Ancient Rome

One cannot make the slightest hole in Rome without falling on ancient remains.
Traces of antiquity are omnipresent, from the remains of the oldest monuments to the more recent buildings built on remains or with ancient stones, visible in the facades, in churches with ancient columns, at the corner of the streets, in basements, etc.

Ancient Rome is referred to as the city of Rome as well as the state it ruled in antiquity, associated with its Latin culture that assimilated the Greek culture of the classical period. This Greco-Roman culture is also at the origin of the image that has been forged of the origin of Western civilization.
Its history spans a period from the 8th century B.C. when the first villages were grouped together until the 5th century A.D. when imperial rule controlled the Mediterranean basin and western Europe at its peak, including the Balkans to the near and middleorient.
The political regime of Rome was first a monarchy (8th BC – 509 BC), then an oligarchic republic (509 BC – 27 BC), and then an autocratic empire (27 BC – 476 AD).

Roman civilization contributed throughout its territory to such areas as technology, architecture, the art of war, the development of law, institutions and laws, art and literature. Moreover, Latin is at the origin of many modern languages, called Latin languages.
It left important archaeological traces, but also considerable literary testimonies.

Great monuments of ancient Rome

The great ancient buildings of Rome: the Colosseum, the largest amphitheatre of antiquity, dedicated to gladiator games and fights; the Pantheon, dedicated to the Greco-Roman gods; the Roman forums, political and administrative centre since the Roman Republic.

20 other ancient monuments in Rome

After the three major tourist attractions that are the Pantheon, the Colosseum and the Forums, a number of buildings also evoke with fascination the past of the ancient capital, such as the Forum Boarium which was the river port market, the Baths of Caracalla which were the largest in the world, the imperial Palatine Hill, the tens of kilometres of the Aurelian Walls, the catacombs, the Appian Way or the aqueducts, and many others.

Tivoli, Hadrian’s Villa and Villa d’Este

A moins de 30 km de Rome, Tivoli est une bonne idée d'escapade. Outre sa jolie ville, elle est connue pour ses trois villas, inscrites au patrimoine de l'Unesco.
Par son ampleur et sa bonne conservation, la Villa d'Hadrien est une des plus importantes villas romaines, un bel exemplaire de l'architecture antique, bâtie à partir de l'an 126 de notre ère. La Villa d'Este est quant à elle un havre de fraîcheur avec les nombreuses fontaines de son jardin, emblématique de l'architecture italienne du XVIe siècle. De son côté, la Villa Gregoriana est grand parc boisé, dont le sentier descend au pied de la falaise dominée par le centre historique, avec une grande cascade, des grottes et des vestiges.

Etruscan sites of Lazio

North of Rome, in the province of Viterbo, there are many Etruscan remains. This land was indeed at the heart of Etruria, where this civilization long eclipsed behind their prestigious Roman successors, was nevertheless of great richness and influence. In Cerveteri, the Etruscan necropolis extends over hundreds of hectares. They form real cities with streets and neighborhoods. In Tarquinia, there are other necropolis with tombs painted with remarkable frescoes, and into Tuscia are many other fascinating sites, often located in the middle of nature, such as Vulci, Norchia, Blera, San Giovenale, etc.

Museums of antiquities in Rome

Photo of the Capitoline she-wolf, Capitoline museums

Most of the great Roman museums are multi-disciplinary, with collections from various eras, from antiquity to the Renaissance and Baroque for example. These have collections of ancient works and archaeological artifacts, these are the Capitoline Museums, then the Vatican Museums, and the Borghese Gallery to a lesser extent.
A number of other museums are mainly devoted to antiquity ...

Castel Sant’Angelo

Photo of the Castle and bridge Sant'Angelo

The base of the Castel Sant'Angelo is an ancient building, the Mausoleum of Hadrian, built for the emperor’s family between 117 and 138 AD. At the top of the mausoleum stood a statue of the Emperor, personified as God sun, with a bronze chariot.

National Roman Museum

Home to the largest archaeological collection in the world, the National Roman Museum is distributed over four sites, the largest of which is the Palazzo Massimo alle Terme.

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