Colosseum Day!

July 06, 2023

Colosseum Day!

Buongiorno!

On Monday, we are some breakfast at our hotel before heading out for the day. Our first stop was NapNet Wash, where we dropped off a bunch of clothes to have our laundry done. Our hotel had mentioned it was a good option since they could deliver back to our room in the afternoon if we dropped it off in the morning - plus, it was time for some clean clothes! (More on that later!)

We then headed out for some sightseeing. Our first stop was the Republica Plaza, which truthfully was not the most impressive in Rome. We didn’t spend much time there and continued over to Santa Maria Maggiore for a visit. The church is very nice and was free to get into, unless we wanted to go upstairs on the terrace and to the dome. We enjoyed the big marble stones and how ornate the church was.

Next, we walked through a couple of gardens on the way to the Colosseum. We passed through the Vittorio Emmanuele gardens, a local city park, and the park between there and the Colosseum. It was so quiet and peaceful there, plus the shade was a nice inclusion! We sat there for a few minutes and got a couple views of the Colosseum & other monuments.

At this point, we were hungry so we hit Pizza Forum for lunch. We got a margherita pizza and a caprese salad. The pizza left a little to be desired - a bit greasy and soggy.

We then headed over to the Colosseum area for our tour ticketed for 2 PM. We tried to get in a little bit early since we were in the area and ready to go, but were politely turned away for another 15 minutes. We did a little Colosseum googling before going in and our favorite facts were:- The Colosseum took 9 years to build and is roughly 2,000 years old.- At one point, the entire bottom of the Colosseum was covered with dirt. It was uncovered in the 1930s under Mussolini’s direction, revealing its history.- They used to flood the Colosseum with water and recreate naval battles- 2/3 of the Colosseum was stripped to build other things around the Roman Empire, including using the iron clamps to build cannons at Castel Sant Angelo.

We were sitting at what is likely the ankle rolling and water hawking capital of Rome (the world?)! One of the water vendors saw a police officer, “ran away,” then immediately started selling again within two minutes. Then, at 1:45, we walked in for our tour.
This was me in 2014 in a similar spot!

Next, we headed to Palatine Hill and the Forum for our tour. We spent some time looking at the Palatine Stadium on the top of the hill, the Domus Augustana (featuring stone and marble from Africa), and got glimpses of Circo Maximo. The views from Palatine Hill were amazing and we could even spot St. Peter’s! We took the Via Nova to the Forum, noticing the big temples and the basilica. It’s fun to imagine what it used to be like when it was active and in use!

We were ready for a break after a long day of adventuring and headed back to the hotel. When it was time to head out again, we wandered around near the Pantheon a bit, then headed to dinner at That’s Amore. A favorite from my last trip, we made sure to come back this time! We got Amatriciana and Carbonara pastas, tried Suppli (amazing fried rice balls), the red house wine, and the tiramisu. From the restaurant, we could see lots of people going by (often stopping to get some photos of the logo).