Colosseum, Palatine Museum and Roman Forum

Overview

Here are some passes and cards to help you save money and time on your Rome vacation. You'll also avoid the hassle of having to carry money to pay for each entrance of the Colosseum, the Palatine Museum and the Roman Forum.

Tour details

Ticket is valid for the Colosseum, the Palatine Museum and the Roman Forum.

Ticket is valid for two days from the pick up and allows one entrance to each site. It is advised to program the visit Forum - Palatine - Colosseum, as the entrance to the Forum will be placed at Largo Romolo e Remo, and the two exits will be placed one close to Chiesa San Giuseppe dei Falegnami (Campidoglio) and the other close to Arco di Tito. It is then advised to make the visit to the Forum, the Palatine and then the Colosseum.

Attention: Regarding Augustus' House, from March 10th it will be a regular part of the Palatine visit. Visit will be available only accompained by Soprintendenza guardians, divided in groups of maximum 5 people each, staying inside the house for 5 minutes; it will be not possible to book the visit for singles or groups. Long lines are expected, so we advise clients to get there in the first hours of the morning and queue up.

Reservations must be made with a minimum of 1 day notice.
Reservations are limited to 13 persons maximum.

Save time in ordering! Add into your basket all the museum tickets you want, then fill the form and send the request.
Before making your reservation, please, read the Ordering Informations.

IMPORTANT NOTICE: After succesfully completing a reservation, you will receive two e- mails: the copy of your order (immediately after submitting your order) and the confirmation mail (one working day after). In order to receive them, please make sure you insert your e-mail address correctly and check that your anti-spam filter or antivirus are not blocking mails from our address reservations@waf.it. Special attention for AOL mailbox users.

PLEASE NOTICE: Confirmed time is not always the same time you requested; museum automatically confirms the closest available time on the same date if requested time is sold out.

Opening hours:
8:30 am - 4:30 pm from January 2 to February 15
8:30 am - 5 pm from February 16 to March 15
8:30 am - 5:30 pm from March 16 to 28
8:30 am - 7:15 pm from last Sunday of March to August 31
8:30 am – 7 pm from September 1 to September 30
8:30 am - 6:30 pm from October 1 to last Saturday of October (October 24th on 2009)
8:30 am - 4:30 pm from last Sunday of October (October 25th on 2009) to December 31
8:30 am to 2 pm April 11
1:30 pm - 7:15 pm June 2
Closed January 1, December 25. Ticket office closes one hour before closing time

Audioguides available for the Colosseum in languages: English, Italian, French, German, Spanish, Japanese, Russian, Chinese, Arabic; duration 1 hour and 10 minutes

Cancellation Policy:
For cancellations once a confirmation code has been assigned to the reservation, and for no shows, we can refund cost of unused tickets minus service fee (reservation fee and online booking fee).

Details

The Colosseum is probably the most famous monument in the world: this elliptical colossal construction, with a height of 48mt, has impressed and fascinated men of all Ages. It was begun under Vespasian, as a symbol of the grandeur of the Roman Empire, and inaugurated by the Emperor Titus in the year 80 AD.

The popular name of Colosseum is due to a colossal statue of Nero once situated next to the arena. The original name of this ancient Roman sports arena, the largest arena of its kind, is The Amphitheatrum Flavium. The seat was in part drawn from the antique building that once belonged to the hospital of S.Matteo, which was adjoined by other contiguous environments of the old convent of San Niccolò in Cafaggio.

The exterior borrows from Greek architectural orders. Each arch of the arcades is framed by engaged columns; from the bottom to the top, the columns are Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian with Corinthian pilasters in the attic. The attic has small windows once alternated with bronze plaques, now lost. Marble and metal were taken from the facade and interior of the Colosseum for use in later buildings.

The design of the Colosseum is a triumph of functional planning. It consisted of four floors. It stood 160 feet high with four stories of windows, arches, and columns. It could easily accommodate as many as 50000 spectators that entered through 76 of the entrances on the ground level. Two of the remaining entrances were used by Emperor Titus and two for the gladiators. Barrel vaulted corridors gave access to tiers of seats laid over them. Spectators were seated by rank with the topmost seats, available for women and children.

The basement level, now exposed, was covered with a wooden floor which was strewn with fine sea sand. Under it, elaborate corridors, service rooms, elevators, gladiatorial barracks, and rooms for wild beasts were housed. During the first ten years of its existence, the stadium was filled with water and used for mock naval battles called Naumachie.

Most shows lasted all day beginning with comedy contests and exotic animal shows in the morning and professional gladiator events in the afternoon.

The Palatine Hill is located between the Roman Forum, the Velabrum and the Circus Maximus. It is one of the seven hills of Rome, and probably the site of the first settlements of the city. Roman mythology indicates the western side of the Palatine Hill as the site of the dwelling of Romulus, and where the cave where Romulus and Remus were supposed to have been raised by the she-wolf.

The Palatine Antiquarium Museum is located in the Palatine Hill, on top of Domitian's Palace, where the ex-Covento della Visitazione was built on 1868. It was set up around 1930 by Alfonso Bartoli, and at the beginning it used only the first floor to exhibit the most important material, including finding from Diocletian's Baths. After the war, in order to give more importance to Museo Nazionale Romano, it was decided that it should keep items of greatest artistic importance, while Palatine Museum should host items regarding Palatine Hill and its monuments topography.

Museum was reorganized by the end of 1960's. After a long closure period and recovery of Diocletian's sculptures, Palatine Museum has reopened to the public showing the artistic culture of the Imperial Domus from Augustus to the Late Imperial times.

The Palatine Museum is entirely devoted to ceramics, frescoes, mosaics, inscriptions, sculptures and portrait heads actually found on the hill, and given the enormous and continuous importance of this relatively small area of the city, the museum's mere nine rooms offer a remarkably rich and compact tour through the whole sweep of ancient Roman history and art.

Prices

Full price tickets; reduced and free tickets can only be gotten directly at museums and monuments in Rome

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