The Delicious Italy - Rome

If you like history then you'll love Rome! I learned some of the most interesting things here at the Colosseum, Palatine Hill, and the Roman Forum. We signed up for a tour of these sights, where we had a tour guide, got to skip the huge lines, and got discounted prices to enter each one. If you can try to find someone selling one of these packages outside the Colosseum, it's well worth it!

The Colosseum is amazing to see! It isn't anything like what it used to be, but you can see the tunnels and rooms at the bottom where animals, prisoners, and gladiators would wait until it was their time to come out. This used to be entirely covered in wood flooring but that is all gone now. We saw where the emperor would have sat to watch the shows. We also saw blocks outside around the Colosseum that ropes would be attached to for when they pulled a cover over the top of it during the shows. We learned that it only took eight years to build this incredible theater in 72 AD, and it could hold 55,000 spectators. The events were not held here all the time, only in the fall and spring, but when the shows were going on there were lots to see. Anyone could see these shows for free but you were matched where you could sit based on your social standing. We also learned that there used to be a lake next to the Colosseum but it is all concrete now. Also, that they found lots of chicken bones in the bottom of it because people would eat chicken while watching the shows. There are many other facts we were told but I can't remember them. The tour guide also told us about an emperor who started a fire in Rome that burnt down 75% of the town because he wanted to build a giant palace for himself that was four times the size of the Colosseum.

 

Next was the tour of Palatine Hill and the Roman Forum which had even more interesting stories and facts. At the beginning of this tour we were told that Rome is the city of love because Venus, the goddess of love, lived there. Also, amor is Italian for love and if you say amor backwards its Roma! On Palatine Hill we were told a story about the vestal virgins and how Venus was a part of this group until she got pregnant with two boys, Romulus and Remus. She was forced to give them away so she took them to the top of Palatine Hill where a shewolf found them and raised them. Years later Romulus grew up and built the empire for Rome, and Rome started in the Roman Forum. After hearing this story we walked down into the Roman Forum and saw all of the ruins and arches which was very cool. There are three main arches; one made by Constantine, another made by Titus, and the last made by Septimius Severus. One for conquering war, another for conquering the church, and another for victories.

This is only a small piece of the history of Rome; if you love mythology and history then Rome is the place for you!