After a welcome night sleep on a wonderfully comfortable bed we breakfasted and headed out down the road to the Flavian Amphitheater (literally our home base is on the road that leads to it, 5-10 minute stroll).

Getting there we also walked past the recently excavated section of an adjacent Ludus – a gladiator school, which was connected to the arena by an underground passage. The story goes that there was once a “colossal” bronze statue of Nero outside, the stadium complex inherited the name “Collos-aem” or Coloseum more modernly.

You do not get a real feel for the colossal scale of the building until you are up close and personal, on one side much of the original outside facade exists (minus the marble and Travertine stone cladding) not on the other most of the outer wall, which had collapsed in the Middle Ages, has been robbed out and forms building materials for many buildings all over Italy.

We had a guided tour booked and our first challenge was identifying which queue to join to exchange the Internet voucher for tickets, once inside the bottom level a further challenge to find the appropriate ticket office – there were signs, they did not correspond to the function of each window which we were supposed to be able to work out, apparently.

Armed with tickets and tour stickers we had a small amount of time to browse before our scheduled meeting so wandered the structure in awe, mouth open, more amazed with each twist and turn. We noticed that all the pillars (the structure is a collection of pillars and arches – Romans really perfected these) were pockmarked with holes at major stone junctures – apparently originally most of the stoned in the pillars and some arches were further secured with iron clamps and in the Middle Ages these clamps were robbed as iron was valuable. The resulting instability lead to many collapses and continues to be a challenge for conservators today.

Inside the stadium you get the sense of the raked seating, 5 or more levels of it. The lower marble levels reserved for the bottoms of rich folk (even a supposed place where they thought the royal box was) leading to the higher seats, wood bleachers, designed for women and poor people. It seems the social class stratification started here.

The arena floor, now a tangled maze of stone tunnels once was covered by a wooden stage, then covered with sand. You get a very real sense of the brutal spectacles that took place here and the howling mob craving more and more violent blood letting.

Our tour took us onto the partially re-constructed stage level – from here looking up I can only imagine the terror of contestants battling for their lives for the pleasure of a screaming public. They had also re-constructed a sample trapdoor – as part of the arena stage spectacular, combatants, wild animals and scenery “magically” appeared through a series of 60+ trapdoors and ramps built in to the floor. You do not credit such genius stage mechanics with something so ancient but if you can get past the blood and guts it must have seen many astonishing shows. Certainly all of the emperors, mad or otherwise, loved a good show and their citizens were dying to be in them. Something tells me also that working “backstage” would not be something anyone would have chosen as a career, but I guess it was better than starring in the show.

We then went below stage level to the stone corridors and tunnels under the arena. When this was a working building this must have been an horrific place to be. Teams of 8 slaves manned floor mounted winches that did the moving and shaking of cages and traps, animal transport and corpse remains schlurping. It was dark, labrinthal and must have smelt putrid – so much so that apparently above ground slaves would splash perfume around for the pleasure of the expensive seats close to the arena

There are, apparently, anecdotal records of earlier under-arena structures made of demountable wood. There are records of the arena being flooded with water and symbolic mock naval battles taking place inside- a number of historical writers mention this but there is no archeological evidence to support it.

After exploring the “bowels” of the building, we climbed up to the second level and then the third- an amazing viewpoint that seemed to dwarf the stage. We were told of a 100 day spectacle where 6000 animals and countless people were brutalised for entertainment. At the end of the tour we wandered for a while (again with our mouths open) then returned to our apartment for a welcome sit down and some lunch.

After lunch we returned to the general area we had spent the morning, it is just down the road from us. We walked around the Coloseum towards Palantine Hill- the home of roman emperors. Up the hill and we were amongst substantial remains of houses, piazzas, temples, gardens and more. 

For me, so many names sprang to mind, Augustus’s house, Livia’s garden and private temple, Tiberius’s apartments, Claudius’s Library and Caligula’s palace – all still present, some in remarkable condition, most complete enough to get a sense of the space and purpose of the parts of each building.

We strolled through recreated gardens, on original surface pavements and were generally overwhelmed by the place.

We refilled our water bottles from a bubbler that would have originally been fed by an aqueduct through lead pipes, found viewpoints that showcased the Coloseum and below us the Forum and associated buildings and noticed remnants of wall plaster decorations and mosaic floors. You can see clearly why the nobility chose this area as a residence far from the madding crowd – one side of the hill you had the sports arena that was the Coloseum and the other side of the hill was the clearly visible remains of Circus Maximus – the chariot race track that was one of Augustus’s favourite time wasters and must have been awesome in its day.

When we had had our fill of Palantine Hill, we followed one of the oldest roads that exist still in the original surface (now a fairly rough basalt boulder street, made difficult to walk on by tree roots, earthquakes and a vast amount of time). The road wends its way down from Palantine hill, past temples, basilicas, public works buildings, fountains, gardens and springs, towards the forum.

The area is littered with marble column bases, laying out rectangular building blueprints and stray beautiful marble fragments left after robbing. Romans are a practical lot and when this area was abandoned (the aqueducts were breached, residents fled almost completely as siege after siege finally spelt an end of an empire), materials that were valuable (marble, bronze etc) became part of other building projects, reducing the cost of having to mill from scratch.

What was left was a confusing jumble of columns, carved marble decorations, arch fragments from once great basilicas and ancient annexes to more recent churches, Christian and pagan iconography, statues in various states of dismemberment and this jumble came from a really long time in history because the area was used for such a long time. I am not sure how you could better show it off as the combination of signage, audio guides and spoken tours made it a bewilderment of history amongst a microcosm of madness and excess.

The area in the lower section deteriorated into a jumble of remains and column bases and our feet and legs were in worse shape. Walking on hard uneven stone is hard work, worse on our legs, knees and feet. We reached “ruin overload” or as we prefer to call it, we got “ruined” so decided to head for a restorative gelato at a niche gelato shop called ‘Fatamorgana’ that specialises in ‘odd’ flavour combinations, but our choices were nothing short of delicious, providing the rejuvenating fuel necessary to get home.

A simple dinner of mushroom tortellini with a fresh tomato sauce, accompanied by some wine we had picked up the previous day was a perfect end to a ruinous day.

Early to bed because we have a huge day tomorrow in Naples and beyond

After a lovely rest day in Lucca, we reluctantly packed, slept solidly and awoke for a dreaded transfer.

We say dreaded because they are hard work – our suitcases are awkward up and down stairs, in and out of trains and we had a bit of that to do. We called a taxi and in broken italian managed to explain where we were and that we wanted to go to the train station.

On time he arrived, helped us in the rain get the bags in and headed off. In nearly no time (or money) we were at the train station.

We opted for a regional service to Pisa, they are cheap, reliable(ish) and we managed to purchase tickets from a machine so all was ok. I think we were probably rude in that we stacked our suitcases but there was no where really that offered an option. Arriving at Pisa Centrale we found “left luggage” and stowed both suitcases and the biggest backpack, opting to travel light to the Tower.

From the train station, we took an easy to find local bus to the site of the tower and began the ritual of taking photographs that each were more amazing than the next – you approach the tower by walking a piazza that starts at the Baptistry and right away something about the Baptistry seems not quite “right”.

Pisa subsoil is very wet apparently, foundations are a problem and the lovely domed Baptistry has a slight lean on it when referenced by the adjacent cathedral which seems to have spread its weight a little more evenly over its foundations. The leaning side of the Baptistry has a lighter roof (zinc or lead) than the other side (terracotta)

Walking further along the Tower, which is actually supposed to be just the bell tower for the Cathedral but has taken on a life of its own, pokes its head around the far end of the Cathedral. The closer you get the more eccentric the lean becomes and the more hilarious the tourists are also. Taking a photo trying to “hold up the tower” seems something we need to do. It is almost more entertaining watching people do it but we moved on towards the tower.

Originally we had decided not to climb. Since the year our legs broke, Jo has has an uncontrollable irrational fear of slippery surfaces and all research suggested the way up the tower was bannister-less marble. Given our recent escapades up towers of all shapes, sizes and difficulties, the 400 steps of the leaning tower seemed simple, so we headed off to buy tickets and stow our backpack (no bags allowed in the tower).

Managing to secure tickets that let us climb at 10, we headed off the a cafe for breakfast – deliciousa italian hot chocolate and jam-filled croissants. Suitably fortified, we girded our loins, joined the then short 10 o’clock climb line and waited as the sky lightened and the sun fought to come from behind the clouds. Although it had been raining that morning in Lucca, it had stopped by the time we reached Pisa and continued to fine up for the rest of the day.

When our group was let in we were briefed on history of architect, design and phases of building. Apparently by the first few levels it had started to tilt, architects resigned citing the building an embarrassing mistake only to be resumed later. Adding the heavy bells (oddly the heaviest bells are on the lean side – madness) the tower was complete and continued to lean more eccentrically until it was closed as a hazard.

Relatively recently, structural engineers have slowed the towers lean, reworking the foundations but it is nuts and looks like it will fall over any moment. The tilt it so eccentric that when you climb the steps there are sections where although you are walking up steps, you are nearly getting lower, more obvious on the way down where down steps go uphill. It is a little twisty Turney and you get a little seasick as you climb the stairs that run the outside skin of the hollow tower.

The view from the top is is wonderful, panoramas of Pisa, the people,on the ground look like models, all contorting while others photograph them helping to hold up,the tower.

We visited the cathedral, a grand and beautifully decorated church and were once again reminded of how these old churches seem to dwarf people, their scale seems to render us unimportant. The roofs were richly decorated as were the altars, niches and other associated parts of a working church.

Returning by bus to the Pisa train station, we bought a warm drink (and got free wifi for doing that) then retrieved suitcases and found the correct platform for our train to Rome. Our experience of italian trains is that they arrive but so far never on time (retardo 10′ to ’25 meaning 10 to 25 minutes late). We has 2nd class tickets, heaved our bags aboard and collapsed into our seats for a 2ish hour journey to Roma. We both dozed, it is tiring being tourists when you want to,see lots and experience as much as you can in the time away.

Arriving in the late afternoon in Rome, a taxi ride to our apartment, home for the next 4 nights. We were greeted by our host, shown around and given maps and local advice, then we set off in search of the supermarket for supplies and the makings for dinner. We had picked up a fantastic jar of pesto while on the Liguarian Coast and decided simply to toss that through some fresh egg pasta, a deliciousa dinner.

After dark we set off again, just for a walk around this section of Rome, first stop the Coloseum lit at night in very dramatic ways. We will tour the building as part of a tour we pre-purchased off the internet but seeing the scale and majesty of the building at night was breathtaking. 

We then made a pilgrimage to a gelataria for a frozen fix- properly made the fruit gelato here is simply delicious, with such variety in flavour we are continually spoilt for choice.

Tomorrow we begin our touring of Ancient Rome – a couple of ruins exploring ancient ruins, we are looking forward to it.