The hill where Rome began and its emperors built their palaces: ruins, gardens, and the best view over the Forum.
Explore → Get Early AccessRome's birthplace and its Beverly Hills in one — emperors' palaces sprawl across the hilltop with the Forum on one side and the Circus Maximus on the other. It's the quiet, green, view-rich third of the Colosseum ticket most visitors skip.
Romulus, legend says, founded Rome here in 753 BC; Augustus deliberately built his (modest) house beside the founder's hut site, and every emperor after him expanded until 'Palatium' became the word for palace in a dozen languages.
Archaeologists really did find Iron Age hut foundations from the 8th century BC — the right age for Romulus — preserved under the imperial marble. The hill also hides the Lupercal, a grotto Augustus decorated as the she-wolf's cave.
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