Colosseum with Arena Floor, Roman Forum and Palatine Hill Private tour

Follow in the footsteps of gladiators with our unforgettable guided tour of Rome’s iconic Colosseum, which includes access to the Arena floor. Learn all about the games that took place in the world’s most famous amphitheater, as well as the architectural know-how needed to build such a marvel almost 2,000 years ago. We’ll also explore the ruins of the Roman Forum, where ancient Rome’s most important figures wandered, and the Palatine Hill, where the mythical she-wolf is said to have nursed Romulus and Remus before the founding of the city.

A trip back in time

The Colosseum is the symbol of the Eternal City and was inaugurated in 80AD with a 100-day spectacle that included animal hunts, gladiatorial combats, recreations of famous battles and the execution of criminals. During the tour your expert guide will share their knowledge of the bloodthirsty events that took place here but they’ll also lead you to the Arena floor meaning you will stand in the very same place that gladiators did all those years ago. Access to the Arena floor is only granted to a limited number of visitors at a time and isn’t available to standard ticket holders – so participants of this RomAbout tour will have an unrivalled viewpoint of Rome’s most popular monument.

The Arena floor was originally made from wooden panels, which would be covered in sand to soak up the blood spilt by gladiators and animals during the games. Trees and bushes would also be planted in the sand to simulate forests and create realistic backdrops to the spectacle unfolding in the arena.

The centre of the ancient world

After exploring the Colosseum, we then come to the Roman Forum. It was once the vibrant centre of Ancient Rome, buzzing with temples, marketplaces and public buildings, and although it stands in ruins today, it’s no less compelling for it. Your guide will lead you through this open-air museum, describing its humble beginnings as a swampy Etruscan burial ground and its later function as a civic centre. We’ll see all its main sights, including the Curia Julia, Arch of Septimius Severus, and the Temple of Saturn. After the fall of the Roman Empire, the Forum was left to ruin and much of the precious stone and marble plundered for use elsewhere in the city. As livestock began to use the land for pasture, it earned the nickname Campo Vaccino, the Cow Field. Be sure to ask your guide about the excavation of the site in the 18th and 19th centuries.

The place where it all began

The concluding section of the tour takes place on the Palatine Hill, or the Palatino as it’s known in Italian. The most famous of Rome’s seven hills, the Palatine is said to be the location of the cave (known as the Lupercal) where Romulus and Remus lived and were protected by the mythical she-wolf as infants. Aside from delving into the myths and legends of the city of Rome, our tour will explore the very real ruins found on the Palatine. There’s a lot of ground to cover in this surprisingly verdant part of town so our tour will primarily focus on the Palace of Domitian. We’ll explore his extensive palace, which featured its very own stadium, multiple fountains, and marble flooring, the remnants of which can still be seen today.

Your guide will meet you in front of the Angelino ai Fori restaurant. From there you will follow your guide to enter the Colosseum with reservations. After a complete visit of the Colosseum the tour continues up and over the Palatine Hill and the finishes in the Roman Forum

*We can provide this tour in following languages: English, Italian, Spanish, German, Russian, French, Portuguese. If you have any other language requests, let us know and we will do our best to provide you a tour in a languages that you and your family can understand the best.