Explore the Coliseum in Rome Italy

“I’ve seen countless pictures of the Colosseum, but there’s nothing that compares to the feeling of seeing something like this in person. There’s the initial moments where the immensity of the place washes over you – all of your senses overcome at once with what you are seeing combined with some disbelief that you’re actually “here”. Then, you start to pick out some of the finer details. Like in the picture of us below, the size of the Colosseum starts coming into focus as you see how small the people look on the other side, or you start to notice the perfection of the arches that let light into the structure, or the presence and complexity of what would have been the below stage tunnels accommodating gladiators, stage pieces, animals and entry and exit of the VIPs.”

“The first time I flew to Rome, I came by plane, took the train to the main station, took the metro and went straight to the "Colosseum" metro stop. I live in Paris, near the Eiffel Tower. I see the Eiffel Tower all the time. It's magnificent, for sure, always impressive to see, even when you're used to it. I know the Eiffel Tower offers quite an emotional reaction to tourists seeing it for the first time, considering how famous it is, and all the expectation tourists have of it. (spoiler : it's more impressive in real life than you imagine). But I'm kind of used to it, so I didn't get why tourists were so amazed by it. As a fan of Ancient Rome, I gotta say, climbing up the stairs from the Colosseum metro station, my first sight of above-ground Rome was the Colosseum. It was the most awesome site I've ever seen in my life. I've never been so emotional about a monument. My heart rate surged just witnessing this thing standing there. What a beauty.”

“Promptly at 7:50 am, I arrive at the meeting point across the street from one of the entrances to the Colosseum and the Roman Forum. A crowd of at least fifty people, all proffering cell phones, is my clue that I’m in the right place. [...] Finally, it’s my turn. I’m about to find out why it takes almost five minutes to process each person in a line that is now stretching back to the road and a considerable way along it. [...] We finally reach the front of the Skip-the-Line group tour line and enter the outer perimeter of the Colosseum. It’s big. Really big—much bigger than it looks from the road with massive columns that soar way up into the blue Roman sky. Inside, the arches are truly impressive. Roman engineering is a marvel.”

“On my first visit to the Colosseum, I felt physically sick, bombarded with feelings of death and tragedy that bleeds from its history, so much so that I refused to enter on my next two visits to Rome. Returning again after many years, we visited together. this time, though the dark tragedy lingered, it was overshadowed by the beautiful architecture of the building itself.”

“I first visited Rome in November 1996. It was a business trip and I hadn't been given much time to prepare (for both my visit and the meeting). I was an experienced traveler and knew what was in Rome but had no idea where things were. I arrived in the early evening and eventually arrived at my hotel, checked in, decompressed, had dinner and then decided to "find" the Colosseum. I walked down Via del Corso and eventually was in Piazza Venezia. From there of course I could see it so I kept walking. In 1996 the outer arcade was accessible; I was able to walk inside it at midnight. That was a fantastic experience and not possible now; since 2000 or so it's been blocked off entirely.”