Rome panoramic photos, Coliseum, Roman Forum, Vatican, Lake of Albano, St. Peter's, Aqueduct Claudius, Rome Termini

Rome sights panoramas

Natural vision!

MUSIC: Il mondo (The world),
by Jimmy Fontana, 1965

Coliseum, Roman Forum, Vatican, St. Peters' Aqueduct Claudius, lake of Albano, Rome seen from the Roman Castles, and Rome train station Termini

Coliseum (Colosseo) pano
Roman Forum seen from Campidoglio (Capitol Hill)
Vatican aerial panorama
St. Peter's and Bernini's colonnade pano
Aqueduct Claudius
Lake of Albano - CastelGandolfo
Rome view from Rocca di Papa
Rome train station Termini

Visit also:

Introduction page (with simpler, lighter photos).
Stunning natural vision panoramic views of Rome from outstanding perpectives.
Amalfi Coast panoramic photos: Positano, Capri

NEW: See all the views from the Janiculum with an expert guide with powerful binoculars, who will explain to you all Rome's sights! Click here: Rome panorama guided tour

Coliseum - Colosseo

Rome's icon, and one of the seven wonders of antiquity, is the Coliseum, or Flavian Amphiteathre. Very few recall that it is related with the destruction of Jerusalem by emperor Titus, as the war booty and the enslaved Jews were used for its construction.

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The Coliseum, the Arch of Constantine, and the Temple of Venus, on a Sunday sunset.

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The Coliseum was built by covering a little lake in the lowest part of Nero's "Golden House", the spectacular estate which the emperor had built for himself. With innovative concepts, as concrete (still standing to this day) and as the production line (with slaves, naturally), the Coliseum was built in a few years. Wild animals were slaughtered for fun ("Venationes" or hunts), or were forced to hunt and kill prisoners. Gladiator fights were the highlight of the gruesome show. Today the Coliseum and the surrounding monuments are a scenic, romantic sight.

Roman Forum

The Roman Forum seen from Campidoglio (Capitol Hill)

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The view of the Roman Forum is also fascinating. This panoramic photo was taken from Capitol Hill. The palace immediately to the left is Rome's Municipality since ancient times. The windows overlooking the Forum belong to the Mayor's office. From left to right you can see the Torre Spaccata (the Broken Tower), the Church built on top of St. Peter's jail (Mamertino), the sumptous Arch of Septimius Severus, the Curia or Roman Senate (behind it), the Sacred Way (or Via Sacra - where you see tourists walking), the Temple of Saturn (with its high columns, it was the seat of the Roman state treasury). To its right you can see the remains of the Basilica Julia. The hill to the right is the Palatine Hill, where emperor Augustus lived. Finally in the background you can see the profile of the Coliseum.

Vatican aerial panorama


Bernini's colonnade, St. Peter's, the Vatican, Borgo and Prati: panoramic aerial view from a hot air balloon (montgolfier). The view rotates alone, but you can also use the < and > controls. You can also zoom in and out using the + and - controls.

The Vatican, hosted in Rome's downtown, is the smallest state in the world, yet it has 800 million faithfuls around the globe. Built on top of the alleged burial site of St. Peter, the basilica is the largest in the world. Its dome designed by Michaelangelo is 136 Mts. high, and it stands out against the skyline from any point in Rome (it is thus dubbed by Romans "Il cupolone", the Big Dome, compared to the other 400 or so in Rome). From left to right in this photo snapped from a hot air balloon you see Bernini's colonnade, St. Peter's basilica, the Vatican palaces (the farthest right, of brown colour, includes the Sixtine Chapel). The quarter in the forefront is Borgo Vaticano, the quarter to the right of the Vatican is Prati. Past the Vatican gardens you see Rome western quarters, and finally the Mediterranean sea.

St. Peter's and Bernini colonnade

St. Peter's Basilica, Bernini's colonnade, and the Vatican during a summer Papal audience.

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The colonnade clearly reveals the ideas of Gian Lorenzo Bernini as architect. He believed that architecture was about space, and its relation with structures. Francesco Borromini, his contemporary rival, instead thought that architecture was about building refinely designed structures filling the space.
When you will arrive at St. Peter's, you will not help being impressed by the harmony of the proportions and by the refined design, rather than by its colossal dimensions.

Aqueduct Claudius

Claudius Aqueduct (37-58 AD) arriving in Rome.

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Roman hydraulic technology excelled any other ancient civilization, and it set the foundations of nearly any future waterworks achievement of humanity. Sewers, castles of distribution of water, filtering systems, warm or hot swimming pools, aqueducts, public water supply, mass-scale fountain architecture and knowledge are among the contributions of ancient Rome. The photo shows the aqueduct built by the emperor Claudius. It brings water from a source 46 miles distant from Rome. For 36 miles it is subterranean, and for 10 miles it is carried on sumptuous arches. Strewn in the Roman countryside, they remind the magnificence yet also the frailty of a fallen empire.

Lake of Albano (CastelGandolfo), near Rome

The lake of Albano, seen from the Villa del Cardinale. On the opposite crest of the lake you can see Castel Gandolfo, the summer residence of the Pope. Beyond you can see Rome indistinctly, in the distance.

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ROME VIEW FROM ROCCA DI PAPA, IN THE ROMAN CASTLES

Rocca di Papa and Rocca Priora are the two highest "Castelli Romani" or Roman Castles, the hills just South of Rome, where the ancient Latin civilization originated. When Hannibal besieged Rome, he stayed in an area of today's Rocca di Papa called "Campi di Annibale" (Hannibal's fields), and this is exactly the view he had of Rome - of course most of today's sights were still not built!

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ROME TRAIN STATION "TERMINI", AND ITS QUARTER, aerial view

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Rome's main train station is called Termini, and it is located in the quarter called "Esquilino". It was one of the seven hills, and its urban area is one of Rome's most ancient. In fact, as soon as you step out of the station you can still see the ancient "Servian" walls, of 5 century BC, which encircled Rome before the larger perimetral walls built by emperor Marcus Aurelius.
In the photo, to the right you can see the Basilica of St. Mary Major (Santa Maria Maggiore). Between it and the station, in the forefront you can see the semicircular palaces facing a famous square, called Piazza Esedra or also Piazza della Repubblica. Just to its left you can see the huge compound of the former Diocletian Baths, the largest thermae of antiquity, on whose premises today you find a famous basilica (Santa Maria degli Angeli), a university and a star observatory. The quadrangular building between Piazza Esedra and the train station is the seat of the Roman National Museum.
To the left of the station you can see the popular and characteristic quarter San Lorenzo, very close to Rome's University, nested around the church Santa Maria in Lorenzo. Finally, in the background you can see the silhouette of the Roman Castles, or Castelli Romani, where the Latin civilization originated.

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