Palatine Hill

The birthplace of palaces is the Palatine Hill above the Roman Forum in Rome, Italy

* Palatine Hill
Via di San Gregorio, 30 or Piazza Santa Maria Nova 53 (Foro Romano)
tel. +30-06-3996-7700
Adm

Open daily as follows:
Last Sun in Mar–Aug 31: 8:30am–7:15pm
Sept 1–30: 8:30am–7pm
Oct 1–last Sat in Oct: 8:30am–6:30pm
Last Sun in Oct–Feb 15: 8:30am–4:30pm
Feb 16–Mar 15: 8:30am–5pm
Mar 16–last Sat in Mar: 8:30am–5:30pm

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The Domus Severiana, once owned by Septimus Severus, on Rome's Palatine Hill.
The Domus Severiana, once owned by Septimus Severus. (Photo by benoitneston) The Palatine Hill was where Rome began as a tiny Latin village (supposedly founded by Romulus) in the 8th century BC. Later it was covered with the palaces of patrician families and the early emperors.

Today it's an overgrown, tree-shaded hilltop of gardens and fragments of ancient villas that few visitors bother to climb. (You actually enter it from within the Roman Forum; over the years it has sometimes been considered a separate site with a separate entrance fee—though, thankfully, not currently.)

Truly palatial
The Palatine Hill—Palatium in Latin—was the poshest address in Ancient Rome, a veritable Beverly Hills where everyone from Cicero to Catullus to Marc Antony lived. Augustus Caesar was born here, and Emperors from Caligula and Nero to Domitian and Septimius Severus made it their home. Naturally, they built magnificent mansions, sprawling villas filled with architectural wonders and great art.

In ancient times, you didn't have to say someone lived in a posh pad; you merely had to say they lived in a palatium, and it was understood. Today, Italians pronounce the word palatium as "palazzo;" the French turned this into palais, and in English we pronounce it "palace."

As such, it can make for a romantic, scenic escape from the crowds, a place where you can wander across the grassy floors of ancient Imperial palaces and peer down the gated passageways that were once the homes of Rome's rich and famous (see sidebar).

In 1998, the Museo Palatino up here finally reopened after 13 years, displaying an excellent collection of Roman sculpture and finds from the ongoing digs in the Palatine palazzi.

Many later palaces, built up on buttresses as they slowly expanded to extend beyond the crown of the hill, had a room that served as a sort of box seats section overlooking the Palatine's southern flank (see the picture below to the right).

The Domus Augustana, built for the Emperor Domitian, atop the Palatine Hill overlooking the Circus Maximus.
The Domus Augustana, built for the Emperor Domitian, atop the Palatine Hill overlooking the Circus Maximus.This was so that Emperors and their guests could easily watch the chariot races and other games taking place at the Circus Maximus below, now a long grassy oval used mainly by joggers.

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This material was last updated February 2011. All information was accurate at the time.

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