In our last full day in Rome, we started off a little lazily, choosing to rest a bit before heading out to the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill. We knew we had a late night tonight to see an opera performance so thought it best to sleep in and take it easy.
This hill is bigger than we thought
We arrived outside the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill to realise that the lines were much longer than we thought they’d be. We were waiting for about 30-45 minutes in line in the sun (Chris got a little sunburnt here) before making our way inside. We didn’t know too much about the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill beforehand but the experience was great regardless. Giving something a name such as “hill” gave us the impression of something quite small but the entire area to explore was enormous. We spent a little over two hours at the Palatine Hill and Roman Forum, and there was still plenty that we didn’t explore or areas that we rushed through.
Palatine Hill is where the etymology of most European words for palace come from. It is the hill of palaces from Romulus’s hut through to Augustus and Nero’s palaces.
From the top of Palatine Hill there were impressive views of the Roman Forum and the rest of Rome. Some areas displayed extremely old ruins while some more recent buildings were still standing and housed museum displays.
It took us as long to find the exit as it did to line up. When we made it out of the Palatine Hill and Roman Forum area, we made our way to a local pizzeria for a salami and mushroom pizza as well as a cheese and cauliflower pizza, both by the weight.
La Traviata
At night we made our way to the Salone Margherita Theatre to see the opera, La Traviata. We both had not seen an opera before so we were quite excited to experience it for the first time in Rome. La Traviata was first performed in 1853 in Venice and you can read more about it here: WikiPedia article about La Traviata.
We pre-booked the tickets well in advance for a box seat and honestly we were stoked at where we were seated. Our table was positioned perfectly above the audience and stage so that we could sit from our table and watch the show. Most others weren’t so lucky and had tables across from the boxes so you’d have to leave your table to watch the show and return between the three acts.
The show was incredible and while it was all in Italian, we had read about the show beforehand so we could understand what was going on. If you’re a fan of Moulin Rouge, La Traviata inspired Baz Luhrmann for the 2001 film.
The performances and signing of La Traviata’s cast were impressive. The whole experience was a delight and a great final night in Rome before we head to Florence.
Chris and Chantal 