Imperial Rome before 2025

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Day 1

Arrive Rome airport on a morning flight, meet your courier and depart for Ostia Antica (unless it’s a Monday). Ostia was one of Rome’s key ports. It’s also one of the best archaeological sites, where you can freely wander through bathhouses, temples, the forum, the theatre, houses, bakeries and the Square of the Corporations.

Discover mosaics and frescoes in situ, before visiting the newly-renovated museum to see sarcophagi, reliefs, statues, busts and other finds from across the site. There is a café and restaurant on site, but, depending on flight times, we can always organise a stop in the square just outside the archaeological park for a quick lunch there.

Once you’ve finished at Ostia, meet your coach and depart for the Rome hotel, check in and then depart for the evening meal at the local trattoria. After dinner, if you still have some energy to burn, why not take a walk around the archaeology of the local area – Porta Maggiore, Tomb of the Baker, Republican Tombs on the Via Statilia, the “Temple of Minerva Medica” (spoiler, it’s not a temple), and the Nymphaeum of Alexander Severus before popping into Fassi for a gelato before returning to the hotel.

Day 2

After breakfast collect your whispering guides (still an entry requirement for the Colosseum) and depart on foot for the Colosseum. After a walk around the greatest symbol of Rome’s might and power (don’t miss the mini-museum space on the second floor), cross the Piazza to the Arch of Titus entrance to the Forum. If Rome was the heart of the empire, the Forum was its Rome’s heart.

A monument to Rome’s history, from the ruins of the Regia to the Column of Phocas, Walk between Basilicas, Arches and Temples before climbing the Palatine hill to see the remains of the Imperial Palace, Augustus’s house was small and humble (if we believe the sources) but it was greatly expanded under his successors and then again by the Flavian and Severan dynasties. Make sure you’ve seen everything in this part before you depart, your ticket only allows for one entry! Find some food nearby for lunch (James always recommends the Monti district).

After lunch you can explore the open-air ancient sites in the area – take a self-guided walk through the space of the Circus Maximus, Rome’s huge racetrack, get up close to the temples and arches in the Forum Boarium, Velabrum and spot the altar of Concordia Augusta, re-erected where it was discovered. For €3pp in situ you can even go below the Church of Saint Nicolas in Prison to see the remains of the Temples of Juno, Spes and Janus in the Forum Holitorium.

Follow the road round to see Tiber Island and the oldest bridge in Rome, the pons Fabricius, before walking up to the Theatre of Marcellus, and the Portico of Octavia, monuments dedicated by Augustus to his sister and nephew. You’ll be near the base of the Capitoline stairs by now, so climb those to enter the Musei Capitolini. The oldest public museums in the world, they hold a vast collection of epigraphy and statuary, including the bronze equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius, and the colossal remains of the podium of the Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus. Once you’ve explored the museum, head out for dinner at a local trattoria and retire to the hotel.

Day 3

Once you have had breakfast, you’ll be departing on foot to cross the city to see the Altar to Augustan Peace. This monument was reconstructed by Mussolini and moved to sit next to the Mausoleum of Rome’s first emperor. The Mausoleum is still under renovation, but should be opening in 2026. If you arrive early, remember to check out the modern copy of the Res Gestae on the side of the Museum and walk down onto the newly opened Piazza outside the Mausoleum of Rome’s first emperor.

There’s also a small bookshop at the new Piazza level which may be open to have a look around. Inside the Ara Pacis museum you’ll find a few displays on the altar, a tabletop map of the Campus Martius as it was when the altar was built, as well as busts of the Augustan imperial family, then you reach the altar. Well it and soundproofed against the road outside it sits in an oasis of calm, walk around and through the altar, spotting all the subtle (and unsubtle) symbolism, and debate the identity of the goddess on the upper back external relief before departing.

You’re now on your way to the greatest building in the City, the Pantheon! Marvel at the monolithic columns before entering and craning your neck to look through the eye of the gods, the oculus. Once you’ve been sufficiently awed, head out to stop for a local lunch before heading on a self-guided Campus Martius tour – Piazza Navona, Largo Argentina Sacred Area from above (though we can book in a visit to this site if requested), Column of Marcus Aurelius, Temple of Hadrian, Augustan Obelisk at Montecitorio, Augustan Obelisk at Piazza del Popolo, Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain, and the remains of the aqueduct in the Rinascente department store basement.

Depending on how long you wish to spend on this self-guided walk you may be able to fit in a visit to Palazzo Altemps near Piazza Navona or the remains of the Stadium of Domitian under Piazza Navona. Have your dinner at a local trattoria before returning to the hotel for the night.

Day 4

Have breakfast, check out and store your luggage at the hotel before departing on foot for Palazzo Massimo. This Museo Nazionale Romano site is full of every kind of Roman art. From Hellenistic, Republican and Imperial statues such as the Bronze Boxer at Rest, the Tivoli General, and Augustus as Pontifex Maximus, walls of frescoes that include the Garden Frescoes of Livia’s dining room at the Prima Porta Villa, a variety of mosaics like Nilotic Scenes, Marine Life, and Circus Charioteers, part of a columbarium from Villa Pamphili, and the largest numismatic collection in Italy that runs from the earliest days of Roman money through to the Euro.

Once you have seen all that you can, leave the Museum and cross to the Baths of Diocletian for the other Museo Nazionale Romano site, the Baths of Diocletian Museo delle Terme. The museum is the city’s main source of epigraphic content from the Republican and Imperial periods, from monuments dedicated to emperors to the tombstones of everyday men and women who plied their trades in and around the centre of the empire. Don’t miss the fragments from the Calendar of the Arval Brotherhood the smaller cloister, as well as the tombs of the Platorini and the Painted Tomb in the larger halls.

Of course there are also parts of the remains of the largest imperial baths in Rome all around you as you walk through the rooms and halls, make sure to check out the remains of the natatio before you go! Depart the Museum and make your way back to your hotel to collect your luggage, the best place in the area to stop for lunch would be the Mercato Centrale at Termini, where their series of stalls can give you a great taste of local cuisines. Once you’ve had your fill, return to the hotel, collect your luggage and depart on the coach heading to Rome’s airport. Depending on your flight time, you may be able to stop at the Baths of Caracalla or one of the Catacombs on the Via Appia Antica (San Sebastiano or San Callisto).

At the Baths of Caracalla, you will be able to see the one of the best surviving examples of the scale of Roman building projects, walking through the palaestra, natatio, frigidarium and the other surviving rooms. Meanwhile, with the catacombs, you’ll be led through the passageways between burial chambers of Romans, from pagans to early Christian and Jews. Head back to the coach and depart for Rome’s airport where you can check in, head through security and get some dinner before your flight back to the UK.

Feel free to contact us to tailor your own tour. 01342 324727