The Library
Historical
Rome
Rome, 1606. The greatest painter in the city is wanted for murder. You are handed his police file and asked to close it. Six stops through Campo Marzio, from the square where he drank to the alley where he killed a man, ending under the Pantheon with a verdict only you can give.
Historical
Rome
Julius Caesar was not killed in the Forum. He was killed here, in a meeting hall behind a theatre, on a spot you can stand beside today, in a square now famous for its cats. The soothsayer who warned him walks you through the last morning: the temples, the curve of a street that is really a theatre, the field of flowers, and the twenty-three wounds. About 35 minutes, five stops.
Historical
Rome
In the year 192 the emperor of Rome walked into the arena with a sword and a helmet and fought as a gladiator, seven hundred times by his own count. A trainer from the gladiator school next door walks you around the outside of the Colosseum, through the ruins of the barracks, under the arches and past the arch of a different emperor, to the night Commodus was strangled in his bath. About 40 minutes, five stops, no ticket needed.
Historical
Hidden Layers
Rome
The Pantheon has the largest unreinforced concrete dome on Earth, and it was poured nineteen centuries ago by men with no steel, no formula and no second chance. A Roman builder walks you around, under and behind the building, from the inscription that lies to the elephant that carries a piece of Egypt. About 35 minutes, five stops, all free.
Hidden Layers
Rome
Everyone throws a coin. Almost nobody knows what they are throwing it into: a spring found by a girl two thousand years ago, carried into the city by an aqueduct that still runs, and finished with a fountain so big it took thirty years. A water-keeper leads you from the last visible arch of the aqueduct to the fountain, the coin, the films, and a church next door where the popes kept their hearts. About 30 minutes, five stops.
Hidden Layers