The empire's greatest stadium: 250,000 Romans once roared here at chariot races; today it's a vast free park with imperial views.
Explore → Get Early AccessThe valley where 150,000 Romans watched chariots run is now a great grass basin — bring the imagination and it's the largest sports venue ever built, with the Palatine palaces as its skybox. Free, open, and best at golden hour.
Racing here predates the Republic; by the empire the Circus ran 24 races a day, and a charioteer named Diocles retired with winnings modern economists rank among history's largest sporting fortunes.
The two Egyptian obelisks that marked the spina now stand in Piazza del Popolo and at the Lateran. The long ridge you walk on the southeast side isn't a hill — it's unexcavated seating, thirty rows deep.
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