7 Spectacular Ancient Roman Landmarks To Visit in Italy

At its zenith, the Roman Empire stretched around the Mediterranean and into Northern Europe and North Africa. The Romans were ruthless empire builders who would stop at nothing to subjugate their neighbors. But they were also skilled engineers who built impressive forts, amphitheaters, public baths, aqueducts, and roads. Two thousand years on, many of these structures still survive, their ruins sufficiently intact for us to appreciate their original function. There’s no better place to admire them than in the place that was its epicenter, so let’s take a look at some of the most spectacular Roman architecture in Italy. 

The Colosseum – Rome

Fittingly, the Colosseum is the largest amphitheater the Romans ever constructed. The oval-shaped arena (also referred to as the Flavian Amphitheater) measures 620 feet long and 512 feet across and once hosted gladiator fights, dramas, and battle reenactments, among other spectacles. The structure, which dates to 80 CE, remains mostly intact today largely due to its strong concrete foundation.

The arena towers four stories high above a hypogeum (underground area). The Romans built the lowest three levels with arches and columns, which became more elaborate as they went up — Tuscan-style columns give way to Ionic columns and Corinthian columns, the most intricate of all. The fourth floor consisted of flat carved panels inlaid with azurite and bronze. The facade was covered with travertine blocks, a locally quarried limestone also used to construct tiered seating for the 80,000-strong audience.

The Pantheon – Rome

Though the columns that adorn the portico of this magnificent temple are unmistakably Greek in style, the dome of this temple is a triumph of Roman engineering. Earlier versions of the Pantheon were destroyed during the Great Fire of Rome in 80 CE and as the result of a lightning strike in 110 CE. The building that we see today, commissioned by Emperor Hadrian, was constructed out of concrete faced with brick between 118 and 125 CE. 

Historians have long been fascinated by the dome, which remains the largest unsupported concrete dome in the world. They believe that laborers graded the material used in its construction so that the heaviest material — basalt and travertine — was used at the base, while lighter materials such as tufa and pumice are used higher up, where the structure is also thinner.    

Villa dei Quintili – Roman Suburbs

One of the earliest Roman roads, the Via Appia Antica led south from Rome to Brindisi. Along the way were the villas of the elite, the largest of which was Villa dei Quintili, built during the second century CE. 

The villa was owned by two brothers, Sesto Quintilio Condiano and Sesto Quintilio Valerio Massimo, both consuls. After they led a plot against Emperor Commodus, the property was confiscated and became an imperial residence, which may explain why the architecture was so grand. The complex boasted impressive thermal baths, including a caldarium (hot bath) and frigidarium (cold bath) fed by its own aqueduct. The most recent discoveries at the site include a winery and triclinium (formal dining room). 

Anfiteatro Campano – Santa Maria Capua Vetere

Ancient Capua was the place where Julius Caesar founded the first gladiatorial school and where the enslaved Spartacus rose up and led the rebellion that kicked off the Third Servile War. Around 100 CE, the four-story Anfiteatro Campano was built to replace an earlier arena. Some historians have suggested that the Colosseum in Rome might have been modeled on this Capua landmark, which was a similar size and also elliptical in shape. 

Here, though, the centuries haven’t been as kind, and the building has suffered at the hands of invaders and those who came to plunder its stone. Nevertheless, there’s enough of a structure left to be able to imagine what the amphitheatre might have looked like in its prime.

Villa Romana del Casale – Sicily 

Villa Romana del Casale, located at Piazza Armerina in central Sicily, was built circa 320 CE. Thanks to a catastrophic 12th-century landslide, it boasts what many historians agree are the best preserved Roman mosaics anywhere in the world. They paint a vivid picture of what life would have been like back then for the fabulously wealthy, though the identity of the villa’s owner remains a mystery. 

Even under its modern protective roof, visitors can appreciate the villa’s architecture. The house was a single-story construction built around a garden flanked with a colonnaded peristyle. The mosaics that have been painstakingly uncovered were most likely the work of North African artisans. They feature scenes variously depicting fishing Cupids, dancing women, horse races, and animal hunts. 

House of the Vettii – Pompeii

In 79 CE, a violent eruption of Mount Vesuvius sent superheated pyroclastic flows surging toward the town of Pompeii. The hot gas in the air asphyxiated residents and buried their homes, public buildings, and streets in a thick layer of ash and fragments of volcanic glass. Centuries of excavation and analysis by archaeologists have uncovered many buildings that have been remarkably well preserved in the ash. 

One of the most famous is the House of the Vettii, a typical Roman townhouse or domus. Evidence from seals and tablets suggest the owners were a pair of wealthy, formerly enslaved brothers who made their fortune as merchants. Following extensive restoration work, the splendor of this grand mansion is plain to see, from the colorful frescoes that adorn its interior to the colonnaded garden replete with fountains and statuary. 

The Fornices of Herculaneum – Herculaneum

The 12 vaulted fornices of Herculaneum provide an insight into the day-to-day activities that would have taken place in this town about 12 miles north of Pompeii almost 2,000 years ago. This row of arched boat sheds close to the shoreline survived the eruption of Vesuvius, yet when archaeologists began excavating the site in 1980, they found the skeletons of around 300 residents of Herculaneum who sheltered here in a failed attempt to escape the lava flow. The carbonized remains of a boat found nearby is on display at the archaeological site and the ancient beach itself is also now open to visitors.