Circus Maximus

Circo Massimo opens across the valley between Rome’s Palatine and Aventine hills, measuring about 600 metres long and 140 metres wide. The vast basin was antiquity’s largest building for public entertainment. From higher ground, its former racing circuit appears as an immense open shape between the hills.

Chariot races began here before Julius Caesar enclosed the course with substantial walls. Teams raced beneath green, blue, red and white colours while spectators turned drivers into celebrated idols. Triumphs, processions, ceremonies and public executions also filled the arena, joining sport with Rome’s political, social and religious life. Fires damaged the complex repeatedly, and Trajan ordered an almost complete rebuilding whose remains shape much of what you see. A colossal obelisk arrived in 357, after later emperors continued altering the grounds.

Today, ancient paving leads through galleries once connected to the seating, with rooms that held shops, inns and small offices. The restored Torre della Moletta, built in the twelfth century, adds a high view across the archaeological area. Research completed in 2016 informs augmented and virtual reconstructions of stands, shops and racing chariots. Beneath the quiet landscape, four racing colours recall the crowds that once gathered around every turn.