Colosseum, Roman Forum & Trajan's Market Exterior Walking Tour

The Colosseum from the outside: arches, travertine and the games

The Colosseum, built as the Flavian Amphitheatre, was begun around AD 70 and inaugurated in AD 80 with a hundred days of games. Standing about 48 metres high, its oval of travertine stone once held around 50,000 spectators, who reached their seats through numbered arches at ground level. Walking all the way around it, you see the difference between the complete outer ring on the north side and the inner ring exposed where the outer wall collapsed in medieval earthquakes, as well as the holes left when iron clamps were pulled out of the stone.

On this Colosseum walking tour your guide explains how the building was raised in under a decade, how a giant awning shaded the crowd and what a day of hunts and gladiator fights looked like. Allow about 30 minutes here. If you are asking whether the Colosseum is worth visiting even from the outside, the answer is yes: the scale is clearest from the street.

Via dei Fori Imperiali and the Imperial Forums

Via dei Fori Imperiali is the wide avenue that runs in a straight line from the Colosseum to Piazza Venezia. It was cut through the old neighbourhoods in the 1930s, and today it is the best open-air balcony over the Imperial Forums, the public squares that successive emperors added next to the old Roman Forum when the city outgrew it. From the pavement you look down on the Forum of Caesar, the Forum of Augustus with the tall columns of its temple to Mars, and the narrow Forum of Nerva.

Your guide stops at the railings where the layout is easiest to read, using the street-side bronze maps of the expanding empire to put the ruins in context. Large parts of the avenue are closed to private cars, which makes this an easy, mostly flat walk of about 20 to 25 minutes.

The Roman Forum and Palatine Hill seen from above

The Roman Forum was the political, legal and religious centre of the city for centuries: the Senate met in the Curia, laws were announced from the Rostra and triumphal processions climbed the Via Sacra past the Temple of Saturn. Rising behind it, the Palatine Hill is where tradition places the founding of Rome and where emperors later built their palaces; the word palace itself comes from its name.

This tour does not go inside the archaeological area, but the viewpoints along the route reveal the columns, arches and temple foundations clearly. It is a useful preview for anyone planning a Roman Forum tour with tickets on another day, because you will already know where the main buildings stand. Your guide spends roughly 15 to 20 minutes here pointing out the Arch of Septimius Severus, the Temple of Vesta area and the slopes of the Palatine.

Trajan's Column and Trajan's Market

The walk ends at the grandest of the Imperial Forums. Trajan's Column, finished in AD 113, rises about 35 metres from its base, and a carved band roughly 200 metres long winds around it, showing the soldiers, bridges, camps and battles of the Dacian campaigns in remarkable detail. Next to it, Trajan's Market climbs the slope of the Quirinal Hill in curving brick terraces that once held offices and shops, and its vaulted main hall is still standing almost two thousand years later.

Your guide explains how the complex was organised and what Romans bought and administered here. Entry is not included, but if you are planning a Trajan's Market tour inside afterwards, the entrance on Via Quattro Novembre is a few minutes' walk away, and the museum of the Imperial Forums is housed in the market building.

How this exterior tour fits a day in ancient Rome

Many visitors find that the inside of the Colosseum and the Forum make more sense once they understand the whole area, and this short guided walk gives exactly that overview. The tour suits travellers with limited time, those who could not secure Colosseum tickets, and families who want an hour and a half of stories rather than a long visit inside.

The best time to visit ancient Rome on foot is the morning or late afternoon, when the light is softer and the streets cooler; in July and August the 10:00 or 15:00 departures are the most comfortable. The tour runs in rain or shine. From the end point at Trajan's Column you are a short walk from Piazza Venezia, the Pantheon district and the shops of Via del Corso, so it is easy to continue your day on your own.