Half-Day Semi-Private Imperial Rome Tour

Palatine is one of the seven hills of Rome; it had three summits, two of which formed the so-called “Roma quadrata”, the original nucleus of the city, contained, according to tradition, in the square of the furrow traced by Ro-mulus. In addition to the Temples of the Magna Mater and of Victory, dating form the third century B.C., the villas of noble families were thereafter built on it, as well as great palaces in the period of the empire, such as the Palace of Augustus for instance, part of which survives in the House of Livia, and that of Tiberius.

The Flavian Palace and the House of Augustus, built during the Flavian dynasty, were architecturally conceiv-ed as a monumental and imposing whole. Other emperors enlarged and embellished the Palatine Hill with many buildings, such as the Stadium and the Baths, in addition to the majestic Septizonium erected by Septimius Severus, which proudly overlooks the Appian Way.

The Palatine however, was destined to undergo further enlargement and transformation over the centuries, so as to include even Christian buildings, as e.g. the Church of San Cesario and a monastery. It underwent a fundamental transformation in the 16th century at the hands of the Farnese family, which made it its residence after buying some of the land on which it built a magnificent villa, while the surrounding area became a splendid garden. The Farnese family interested them-selves in bringing to light a large part of the archaeol-ogical remains.

We owe the present appearance of the Palatine to the work of outstanding archaelogists, such as Rosa and Boni.

The Palatine is reached by way of the Clivus Palatinus, which starts near the Arch of Titus. Then a staircase leads to the Farnese Gardens, created in the 16th century by the Farnese family, as already mentioned. They are still to this day a place of enchantment. In their midst stands the Casino Farnese, the fine villa where the family lived.