Parco archeologico del Colosseo - Foro Romano e Palatino

The Parco archeologico del Colosseo was created as an independent Institute of the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Tourism - MiBAC in 2017. It includes the Flavian Amphitheater, the area of the Roman Forum and the Palatine Hill, the Domus Aurea on the Oppio hill, the Arch of Constantine and the Meta Sudans in the valley of the Colosseum. With more than 7 million admissions in 2017, the site is among the most visited in the world. The park preserves and enhances some of the most important archaeological testimonies of the history of Western civilization, from the end of the Bronze Age to modern times.The Roman ForumLocated between the Capitoline, the Esquiline and the Palatine hills, the Roman Forum preserves the most significant evidence of the political and religious history of ancient Rome. The square of the Forum got paved at the end of the 7th century BC, after the reclamation of the swamp area that occupied the valley, thus becoming the heart of Roman public life for over a millennium. The Forum was the place for triumphal parades strolling along the Sacra Via and reaching the top of the Capitoline hill. During the Roman Kingdom (7th century BC)the Forum was as well the seat of the most ancient cults, such as that of Vesta and that of Mars in the Regia. It also was a meeting place for citizens, senators, and magistrates that used to gather in the Comitium and the Curia Hostilia. After the end of the Punic wars (3rd – 2nd century BC), the experience of the Hellenistic capitals and their spectacular architectures, as well as the developing of new economic and judicial needs determined the construction of large civil buildings, the basilicas. After the building of the Basilica Iulia and the restoration of the Curia by Julius Caesar, and the construction the temple of Divus Iulius by Octavian, the Roman emperors created monuments of great magnficence: among them, we can still admire the Temple of Vespasian and Titus, the temple of Antoninus Pius and his wife Faustina, later turned into the church of San Lorenzo in Miranda, and the monumental Arch of Septimius Severus. The last significant intervention was carried out by the emperor Maxentius at the beginning of the 4th century AD, with the construction of the temple dedicated to the memory of his son Romulus and the outstanding Basilica.The Palatine The Palatine hill hosts the remains of the oldest nucleus of the city of Rome dating back to the Iron Age. Seat of important civic cults, such as that of the Magna Mater - Cybele, between the 2nd and the 1st century BC it also became the residential district of the Roman aristocracy, hosting refined residences with exceptional painted and musive decorations, as those still preserved in the House of the Griffins. After Augustus, who symbolically chose the hill for his private house, the Palatine became the seat of the imperial palaces (Domus Tiberiana, Domus Transitoria and Domus Aurea, Domus Flavia), undergoing an identification process that turned the toponym Palatium into the modern word for residential building (palace). A selection of finds from the excavations carried out on the site since the 16th century are now on display in the Palatine Museum: the building houses materials illustrating the history of the Palatine from its origins and, at the first floor, works of art coming from the imperial palaces.Colosseum, Forums and Palatine ticketFull rate € 16.00; Reduced rate € 2.00Ticket valid for 1 day with 1 entrance to the Colosseum and 1 entrance to the Roman Forum / Palatine / Imperial Forums archaeological area. Admission to temporary exhibition/s included.Forum Pass SUPER ticketFull rate € 16.00; Reduced rate € 2.00Ticket valid for 1 day with 1 entrance to Roman Forum / Imperial Forums / Palatine archaeological area and SUPER sites (subject to daily maximum visitor capacity). Admission to temporary exhibition/s included.Ticket officeOnline www.coopculture.it/colosseo-e-shop.cfm;  telephone for single visitors: +39 06 399 67 700; for groups: +39 06 399 67 450; for schools: +39 06 399 67 200 (from Monday to Friday: 9.00 AM - 6.00 PM, Saturday 9.00 AM-2.00 PM.00). Email: info@coopculture.it.Reservations: € 2.00 for individuals; € 28.00 for groups with more than 13 units; € 15.00 for schools.Opening hours detail(1)Opening time of the Parco archeologico del Colosseo is 8.30 AM all year round.Closing times vary according to the season:• from the last Sunday of October to February the 15th: 4.30 PM, last entrance at 3.30 PM;• from February the 16th to March the 15th: 5.00 PM, last entrance at 4.00 PM;• from March the 16th to the last Saturday of March: 5.30 PM, last entrance 4.30 PM;• from the last Sunday of March to the 31st of August: 7.30 PM, last entrance at 6.30 PM;• from September the 1st to September the 30th: 7.00 PM, last entrance at 6.00 PM;• from October the 1st to the last Saturday of October: 6.30 PM, last entrance at 5.30 PM.Visitors can check www.iovadoalmuseo.it for the calendar of the 8 free entry days to the Parco archeologico del ColosseoVisitors are reminded that the sites included as part of the SUPER ticket (the Palatine Museum, the Neronian Cryptoporticus, the houses of Augustus and Livia, the Loggia Mattei, the Domus Transitoria, Santa Maria Antiqua with the Oratory of the Forty Martyrs and Domitian’s Ramp, the Temple of Romulus) will be closed to the public during free entry days. AccessibilityVisitors can access the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill:• from the entrance in largo della Salaria Vecchia, 5, along Via dei Fori Imperiali;• from the entrance along the Via Sacra, near the Arch of Titus;• from the entrance in Via di San Gregorio, 30;The area is provided with toilets, water fountains, and drinks and snack food vending machines.How to reach Parco archeologico del ColosseoMetro: Line B, stop ColosseoBus: n. 75, 81, 673, 175, 204; Tram 30