We joined a long but mercifully fast-moving queue that snaked its way along a dark and gloomy passage, the outermost circular gallery at the foot of the Colosseum. Scattered about were blocks of white stone, some of them with carving eroded over time. We bought our tickets (€11 per person; students, senior citizens and citizens of the EU pay half the price) and made our way up a stone staircase to the first of the circular levels that look out over the vast elliptical expanse of the Colosseum.

The view was great, but we realised it would be certainly better the higher we climbed; so we toiled up another flight of stairs, and then yet another. We still weren’t at the top, but we didn’t have the stamina to ascend any further, and anyway, the view was quite awesome, thank you.

It really takes some getting used to the sheer size of the Colosseum. It was built originally to accommodate 80,000 people (the emperor Vespasian began its construction in 72 AD, and his son Titus completed it eight years later), and just standing along the railing, looking down into it, we could well imagine what it must have been like around two thousand years ago. The seats that accommodated the different strata of society- the patricians, the plebs, and whatnot- stretch right round in a dizzying panorama of columns, arches and crumbling stone.

Tier upon tier of galleries spread away in concentric circles from around and up the central arena.

Our initial reaction on seeing the arena was puzzlement: instead of being flat, it was divided up into cells. Rows of stone walls cut across the arena, and at one end were partially covered by a flat wooden `stage’. We later discovered that the cells below were used to house wild animals, slaves, and stage props used in the entertainment provided at the Colosseum. Until the Colosseum finally became more or less a ruin (in the 6th century, after being damaged by fire and earthquake), games, gladiatorial combat and other gruesome entertainment was provided atop a stage that covered the cells. Special hoists were used to shove animals, slaves and props up on to the stage as and when required.

The Colosseum has since changed - a small church was established in the building during the Middle Ages. Later, in the mid-18th century, Pope Benedict XIV consecrated it and declared it sanctified by the blood of the Christians who’d been executed in the Colosseum.

But all the crucifixes, the benedictions and the annual processions led through the Colosseum on Good Friday don’t really disguise the fact that this, in fact, is- and always will be- a stark reminder of pagan Rome. Vicious perhaps, gruesome and gory; but very impressive.