Your cartLiving the city without the daily crowd, avoiding the heat of the Italian summer and taking advantage of the calm to appreciate Rome and fall in love with the Eternal city. Get ready for summertime cheerfulness and enjoy your Roman holidays, live your movie in this magical city. Now, I am going to talk about this special experience, take your time to read and get fascinated by the nighttime atmosphere.
Rome is a different city in the evening. As soon as the sun goes down and all the monuments begin to be lit up by the street lights, the atmosphere changes and makes the city romantic giving you a fresh perspective on the highlights in Rome city center.
You can start your walking tour of Rome from the Victor Emanuel monument in Venice Square. This Monument also known as “Vittoriano” and due to his shape as “The Wedding Cake” or the “Typewriter” for most foreigner, has a strong symbolic value since it is architecturally and artistically representative of the Risorgimento, that period of the history that lead to the unification of Italy at the hands of the king Victor Emanuel II, whom the monument is dedicated to. As a matter of fact the most important Italian celebration is set at the Vittoriano.
Settled in the center of ancient Rome, it is linked to the modern one through a series of streets arranged like spokes of a bicycle wheel. Making your way along Via dei Fori Imperiali, constructed by Mussolini, you will get to the ancient Roman ruins and Roman Forum, until you reach the Colosseum. The atmosphere will be unforgettable as you walk through the history by night.
Going ahead, looking from the outside the Roman and Imperial forum, you will continue the exploration of Ancient Roman times. The Imperial Fora are a series of old public squares roman people were used to calling fora and were the center of the Roman Republic and of the Roman Empire. The Roman Forum, not part of the Imperial Fora, is a rectangular forum surrounded by the ruins of several buildings that were the center of the different governments of the city of Rome. Located in the valley between Palatine and Capitoline Hills the forum was the core of everyday life and stage for processions, elections, public speeches, criminal trials and commercial affairs.
Last but not least you will reach the Colosseum, originally known as Amphitheatrum Flavium, the most majestic monument from ancient Rome arrived until now. Here you will have the chance to admire this important and awe-inspiring monument in a new light and in the silence of the night because you will enter the Colosseum when it has closed its doors to the general public. You will have a great overview of the heart of Rome without being overwhelmed and feeling the real magic of the history melting with the myth and the knowledge your guide is sharing with you. So you won’t be just an observer but a part of this experience.
Visiting the Colosseum at night is really special, not only because of its beauty. When you first go in, you will see and really admire the architecture of the empty corridors. As you go around on the main level, the first thing that really strikes you is the silence, you can only imagine how many people were crammed together staring at the gladiators fight crying to incite them. It's dark all around you and there are few people, just those who are joining the tour with you, so you get to fully appreciate the experience, because there is no sound but the guide. Or the wind, maybe.
Although partially ruined because of damage caused by earthquakes and stone-robbers, the Colosseum is still an iconic symbol of Imperial Rome and you will appreciate all the emotional power of this cultural masterpiece. Apart from the first two regular levels you will be able to set foot in areas usually closed to the general public, like the Arena and the Dungeons.
During your whole Colosseum night tour, you will benefit from your guide's fascinating anecdotes about Rome's most iconic building and about gladiators fight and which kind of beasts were brought inside to combat. You will really feel as though you are there among the gladiators, lions and emperors. When you look at the monuments during the day, you can see the architecture, the beauty and you can try to imagine the everyday life they were characterized by. But living the city during the night will give you the opportunity to feel its magic, its charm and you will surely fall in love with the city. Not just because of what you can visit, but above all because of the emotions you will feel.
As Goethe said, when you consider an existence like the Roman one, two thousand years old, and you think that is still the same hill, the same walls, you can feel the force of destiny. Rome, he used to say, is the capital of the world. There all the history of the world gets back in touch.
Do not miss this opportunity to visit the Colosseum at night!
