Colosseum Underground Group Tour
Colosseum Underground Group Tour
With Colosseum's Own internal expert guide
groups of Up to 25 people Maximus
The Key Facts
(Variable times each day according to availability)
Possible times for each day *:
10.30, 11.30, 12.00, 13.15, 14.00
* Check Booking Calendar for availability
Group Sizes:
Up to a maximum of 25 people
Duration:
1 Hour
- Discover Colosseum’s premier levels, the Colosseum Underground and Arena.
- Learn how the Colosseum Underground operated as a backstage.
- Enjoy a once-in-a-lifetime unique experience with an expert Colosseum Guide employed directly by the Colosseum.
- Learn about the Colosseum in detail, including visits to the Underground and Arena Floor.
- Use your ticket later to skip the lines when visiting the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill (no guided tour for this part).
Group Tour
Adults: €50
Semi-Private Tour
Daily at 9.00amSmall Group Tour
Daily at 9.00amYOUR FULL TOUR
Description
Overview
This guided tour is provided directly by the Colosseum’s own internal guides – who better to show you the inner workings of this famous amphitheatre!
Colosseum Underground and Arena
Your Colosseum expert guide will take you into the underground, beneath the arena floor, where she will explain the details of what took place here.
Learn how the underground was used as a backstage area, where not only gladiators waited and prepared for the bloody spectacles but also elaborate stage props to create realistic stage settings, as well as the wild and exotic animals, transported from all corners of the Roman Empire to wow and entertain the Roman mob.
Your guide will explain to you how an elaborate and ingenious system of levels and pulleys were used to hoist all of these stage settings through trapdoors, which were opened at the precise moment, on to the arena floor. She will show you evidence in the walls of where these “elevator” systems were installed, and also the various cells in the dungeons which were used for the gladiators and beasts.
Your tour will finish on the Arena Floor itself, where you will find yourself standing in the same spot as gladiators and criminals waiting for execution, almost 2000 years ago. Your guide will explain how the floor you stand on would have been covered in sand, to soak up the blood that would be spilt during the games.
Further Exploration by Yourself
This tour is of the Colosseum Underground and Arena, and your guide will leave you on the arena floor, where you can stay after the guide has left you, to take in your surroundings, enjoy the view from the theatre-style wooden seats placed around the arena, or take unique photographs!
You can explore the rest of the Colosseum at your leisure by yourselves after the tour, following the signs to go around the perimeter of the ground floor, and also upstairs to the second level, for some amazing views out over the entire structure.
When you have had enough, make your way for the exit, but hold on to your ticket as you can use this to visit the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill, just across the piazza, skipping the long ticket lines there.
Just remember the rules for when your ticket is valid for your visit to the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill:
- Your ticket effectively is valid for two visits – one visit to the Colosseum, and one visit to the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill (which are considered as one site for the purpose of the ticket, even though there are more than one entrance)
- You may visit the second site within 48 hours of the first time the ticket is scanned by the staff at the first site
- What this means is that, if you wish to visit the Roman Forum / Palatine Hill before your Colosseum tour, you must do so less than 48 hours before the time on your ticket for the Colosseum Underground Tour
- If you wish to visit the Roman Forum & Palatine Hill site after the Colosseum tour, your ticket is valid until 48 hours after the tine you entered the Colosseum
