Circo Massimo

30 minutes on foot

The Circus Maximus, the largest spectacle building in antiquity, is linked by legend to the very origins of the city: here, in fact, the rape of the Sabine women took place.

At the time of the Tarquini kings, the Murcia Valley was used as a place for chariot races, but it is only with Julius Caesar that a real masonry circus will be built. The competitions that took place in the Circus were the most loved competitive activities by the Romans.

Devastated several times by fire, the Circus Maximus was almost entirely rebuilt under the principality of Trajan, to whose phase most of the structures currently visible belong. Numerous interventions by successive emperors including the spectacular one of the erection of the gigantic obelisk brought to Rome by Constant II in 357 AD, now at the Lateran.

The circus remained in business until the first decades of the sixth century. It was later used as an agricultural area, to then become, starting from the 19th century, the seat of the Gazometro plants, warehouses, factories, craft businesses and homes, until the early 1900s, when work began on the archaeological walk.

The investigations concluded in 2016 have made it possible to enrich the picture of knowledge on the monument and the works of arrangement of the area now allow a complete reading of it.

By accessing the archaeological area, visitors will be able to explore the galleries that led to the cavea and continue outside following the ancient paving between different rooms that housed shops, inns and small offices. The redevelopment of the area also involved the medieval Torre della Moletta (built in the 12th century) on which the restoration of the ancient walls and a demanding consolidation project were carried out. An internal staircase allows you to reach the upper floor, a splendid panoramic point over the archaeological area, which allows you to fully appreciate the dimensions of the Circus.