Visiting the Palatine Hill, Rome

The significance of Palatine Hill is that it was here that Rome (and hence the whole of the Roman Empire) was founded under the direction of Romulus. The Palatine Hill is the site of the Lupercal Cave where folklore says the twins Romulus and Remus were found by the she-wolf Lupa (symbol of Rome) who raised them.

In later years, the hill became a residential district attracting the nobility. It was also believed that the air was cleaner at the top of the hill, and the nobility were less likely to catch the diseases of the poorer classes at the bottom. In time, however, the area gave way to imperial palaces and drew the famous such as Caligula (murdered here by members of his Praetorian Guard) and Nero.

The Palatine Hill covers a very large area and further you go up the hill the more exposed to the sun it becomes. At the bottom of the hill near the entrance the terrain is more like lush parkland with monuments in decay scattered all around.

All the main excavations are up the hill though where you are very exposed to the sun. There is minimal information provided on what you are witnessing. Most of what you will see are just minimal remains of what once stood here and there are many areas that seem just abandoned.

Without some kind of information it's impossible to use your imagination of what was once here and its place in Roman history.

There are informative walking tours and audio devices available and you really do need at minimum a good guide book to make your visit worthwhile.

As the entrance ticket to the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill also includes the Colosseum most people will visit all three at the same time, although your ticket is valid for 2 days.

The ticket kiosk at the Colosseum has by far the longest queues so we recommend buying your ticket at the Palatine Hill entrance, where there are often no queues at all. The Palatine Hill entrance is midway down the road Via di San Gregorio that runs from the Colosseum along the base of the Palatine Hill, less than 5 minutes’ walk from the Colosseum.

Many of the hop-on hop-off sightseeing buses and tour buses board and drop between the Colosseum and the entrance to the Palatine Hill.

From the Palatine Hill entrance it is a very gentle climb the to the top of the hill that has fine views overlooking the Circus Maximus.

If you visit the Forum first, it is a much steeper climb from this direction up to the hill, so it is best to visit the Palatine Hill first before descending to the Roman Forum.

After performing a circuit of the Palatine Hill you will get a great bird's eye view down onto the Roman Forum as you descend into it, getting a good initial orientation in the process.