Hidden Rome

Today we drive to the Appian Way and visit some of the villas of the senatorial aristocracy found there. Here we will see the vast suburban estate of the Quintili, so sumptuous that the emperor Commodus executed its owners and confiscated it. We proceed to the equally extensive Villa of the Emperor Maxentius built in order to be a dynastic center for his family. It includes a palace/villa, a chariot racing circus and large mausoleum. We will focus on the well preserved Circus which includes starting gates. In the afternoon we will visit another huge imperial project, the Baths of Caracalla, capable of accommodating thousands at a time.

This morning we visit another imperial palace, the legendary Golden House which the Emperor Nero built after the great fire of Rome as a rus in urbe, a countryside in the city, and as such included artificial lakes, fountains, vineyards, as well as flocks. The megalomaniac building was eventually demolished by his successors and can now only be visited at certain times, in groups, where it ongoing restoration can be viewed. More underground surprises will follow at the church of San Clemente, and then an afternoon visit to the Colosseum where we will be permitted to visit the areas below the arena floor of this iconic monument.

Ancient Rome was not simply a city of palaces and huge buildings: there were plenty of workshops, warehouses and docks too. We visit the Forum Boarium, the bull market, where cargoes were unloaded for storage or sale from the river barges. Here we will see the temples of Portunus and Hercules, and visit the churches of Santa Maria in Cosmedin and San Giorgio in Velabro. We will descend below to explore the hidden Mithraeum of the Circus Maximus. In the afternoon we ascend the Aventine Hill to visit Santa Sabina, one of Rome’s most beautiful Late Roman churches, and explore the excavations below. These include bits of the 6th century Servian Wall, imbedded into a much later house.

Rome was transformed in the middle ages to become the city we see today, with a tangle of streets and grand monuments of the past half hidden in her walls and squares. We will visit the Cripta Balbi, one of the most important excavations undertaken in recent decades, where the massive change from ancient to modern was examined in a ground breaking excavation. Afterwards we take a walk through part of the Field of Mars visiting well-known sites like the Pantheon to see this for ourselves. The afternoon is completely free for you to enjoy.

Today, a series of hidden gems scattered around the city. We begin on the Via Nomentana at Santa Constanza, built as a mausoleum for the sister of Constantine the Great. Later we will visit the early Christian catacombs that lie below the adjacent church of San Agnese. The theme continues in the afternoon when we make our way to the Aurelian walls where we shall find two exquisite and highly important tombs, the Columbarium of Pomponius Hylas, and the tomb of the Scipiones, the great family of the Republic who brought glory to Rome.

A morning drive to Ostia Antica, on the coast, which was Rome’s great harbor center. Here goods for the teeming bazaars of the city were stored and prepared for sending upriver. We will explore this extensive town and its facilities, the level of preservation is comparable to Pompeii. In the afternoon we drive on to the airport for our flight home.