, where he had his own personal chariot races. In the picture below, Domitian once sat with his entourage in the middle of the semicircular viewing area on the upper left.
The round structure in the middle is where the Emperor sat, 2,000 years ago and watched his athletes perform.
Romans have loved fountains for a long, long time. Domitian had a not-so-modest one in his backyard.
When visiting Palatine Hill, be careful not to stub a toe. It could hurt more than you think. This thing is about the size of a St. Bernard.
Views abound, including all those famous Roman domes that seem to go on endlessly in the distance. And oh yes, we’ll be visiting those domes in excruciating detail later on. Well, excruciating for us, as we climbed one of them–relatively easy for you.
The Circus Maximus is visible behind the hill. This photo shows only a section of it on the left – it’s 2,000 feet in length. This is where up to 150,000 people would attend a wide variety of events, sometimes involving bears and elephants and big cats. Gladiators would fight here, and horse races were held here. It was a good place to get drunk and cheer on some poor soul down on the track.
Finally we leave Palatine Hill and return to the area in front of the Colosseum where we see Italian Police Uniform #1. We’ll keep track of how many we see.
Coming next: where the Romans kept their treasure.
Table of Contents
The Colosseum
Palatine Hill
The Pantheon
The Vatican
St. Peter in Chains
Imperial Lion
St. Peter’s Square and Basilica
Atop St. Peter’s Dome
Castel Sant’ Angelo (Pope hideaway on the Tiber River)
Day Trip to Florence
Castel Sant’ Angelo, Continued
St. Paul’s Outside the Walls (Vatican church in Rome’s Suburbs)
Great Fountains of Rome
Musei Capitolini (Capitoline Museum): Romulus and Remus and Random Body Parts
Victor Emmanuel Monument (VE Monument)
National Museum of Rome: A Treasure Vault and Lots of Heads
Wrap-Up-The-First – Summary of the Trip
Wrap-Up-The-Last – Final Summary of the Trip