Colosseum

5/22/18

The Colosseum was completed in A.D. 80 after just 8 years of construction. We didn’t buy tickets online, as it costs a couple extra euros. When we got down around the Colosseum we had a hard time finding where to even buy tickets.

I had read that if the line for the Colosseum was long you could buy tickets at the Palatino as they are a combined ticket. We tried to find the ticket booth but had no luck. We went to stand in the line to buy Colosseum tickets as you enter the Colosseum. The line didn’t look too bad. It ended up moving really slow, though, and a couple of times an announcement was made that the entry had slowed due to security screenings. It took us 2 hours to get in.

Once inside, it was packed near the entrance, but as we walked a little more it thinned out so we were able to get right up to the railing for a view. The below picture was taken from where the 2nd tier of seats would have started. On the right side of the picture you can see a recreation of the 1st tier of seats that would have circled the arena.

Walking around on the 2nd tier there were some nice views.

Here is the Arch of Constantine, built-in 315, that sits in the Piazza del Colosseo.

At the level of the arena floor you can see the hypogeum. There were trapdoors in the arena and lifts on a pulley system were used to hoist people, animals and scenery into the arena.

The Colosseum is well photographed so the inside was as I expected. I found it more enjoyable to see the outside in person.

The Colosseum ticket includes the Roman Forum. You can go the day after but we went  on the same day after some lunch. The Roman Forum consists of ruins from the city center. A large area is preserved but the below picture, taken from the viewing platform on top of Santa Maria Antiqua, shows the main area where many ruins are.

Here is looking up to the platform.

After the day of seeing the ruins Brian and I went to a rooftop restaurant for a nice dinner to celebrate our anniversary. For anyone looking for an excellent dinner in Rome, we had an amazing time at Ambrosia!