Teatro di Marcello & Temple of Apollo: The Mini Colosseum of the Caesars

Why is it significant?

Stand in the sunlit open archaeological park and gaze up at the magnificent curved double tier of travertine arches of the Teatro di Marcello.

Key Facts

Open the walk

Stand in the sunlit open archaeological park and gaze up at the magnificent curved double tier of travertine arches of the Teatro di Marcello. Notice how the lower level showcases sturdy Doric columns while the second story features elegant Ionic pillars: this groundbreaking architectural stacking designed by Roman engineers served as the direct structural blueprint for the Colosseum built nearly a century later.

Begun by Julius Caesar and dedicated in thirteen before Christ by Augustus in memory of his beloved nephew Marcus Claudius Marcellus who died tragically young, the theater seated fifteen thousand spectators for plays and musical competitions. When the empire fell, the fortress transformed: in the sixteenth century, the aristocratic Orsini family built a lavish Renaissance palace directly upon the ancient Roman arches.

Just to your right rise three solitary, soaring Corinthian columns of pure white marble: they are the surviving remnants of the Temple of Apollo Sosianus, famed in antiquity for sheltering Greek masterpieces by Praxiteles brought to Rome as war spoils from Greece.

Take a seat at a nearby trattoria terrace and savor classic Roman Jewish carciofi alla giudia, crisp fried artichokes that taste of history itself.