A three hour guided tour that takes in the Colosseum, the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill area, plus the underground 'dungeon' areas of the Colosseum, as well as the Arena floor.
Numbers are strictly limited, and availability is scarce - it's getting harder each year to get into the off-the-beaten-track areas of the Roman Colosseum!
Colosseum and dungeon areas guided tour:
This tour is led by an expert (english speaking) tour guide and will take you to areas of the Colosseum that regular tours do not. You'll have at least 25 minutes in the dungeon areas, places restricted to short-visits (guided tours only) and limited numbers of visitors; you'll also have 15 minutes on the normally off-limits, sand-covered Arena floor.
Your tour will begin at the Arch of Constantine - alongside the Colosseum itself - and will then progress, skipping any queues (aside from the security checks that affect everybody), directly to the Colosseum (also known as the Flavian Amphitheatre). Having visited the arena floor, you'll be shown around the dungeons.
The underground - ipogei, hypogeum - areas are what made possible the long and spectacular days of the Colosseum in all their gore and glory - the subterranean backstage, as it were, where slaves worked, animals (read lions, tigers, hyenas and bears) were stored and gladiators rested, ate and offered up their prayers. They were completely filled in during the 5th century AD and as a result show a remarkable state of preservation.
You'll visit the regular areas of the Colosseum before heading off to explore what was the social and political heart of Ancient Rome - the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill, again, skipping any queues. You'll learn of the everyday life of a Roman citizen as well as the tale of the she-wolf that nursed the founders of the city, Romulus and Remus.
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