Description: We took a private 8-hour tour which began on the Palatine Hill, where, according to legend, Romulus founded the city in 753 B.C. (on April 21, to be exact). After covering the founding myths and anthropological record of the Palatine, we explored the imperial palaces that eventually covered the hill, stopping in the Palatine museum for a lecture on Roman statuary. We lingered among the ruins for a while on the Palatine, looked at Circus Maximus and got a very good introduction to archaeological technique, Roman architecture, and construction technologies, and Roman political and social structure. We explored the remnants of the aqueduct of Claudius, the mosaics left from Nero's so-called "Golden House," and took in vistas of the Roman Forum that illustrate the palimpsest nature of the city.
We then descended into the Forum for a series of lectures and seminar-style discussions that carried us down the Via Sacra (the main street of ancient Rome), past the major sites that crowded the city center, including the Curia (senate house) and the temples, triumphal arches, and basilicas around the Forum Square.
We stopped for lunch at the Musei Capitolini, where we ate on the outdoor terrace with a view of St. Peter's. The museums house Roman and Italian treasures ranging from antique bronzes and marble busts to Renaissance paintings and frescoes.
We began in the Michelangelo-designed Piazza Campidoglio, with its famous reproduction of Marcus Aurelius' bronze equestrian statue. After a discussion of the history of the museum and its location on Capitoline Hill, we examined the collection focusing on the pieces most important to understanding the art and architecture of antiquity. Treasures such as the newly restored equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius, the colossal statue of the Emperor Constantine, marble busts of noblemen and patricians, and bas-reliefs with scenes from Roman history allowed us to view the wide range of materials and forms used in ancient art.
We then returned to the forum area and looked at the House of the Vestal Virgins, the Basilica of Maxentius, and the game boards etched into the steps of the Basilica Giulia. There are tens of thousands of fascinating details to focus upon.
From the Roman Forum, we exited by the Mammertine Prison and took in the Imperial Fora, a series of interlocking public spaces constructed during Rome's "Imperial Era," perhaps as a way of remaking the old, republican city into a new Emperor-ruled theocratic state. Finally, we strolled down the Fascist-era Via Fori Imperiali to the Colosseum where, inside, we finished our seminar with a discussion of Roman public spectacle and decadence.
Context Rome is an excellent tour company whose docents all have masters or PhDs in areas relevant to the tour subject. We found our docent, Oliva, very informative, friendly and helpful. This tour was private but the group tours are no more than 6 or 8 people. They are more expensive than other tour companies, but worth it. We highly recommend them. Their website is
http://rome.contexttravel.com.
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