Sotterranei dell'Anfiteatro Flavio

ca.1875 Colosseo con Meta Sudans

I sotterranei ed il terzo anello dell'Anfiteatro Flavio






Who does not know that the real name of the Colosseum is 
Flavian Amphitheatre? It was made by the Flavian Emperors - after Nero's death, Vespasian wanted to return the territory to Public and started this huge eliptical theatre in '72 right upon the artificial lake in the Golden Houses' Gardens - the building was finished by Titus in 79 AD and the famous 100 days and nights of games, feasts and battles took place in 80AD. The undergrounds where done by Domitian afterwards. 

"Panem et Circenses"...bread and circuses, were given to People after Nero's extravagant rule with Gladiator Combats and Wild beast fights to entertain. It was a huge arena on which these battles took place and the stadium like theatre could hold 50.000 spectators. 


With our visit to the undergrounds, Mami and I could see the 

Mami and her friend Nami

"backstage, behind-the-scenes", the places that were very important to make this all work! We could see the basic structures of the ancient elevators,  the bronze cross bearings were the winches were hold, 

Boccola crociata (bearing) in bronzo

In this labyrinth of pillars, cells and corridors you could breath the real life of Gladiators.... well... it must not really have been clean air, men and animals together thousands of people working and preparing for "the show"

A very suggestive sight and perspective of the amphitheatre. 









After we went up to the third ring, the terzo anello which normally is inaccessible - walking through these corridors on the upper level and admiring the panorama on this "terrace" was simply magnificient!!!!

Mami in the upper corridor before climbing on the terrace

The ruins that you can see on the meadow between the "rest" of the Meta Sudans and the trees are the foundations of Terraces, that Nero started to build, in order to admire the view of the Lake.