ANCIENT ROME
The Colosseum: Ludi et Mors
Feel like exploring Roman culture's dark side? Let's go to the Colosseum and the racetrack called the Circus Maximus. These were the big-name arenas in ancient Roman entertainment, where winning was glorious and the consequences of losing were permanent.
The Roman Forum: Forum Romanum
While time traveling through two thousand years of cultural, political, and architectural development in ancient Rome's economic center, you'll triumph with Ceasar, meet Romulus and Remus, marvel at the tact of the Sabine women, worship with the Vestal Virgins and see politicians at work.
The Imperial Forum: Fora Imperatorum
To relieve overcrowding in ancient Rome, successive Roman emperors built new and larger fora (the plural of "forum") to house the affairs of the day.
On this tour, you'll explore the remains of the five fora that came after the original Roman Forum, each one more monumental than the last.
Ostia Antica: Altera Urbs Mirabilis
Ancient Roman baths and buildings remain intact in this city that suddenly became a ghost town when an earthquake changed the course of the Tiber River. When you smell the salt air blowing in, you'll understand why the wealthy were enchanted by it and why ancient sailors called it home.
The Tiber River: Flumen Tiberis
Looking at the Tiber today, snuggled deeply between its modern banks, you'll wonder how the sleepy river could have ever had any personality at all. Yet before the banks were built in the early 1900s, the river led a rowdy existence! It provoked terror with its periodic floods. It was the city's economic backbone for thousands of years. It had a god of its own, Tiberis, who the Romans dutifully worshipped. And it influenced the daily lives of every citizen. On our stroll along the Tiber River from Castel St. Angelo to the gorgeous Tiber Island, we'll learn how to build a Roman bridge, barter ancient goods and participate in ancient local customs.
Roman Cuisine: Culina Romana
Tired of walking? Ready to eat? After exploring the open market in the famous Roman piazza, the Campo de' Fiori, we sit down to an authentic ancient Roman lunch. You'll be surprised, and pleased, with what's on the menu.
Forum Boarium: Ancient Roman Town Planning
The ancient metropolis of Rome, which was the largest in Europe in antiquity, was served by dozens of Forum, or market places. The Forum Boarium, which humorously translates as “the Meat Market,” functioned, according to some historians, even earlier than the Roman Forum and its monuments are, in many cases, far older than those in the Roman Forum.
Palatine Hill: Collis Palatinus
In archaic days, shepherds called the Palatine Hill home. Hundreds of years later it was valuable real estate and wealthy Romans competed in order to live on its peaks. Later, the Roman Emperors decided to keep it all for themselves and built sumptuous abodes there. Visiting them today gives you an intimate peek into the urban development of this important hill, and into the lifestyle of Rome's crème de la crème.
Underground Rome:the Domus Aurea and "San Clemente"
"How can a city be built in layers?" you ask. It is really quite a common phenomenon! As buildings collapse, dirt collects, and floods bring in filth and mud, ground level slowly grows. Incredible examples of this tendency can be seen in two archeological sites which are right next to each other and are extremely accessible: the Emperor Nero's Domus Aurea and the church San Clemente.
THE EARLY CHRISTIAN AND MEDIEVAL CITY
Medieval Frescoes and Marble Intarsia: San Clemente and the San Silvestro Chapel at Santi Quattro Coronati.
During the Middle Ages, did artists truly lack inspiration and did the Arts stagnate? What issues concerned both artists and patrons? What did the cartoonish gestures in medieval frescoes really mean to onlookers? How did these gestures continue to manifest themselves in Renaissance art? We will answer these questions as we concentrate on two neighboring churches.
Trastevere and Environs
We explore the works of two late Medieval artists, Pietro
Cavallini and Arnolfo di Cambio, in the churches of San Giorgio, Santa Maria in Cosmedin, Santa Cecilia, and Santa Maria in Trastevere. As we admire their masterpieces, we also concentrate on general concerns and trends in Medieval architecture, mosaics, and frescoes.
"All That Glitters:" Christian Mosaics from the IV to the XIII century.
What can mosaics tell us about early Christian communities, the concerns of Medieval believers, and the politics of the Church of Rome? Santa Pudentiana (whose mosaics date to the fourth century), the imposing Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore (with mosaics from the fifth and thirteenth centuries), and the nearby church of Santa Prassede (which sports ninth-century mosaic work), will eloquently answer those questions.
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The Vatican Museums were once Papal Palaces, which were built a little at time over the course of centuries. The Palaces are now used as museum space: breathtaking ancient sculptures are on display almost side by side with a marvelous variety of paintings and frescoes! Saint Peter's Basilica, which is right next to the Museums, is another historic and artistic treasures. We'll explore it all: from Michelangelo's Pietà to Bernini's baldachino over the high altar. 
These two events pushed the Church of Rome towards militant reforms within its ranks and missionary movements abroad. Ignatius and his Compagnia di Gesu' (later known as the Jesuit order) were at the front-line in both cases. 
This romp runs from Piazza Quirinale to Santa Maria della Vittoria and back again. It takes us on an adventure that starts with two sculptures that were used to decorate an ancient Roman public bath and it finishes with some of the most bold architectural and artistic statements that Roman Baroque dared to make: Bernini's Santa Teresa in Ecstasy or Borromini's mind-boggling church nick-named "San Carlino." 
dream come true: thanks to his uncle-Pope, he possessed unlimited funds in an era in which talent abounded. He collected his contemporaries masterpieces (six Caravaggio paintings and four remarkable Bernini sculptures) as well as stunning works from the past (such as Raphael's "Entombment"). Meanwhile, not far away, on what was once the property of the neighboring Barberini family, the lonely church of the Cappucchin Order hides a noteworthy surprise: a Baroque crypt which boasts an unusual memento mori ... 
You'll discover the graceful temples and monuments of ancient times that hide in plain sight among the later medieval buildings. This tour of Rome's accessible historical center offers some very pleasant surprises, especially for first-time visitors to Rome.