← All articles · Italy · 17 March 2016

Rome, Italy: Inside the Colosseum, up the Palatine and pizza sold by weight

Three days in Rome in March 2016: the Colosseum inside and out, the Forum from the Palatine, Trevi after dark, and pizza sold by the slice.

Rome sat in the middle of a March 2016 run down Italy, and it's the sort of city where you come up out of a metro station and trip straight over two thousand years of history. We had three days: one for the Colosseum and the hill above the Forum, one for a boat to Capri, and one for wandering about with no plan at all.

The Colosseum, from a table and then from the inside

We started with lunch at a table close enough to the arches that they were basically part of the decor, then joined the queue.

Inga in sunglasses leaning on a cafe table under an awning with the arches of the Colosseum behind her — Lunch first. The Colosseum wasn't going anywhere.

A vaulted stone passageway lit from below, with a steel staircase and visitors walking through — Inside the stonework, where the old blocks meet modern lighting and a steel staircase. A 360 photo: drag to look in any direction.

Brick Roman ruins sheltered under a curved timber roof, with visitors walking between the walls — Brick ruins with a timber roof built over them to keep the weather off. A 360 photo: drag to look in any direction.

Carved stone fragments standing on concrete plinths among excavated brick walls under a wooden vaulted shelter — Carved fragments up on plinths, still where they were dug out. A 360 photo: drag to look in any direction.

Inga and Dileep standing at a railing inside the Colosseum with the tiers of seating and the exposed underground chambers behind them — The arena floor is long gone, so you look straight down into the passages underneath it.

The Colosseum and the Arch of Constantine under a blue sky with an umbrella pine in the foreground — Back outside, with the Arch of Constantine standing off to the left.

Inga and Dileep taking a selfie in sunglasses with the Arch of Constantine and the Colosseum behind them — Two monuments in one frame, which is about average for a Roman street corner.

Up on the Palatine

The same ticket takes you up the hill, where the crowds thin out and the ruins get quieter and greener.

Roofless brick walls and scattered marble blocks on the Palatine Hill under a bright sky with umbrella pines — Roofless brick rooms on the Palatine, with marble blocks lying about where they fell. A 360 photo: drag to look in any direction.

A sunken garden with clipped hedges laid out inside the brick walls of a ruined palace complex on the Palatine Hill — A sunken garden with the hedges still clipped into patterns, sitting inside the old palace walls. A 360 photo: drag to look in any direction.

A wide gravel terrace crowded with visitors, with the columns and roofs of the Roman Forum dropping away on one side — The terrace everybody walks to, with the whole Forum falling away on one side. A 360 photo: drag to look in any direction.

The Roman Forum seen from above, with standing columns, an arch, a domed church and the city rooftops behind — The Forum from the terrace. Columns, an arch, a dome, and about a dozen centuries stacked on top of each other.

A weathered pink stucco gateway topped with a painted tile of Saint Sebastian, framed by a palm and a cypress — A gate on the way out, faded pink, with a painted saint sat on top of it.

Rome after dark

Rome does the evening shift better than almost anywhere. The floodlights come on, the day trippers go home, and you can stand at the Trevi without being elbowed into it.

Inga and Dileep on a terrace at night above a lit shopping street running away between tall buildings, with domes in the distance — The view down from the top of the Spanish Steps, with the shops still lit all the way along.

Inga and Dileep in front of the floodlit Trevi Fountain at night, its water lit bright turquoise — The Trevi at night, the water lit up an unlikely shade of turquoise.

A row of enormous fluted Roman columns floodlit at night, built into the front of a later building, with people walking past — A row of Roman columns swallowed by a much later building, lit up like it's the most normal thing in the world.

A small orange Fiat 126 parked at the kerb on a Rome street at night — Parked, immaculate, and roughly the size of a shopping trolley.

Inga and Dileep taking a selfie at night with the floodlit Colosseum behind them — Back past the Colosseum after the boat day, and it's arguably better lit than it is in daylight.

The last morning: marble, coffee and pizza by the slice

Our final day had no itinerary, which turned out to be the right call. We found old cars, a room full of marble, a cafe that's been pouring coffee since 1760, and a counter of pizza sold by weight.

Dileep resting a hand on the roof of a small blue and white Fiat 600 Multipla parked beside a black vintage saloon on cobbles — He's not tall. It's just a very small van.

A colossal marble head lying on its side on a round marble base in a frescoed room — A colossal marble head, laid on its side on a plinth like it's having a lie down.

Inga looking over her shoulder in a marble gallery hung with old paintings, with a stone balustrade and gilt urns behind her — Coloured marble floors, a balustrade, and not another visitor in sight.

Dileep standing outside a curved pale yellow church front with a Latin inscription and green doors, cars parked in front — A church with a Latin inscription over the door and a row of parked cars in front. Very Rome.

Inga and Dileep on a red velvet banquette in an old cafe with gilt framed paintings covering the walls and espresso cups on a marble table — Red velvet, gilt frames from floor to ceiling, and two espressos on a marble table.

Inga standing beside a cafe window lettered Tea Room and Caffe 1760, with a chandelier and a display of pastries inside — The window says 1760, which makes our coffee habit look extremely recent.

A woman in an apron cutting a tray of pizza behind a glass counter stacked with rectangular pizzas and a bread oven behind — Pizza al taglio: point, and she cuts you a piece off the tray.

A metal tray of assorted pizza slices with toppings including tomato, rocket, pesto and cheese, with two plastic cups of wine beside it — We didn't choose well. We chose everything.

Inga outside a small bakery with a mint green shopfront, white awnings, hanging ferns and flower pots on the pavement — Mint green paint, hanging ferns, flowers on the pavement. Rome doesn't have to try very hard.

The rest of the trip ran north and south from here: Vatican City is a walk across the river, Capri is a train and a boat away, and we'd come down through Tirano, St. Moritz and Milan to get here.