Castrense Amphitheater

The Castrense Amphitheater stands in Piazza di Santa Croce in Gerusalemme, attached to the basilica and walled into the Aurelian Walls. From outside you can look at it for free and at any hour from the sidewalk of Viale Castrense, while to go inside you need a booked guided visit. The Ministry of Culture lists it in the Santa Croce in Gerusalemme archaeological complex, run by the Special Superintendency of Rome, with the entrance at Piazza Santa Croce in Gerusalemme 9/a, visits on the second and fourth Sunday of the month, €5.50, booking through CoopCulture according to the 2024 listing.

What is it, in two lines. A court amphitheater, built at the start of the third century for the imperial residence that the Severans had in this corner of the Esquiline, attributed by the Superintendency to Elagabalus, emperor from 218 to 222. It measures 88 meters on the major axis and 75.80 on the minor one, had three tiers of brick arcades and was reduced to the first tier alone in the mid-1500s. Inside the ellipse, today, there is the vegetable garden of the Santa Croce monastery.

The practical information given here matches what the Ministry of Culture and the Superintendency have published, checked on September 29, 2026. The ministry's page for the complex gives July 31, 2024 as its last update, and visits depend on the Superintendency's calendar and on the availability of places. Also, as of September 29, 2026, the CoopCulture booking page for the visit can no longer be reached: before planning your Sunday around this visit, call the official number, 06 7070221.

Where it is and what you really see

The amphitheater closes off the south corner of Piazza di Santa Croce, right behind the apse of the Basilica of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem, and juts out toward the outside of the city like a big curved bastion. From the inner side you hardly see it: it's covered by the monastery, the garden's boundary walls and the buildings that have piled up over 18 centuries. The monument only makes sense when you go out through the walls and walk around it from Viale Castrense.

From outside you can read the curve of the first-tier arcades, filled in with masonry when the ring was stitched into the defensive wall. The arcades are marked by brick half-columns, and the brick is the other thing that strikes you: no travertine, no marble cladding, all brick, worked with a care you can see even from a distance. It's a court building, made to be elegant, not to impress the crowd.

Under the arcades you can see a band of rough concrete that no Roman of the third century would ever have seen: these are the foundations, left exposed because the ground level around them has been lowered. The Superintendency points this out explicitly in its description. The result is a monument that looks taller than it was, set on a base that was originally buried.

Inside the ellipse there are no tiers of seats, no underground rooms you can visit, no sand arena that many people imagine. There is a cultivated vegetable garden, with beds and paths laid out inside the ancient perimeter, and the amphitheater's wall serves as the fence. It's one of the rare times in Rome that a building for spectacles became a field, and stayed one for centuries without being entirely taken apart.

The surroundings count as much as the amphitheater. On the same square you'll find the National Museum of Musical Instruments and the Museo Storico della Fanteria, built over and next to the remains of the same imperial residence. A little to the north the walls reach Porta Maggiore, and toward the west they descend in the direction of the St. John Lateran Basilica. It's a quadrant of ancient Rome that you cross on foot in half an hour.

How to get in: hours, tickets and booking

For the Santa Croce in Gerusalemme archaeological complex, the Ministry of Culture publishes a guided visit on the second and fourth Sunday of the month, at 10:00 for individual visitors and at 11:30 for groups of up to 20 people, with a closure in August. The ticket listed is €5.50 full price, with no reductions. Booking is mandatory and goes through CoopCulture. Showing up without a booking means staying outside the gate.

The sales channel given is CoopCulture, the concessionaire named by the Ministry of Culture listing. For the calendar of special openings it's worth following the website of the Special Superintendency of Rome as well. There is no skip-the-line ticket, there is no combined ticket with the Colosseum, and the resale platforms have no product dedicated to this site.

The complex includes, according to the ministry's listing, the remains of the Sessorium, that is the imperial residence, the Castrense Amphitheater, the Varian Circus, a hall adapted as a chapel to keep the relic of the Cross, an apsed room called the Temple of Venus and Cupid, domus with frescoes and mosaics and scant remains of Severan baths. Not all of these points are part of every visit: ask when you book if the route on the date you choose includes the inside of the amphitheater.

The number published by the Ministry for the complex is 06 7070221, and the reference website is that of the Special Superintendency of Rome. For bookings the listing refers you to CoopCulture. Keep in mind that a Sunday visit at 10:00 with limited places sells out early in the spring and fall months, when schools and cultural associations book in blocks. Allow at least two weeks of margin.

The monastery vegetable garden inside the arena belongs to the basilica complex, and the chances to see it up close are the organized visits and the special openings. For any request about the garden, the monastery or visits outside the ministry's calendar, the channel is the basilica itself, through its official website. The operator doesn't give fixed days and hours for public opening of the garden, so every date needs to be confirmed.

For groups the ministry listing provides the 11:30 slot, with a maximum of 20 people. Anyone organizing for a school, an association or a tour group therefore has to book a whole slot and, if the group is over that limit, split it across two different Sundays. The listing gives no group rates different from the full ticket, and any special condition has to be asked about directly when booking.

A curiosity about the Castrense Amphitheater

The Castrense Amphitheater is the only ancient amphitheater in Rome, besides the Colosseum, of which a readable part of the standing structure still remains. The city had others, and of some we know almost only the name, but none can be seen like this one. The reason isn't the solidity of the construction. It's a case of reuse: the walls turned it into a piece of fortification, and fortifications in Rome were maintained for centuries.

Put it next to the Colosseum and the proportions are clear at once. The Flavian Amphitheater is over 180 meters on its long axis, this one stops at 88. The Colosseum was made for tens of thousands of spectators and for the whole city, the Castrense for the court and for the emperor's guests. It's the difference between a stadium and a private theater, and you have to keep it in mind so you don't leave disappointed.

The second curiosity concerns the material. The whole building, according to the Superintendency, was in brick, including the architectural members. If you're used to the Colosseum's travertine, here you find another idea of monumentality: finer, more domestic, closer to the taste of the imperial residences of the third century. Look closely at the details of the half-columns and you'll see that those masons weren't working on the cheap.

Third curiosity, the most practical one. The amphitheater is so well camouflaged that many Romans walk past it for years without knowing what it is. Anyone arriving by car along Viale Castrense sees a stretch of wall that is more curved and more decorated than usual and keeps going. It's a monument you have to go looking for, and it reveals itself only to those who stop on the opposite sidewalk and look up.

Why it's called Castrense

Castrense comes from castrum, and the first temptation is to think of a military camp, of soldiers training in the arena. The most widespread interpretation is a different one: in the Latin of the late imperial age castrum also meant the emperor's residence and his court. Castrense amphitheater therefore means the amphitheater of the imperial residence, reserved for the court. The name describes a belonging, not a military function.

The military reading still circulates a lot, especially in quick explanations for tourists, and it's worth taking apart calmly. In this area there was no castrum in the sense of barracks. There was a large residence with gardens, a circus for races, an amphitheater and then, after 312, the palace of Helena, mother of Constantine. Everything speaks of court, leisure, display. Nothing speaks of legions.

The monument's name appears in the late antique regionary catalogues, the lists of the city's buildings divided by regions, within the fifth region, the Esquiline. The fact matters because it tells us that in the fourth century the amphitheater was still a recognized and registered building, not a ruin. The walls had already absorbed it, yet it kept its name and its identity for those who drew up those lists.

A linguistic note for anyone who enjoys words. The court's castrum left traces in the administrative language of the late empire, and in Italian the word castrense survived almost only in military and legal contexts. That's why the confusion is understandable: the meaning that has come down to us is the wrong one for this monument. Anyone who leads visits in the area is asked about it constantly.

Something nobody tells you about the Castrense Amphitheater

What you see from Viale Castrense is not the level from which the Romans looked at it. The exposed concrete foundations, pointed out by the Superintendency as a consequence of the lowering of the ground, distort how the building reads. Originally the walking surface came up much higher, and the arcades of the first tier started almost from the ground. Today you see them raised, as if the amphitheater were mounted on a pedestal that doesn't belong to it.

This has a practical consequence for the observer. If you want to imagine the building as it was, mentally cover the rough band at the bottom and start everything from the first row of regular bricks. The amphitheater at once becomes lower, wider, better proportioned. Then add two more tiers of arcades above what remains, and you'll have an idea of the mass that Paul IV's men demolished in the mid-1500s.

The second thing nobody says concerns the relationship with the walls. It's often repeated that the Aurelian Walls saved the amphitheater, and that's true. But they also turned it into something different: the arcades closed, the ring broken between inside and outside the city, the function changed from a place of spectacle to a defensive work. What we see is an amphitheater in form and a bastion in history. Both readings are legitimate.

Third point, rarely told: the interior was cultivated for so long that the arena, as a space, became a fenced garden more than a ruin. If you go in on a visit, don't look for signs of hunts or fights. Look for geometry. The ellipse can be felt in the paths, in the walls, in the way the space closes in on itself, and on a satellite map it reads perfectly.

My advice for visiting the Castrense Amphitheater

Do the walk around the outside before the guided visit, not after. Go out through the walls, walk along Viale Castrense keeping to the sidewalk, and look at the amphitheater calmly for a quarter of an hour. When you then enter the complex with the guide, you'll already know where you are, where the wall circuit ran, which side of the ellipse you're looking at. Without the outside walk, you lose your bearings inside in five minutes.

The second piece of advice is to book the visit to the complex knowing what it includes, and not to take for granted that you'll end up inside the garden. Ask CoopCulture or the Superintendency if the route on the date you choose touches the amphitheater from the inside. If the answer is no, the visit is still worth it for the Sessorium and the Varian Circus, but the outside walk becomes the only way to see the amphitheater, and it has to be done well.

Dress for standing and being outdoors. Archaeological visits by booking move slowly, with long stops in front of masonry that needs explaining, and few places to sit. In summer the area is exposed, in winter you stand a long time in the cold. Comfortable shoes and a bottle of water are the minimum. If you have trouble getting around, ask when booking which parts of the route are accessible: the information isn't published.

Combine the visit with the basilica. On Sunday morning masses are celebrated at Santa Croce, and the chapel of the relics is one of the most visited pilgrimage places in Rome. Plan your time so that you enter the church before or after the archaeological visit, respecting the services under way. Amphitheater, palace and basilica are the same complex, and seeing them separately takes the meaning out of all three.

Last piece of advice, for those who can't find a place on the scheduled Sundays. The outside walk, done with a good map and with the information in these lines, already gives you the essentials: shape, material, relationship with the walls, scale compared with the Colosseum. It's not a shameful fallback. It's the view the monument offers to anyone, free, every day of the year, and for many people it's enough.

The amphitheater and the Aurelian Walls

The Aurelian Walls were built starting in 271, under Emperor Aurelian, to defend a Rome that for centuries had not needed a circuit wall. The route was decided in a hurry and on economic grounds: where a solid building already stood, it was used as a stretch of wall. The Castrense Amphitheater was one of these buildings, along with aqueducts, tombs and apartment blocks that you can still recognize along the circuit today.

To fit it into the defensive line the outer arcades were closed off, and the ring became a kind of enormous tower, projecting beyond the line of the walls. The part of the building that remained outside the city became the exposed face, the one a possible besieger would have seen first. That's why the best-readable part today is right on the outside, on Viale Castrense, and not toward the square.

Anyone who wants to understand the logic of this reuse finds the best comparison at Porta Maggiore, where the walls lean on the aqueduct arcades, and further south at Porta San Paolo, where the Pyramid of Cestius was absorbed in the same way. The Museum of the Walls inside Porta San Sebastiano tells the story of the defensive system as a whole.

The stretch of wall between Porta Maggiore and the amphitheater is one of the best to walk on foot from the outside, even if the traffic on Viale Castrense doesn't help. Along the wall you can read restorations from different periods, infills, rebuilding, and the change of material when you pass from the wall proper to the body of the amphitheater. For anyone who loves masonry it's an open-air lesson, free and with no opening hours.

There's also an aspect you notice only by walking. The route of the walls, at this point, doesn't follow a regular line: it bends, steps back, adapts to the buildings that were already there. The amphitheater is one of the reasons for those deviations. Looking at the circuit from Viale Castrense you understand that the builders of the third century designed the defense around what was already built, not the other way around, and that haste guided every choice.

Another well-known fact, yet rarely cited

The amphitheater didn't collapse. It was lowered. The Superintendency writes that in the 1500s, under the pontificate of Paul IV, it was reduced to the first tier for defensive needs. The other two tiers of arcades, which would have given the building a very different height, were taken down by a specific decision, not by time or earthquakes. The monument we see is the result of a military intervention by the papacy.

The context helps in understanding. Paul IV, born Gian Pietro Carafa, reigned from 1555 to 1559, and in those years the papacy went to war with Spain. Rome feared a siege and the defenses were revised in a hurry. An amphitheater three tiers high, wedged into the circuit, could become a convenient platform for an attacker or a weak point to strike. Lowering it had its own logic, ruthless but coherent.

The fact is known to specialists and appears in the official descriptions, yet in popular explanations it almost always gets lost, replaced by the generic line that time did the rest. It isn't so. In Rome many monuments were reduced by quarrying, plundering, building reuse. Here there is a documented defensive decision, and it's one of the clearest cases in which the city sacrificed an ancient building to its own security.

A second well-known and rarely cited fact concerns the size. Everyone repeats that it's small, but 88 meters by 75.80 are respectable measurements, comparable to those of many amphitheaters in provincial cities of the empire. It's small only compared with the Colosseum, which is an absolute exception. Presented alone, without the crushing comparison, the Castrense Amphitheater is a building of real standing.

The right photo to take at the Castrense Amphitheater

The photo is taken from outside, from Viale Castrense, and it's taken on the diagonal. Stand on the opposite sidewalk, without stepping into the roadway, and shoot the curve of the arcades receding, so that the eye follows the ellipse. The frontal photo, with the wall parallel to the lens, flattens everything and makes the amphitheater look like any piece of wall. It's the curve that tells the building's story.

Light matters more than the lens. Brick looks its best with low sun from the side, when every brick catches a shadow and the half-columns stand out from the background. With the summer sun straight overhead the surface becomes uniform and flat. Try early morning or late afternoon, and check on the spot which side the light comes from before deciding where to stand.

If you want the photo that explains the monument, include in the frame the band of exposed foundations and the street level. Anyone looking will understand at once that the ground has been lowered and that the building is raised compared with the ancient level. For a documentary image it's the best choice. For a cleaner image, instead, crop the lower part and work only on the arcades.

Inside the complex, if the visit takes you into the garden, the right photo is the one that uses the amphitheater's wall as a backdrop, with the flower beds in the foreground and the curve of the ring behind. Ask the guide if photographs are allowed, because in some parts of religious complexes and in archaeological areas the rules change. Never step into flower beds or fenced zones to find the best angle.

The garden inside the arena

The amphitheater's interior has been cultivated for centuries by the monks of Santa Croce, and this continuity of use is the reason it has come down to us without being built over. An arena enclosed by a high wall, exposed to the sun, sheltered from the wind, with soil brought in and built up over time: for a monastery garden it was the ideal condition. The city built all around, and the ellipse stayed a field.

The community that lived longest next to the amphitheater is the Cistercian one, to which the basilica was entrusted in the 1500s, in 1561 according to the most widespread chronology, under Pius IV. The monks kept the garden the way a convent garden was kept, with vegetables, fruit trees and medicinal plants. The basilica's website still presents the monastery garden today as an integral part of the complex.

In 2011, according to the press of the time, the Holy See suppressed the Cistercian abbey of Santa Croce and ordered the monks transferred, and the basilica carried on its life as a church and parish. For visitors, the consequence is simple: the garden is not a public garden, it belongs to the religious complex, and every access goes through the basilica or authorized visits. There are no free entrances.

The garden today has a layout that echoes the shape of the arena, with paths and beds that follow the line of the ellipse. Anyone who manages to see it finds a rare combination: an ancient ruin that hasn't been turned into a museum piece and a garden that wasn't designed on a neutral space. It's one of those places where Rome's layering can be seen without the need for panels.

Some important events that happened here in history

Between the end of the second century and the start of the third, the Severans set up a large suburban residence in this area with gardens, pavilions and facilities for spectacles. The Ministry's listing defines it as a residence that belonged to the Severan emperors, later transformed and enlarged a century afterward. This is the context in which the amphitheater was born, conceived as part of a court complex and not as a public building.

Between 218 and 222 Elagabalus, according to the Superintendency, built the amphitheater attached to the Sessorian imperial residence, and according to the Ministry the nearby Varian Circus as well. The sources don't fully agree on the exact attribution within the dynasty, and some prefer to speak generically of the Severan age. The solid datum is the chronology: first decades of the third century, an imperial building site, high-quality materials and technique.

From 271 the Aurelian Walls absorb the amphitheater. The arcades are closed off, the building becomes part of the circuit, the Varian Circus is cut by the route and the part left outside the city is abandoned. This is the monument's first major change of function, and it marks the start of its long life as a defensive work. From here on the amphitheater survives because it is useful.

After 312 Helena, mother of Constantine, transforms and enlarges the Severan residence, which becomes the Sessorium. One of the palace's halls is adapted as a chapel to preserve the relic of the Cross, and from this transformation the basilica of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme is born. The amphitheater thus finds itself next to one of the most important shrines of Roman Christianity, a fate that will shape its history for 16 centuries.

In the 1500s, under Paul IV, the amphitheater is reduced to the first tier for defensive needs. In the same century the basilica passes to the Cistercians, who make the arena their garden. In the mid-1700s the basilica receives the facade and the Baroque layout we see today, commissioned by Benedict XIV. The amphitheater, meanwhile, stays what it had become: a city wall on the outside, a convent garden on the inside.

Between the 1800s and the 1900s the city expands outside the walls, the districts beyond Porta Maggiore appear and Viale Castrense becomes a traffic road. The ground around the amphitheater is lowered and the foundations are left exposed. During the 1900s and in more recent decades the archaeological areas of the imperial residence are investigated and opened to visitors, today under the protection of the Special Superintendency of Rome.

Who passed through the Castrense Amphitheater

Elagabalus, the very young emperor of the Severan dynasty, who came to the throne in 218 and was killed in 222. Ancient tradition describes him as an eccentric ruler, fond of spectacles and of Eastern cults, and his reputation was built largely by hostile authors. Separating the document from the black legend is difficult. The concrete fact is that the Superintendency attributes this building to him, and the Ministry the nearby circus.

Aurelian, the soldier emperor who from 271 had the walls built, passed through here in the most concrete sense: his decision set the fate of the amphitheater. We don't know if he ever set foot in the arena, but the route of the circuit bears his signature. Alongside him we should put the anonymous builders who closed the arcades and turned a place of spectacle into a bastion.

Helena, mother of Constantine, is the figure who changed the meaning of the whole area. The residence that became the Sessorium, the chapel of the Cross, the basilica: everything starts from her palace. The link with the Mausoleo di Sant'Elena on Via Casilina, where according to tradition she was buried, completes the picture. Anyone following her traces in Rome has the starting point here.

Paul IV, Gian Pietro Carafa, pope from 1555 to 1559, who had the amphitheater lowered to the first tier. A hard pontiff, remembered for tightening the Inquisition and for the war with Spain, and the reduction of the amphitheater has to be read within that season of fear and fortifications. In the monument's history he is the figure who took away the most, and also the one who fixed its present appearance.

The Cistercian monks, for four and a half centuries, from 1561 to 2011 according to the most widespread chronology. They are the ones who cultivated the arena, defended it from building, made it a garden. Alongside them we should remember the pilgrims of every era who came to Santa Croce for the relics of the Passion and who saw the amphitheater without probably knowing what it was.

Benedict XIV, pope from 1740 to 1758, who in the mid-1700s had the basilica renovated, giving it the facade and the layout seen today from the square. He didn't touch the amphitheater, but he changed the way people arriving at Santa Croce perceive the whole complex: the Baroque facade is the first thing you notice, and the ancient ring stays hidden behind, visible only to those who go out through the walls.

The Sessorium and the Varian Circus

The amphitheater can't be understood on its own. It was part of a complex that included the residence, the gardens, the baths and a long circus for chariot races, the Varian Circus. The Ministry attributes the circus to Elagabalus as well. The route of the Aurelian Walls cut it, and the part left outside the city ended up abandoned. Today the circus can be read only in stretches, and you need a guide to recognize it.

To go deeper on this part you'll find on this site the entry for the Circo Variano and Sessorium, which tells the story of the complex as a whole. The link with the amphitheater is direct: same patrons, same era, same function as court leisure. Anyone visiting the complex sees remains of both structures a few meters apart, and the comparison helps in understanding the proportions of the whole residence.

From the circus comes, according to the most widespread reconstruction, the obelisk dedicated to Antinous that today stands on the Pincio, after a journey of moves lasting centuries. Its entry, Pincio Obelisk, tells the story of that monument. It's one of the many cases in which a piece of this area ended up decorating another part of the city, far from its original context.

The Sessorium, Helena's palace, is the most important piece of the whole complex from the historical point of view. The ministry's listing mentions an audience hall, the chapel for the relic of the Cross, the apsed room known as the Temple of Venus and Cupid, domus with frescoes and mosaics. Anyone entering the complex goes from the amphitheater to the palace in a few steps, and crosses two centuries of imperial history.

How to get there

The most convenient subway station is San Giovanni, served by Lines A and C. From there you walk along Viale Carlo Felice toward the east, with the walls on your right, and in about a kilometer you reach the square of Santa Croce. The route is flat, tree-lined and with wide sidewalks, and it lets you see a stretch of the walls along the way before you arrive at the amphitheater.

From Termini Station you get there on foot in a good half hour through the Esquiline Hill, passing by Piazza Vittorio and the Porta Alchemica. Alternatively there are trams and buses that connect the Porta Maggiore and Santa Croce area with the center: for up-to-date lines and times use the ATAC website, which publishes routes and detours.

By car the area has heavy traffic and few parking spots, especially on Sunday morning when the basilica is full of worshippers. Viale Castrense and the streets around Porta Maggiore are through roads, and stopping in a double row to look at the amphitheater is dangerous as well as forbidden. If you have a car, leave it far away and do the last stretch on foot.

For the outside walk, from Viale Castrense, cross the walls through one of the gaps near the square and always stay on the sidewalks. The stretch doesn't have very convenient crossings and the cars travel fast. With children or elderly people choose the marked pedestrian crossings even at the cost of lengthening the route by a few minutes. The best view isn't worth a risk.

What not to expect

The contrarian position is this: calling the Castrense Amphitheater Rome's second Colosseum, as many quick presentations do, is a mistake that ruins the visit. Anyone arriving with that image in mind looks for tiers of seats, underground corridors, a clear arena, and finds a curved wall and a garden. The value of this monument is something else: a readable court residence, an exemplary defensive reuse, a very rare agricultural continuity.

Don't expect a site open every day. There is no ticket office on site with continuous hours, you don't enter on your own, and outside the scheduled Sundays the interior stays closed. The complex is closed in August, according to the Ministry's listing. Anyone passing by chance on a Tuesday finds the outer wall, which is free and always visible, and nothing else.

Don't expect panels, audio guides, self-guided routes. The information comes from the visit's guide, and the quality of the telling depends on who accompanies you. Bring a few prepared questions, perhaps on the relationship between amphitheater, circus and palace, and the visit changes completely. Anyone who arrives knowing nothing risks leaving with the idea of having seen only a few brick walls.

Don't expect, finally, to be able to enter the garden whenever you like. The garden inside the amphitheater is part of the religious complex and is not a public park. Don't look for alternative entrances, don't climb over walls or gates, don't enter fenced areas to get a better view. The legal opportunities exist, they are few and have to be booked, and the outer wall remains visible to everyone anyway.

Don't expect an easy reading of the monument from the square side either. Anyone arriving in front of the basilica and looking for the amphitheater sees mostly convent buildings, boundary walls and the 18th-century facade. To find the arcades you have to go out through the walls and walk around the complex. Many visitors give up before that, convinced that nothing is left of the amphitheater, and miss the best part.

Eating in the area

The area between Santa Croce, San Giovanni and the Esquilino is residential, and this protects it in part from the tourist traps of the center. Around the big basilicas, though, you'll always find a few places aimed at people passing through once. It's worth knowing the signs, because Romans recognize them at first glance and you, with a little attention, can do the same.

First sign, the menu with photographs of the dishes, translated into many languages and hung outside. A place that has to show the picture of the carbonara is speaking to people who don't know what it is, and cooks accordingly. Second sign, the person at the door who stops passersby and invites them to sit. A place with regular customers doesn't need to go and get them on the sidewalk.

Third sign, the lady rolling fresh pasta in the window or in front of the entrance. It's a scene staged to stop passersby, not a guarantee of quality: serious pasta is made in the kitchen, in the morning, away from the street. Fourth sign, the kitchen open without a break from morning until late at night. A real kitchen has a pause, because the people working in it have to rest and prepare the next service.

Fifth sign, places set in front of a monument with menu items that have no price, vague labels like fish of the day or dishes sold by weight with no indication, and sometimes different price lists inside and outside. Always ask the price before ordering. Romans don't go there, and not out of snobbery, but because they know the price adapts to the customer and that the customer, there, doesn't come back.

The criterion that works is to look at who is sitting there. If at lunchtime on a weekday there are office workers, neighborhood families, people speaking Romanesco among themselves, you're in the right place. If there are only visitors with backpacks and the waiter switches to English at first glance, that's useful information. To find your way without trial and error there's our list of the places where we eat.

What to combine in a day

The natural pairing is with the Basilica of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem and with the two museums on the square, the National Museum of Musical Instruments and the Museo Storico della Fanteria. In one morning you see the whole complex, from the imperial residence to the relics, down to the collections housed in the buildings constructed over the ancient remains.

Toward the north, Porta Maggiore and the Underground Basilica of Porta Maggiore complete the story of the walls and the aqueducts. The underground basilica opens only by booking, and has to be planned well in advance. Farther on you enter the Pigneto, which offers another Rome, 20th-century and working-class, to see in the afternoon.

Toward the west the route leads to the St. John Lateran Basilica, the Holy Stairs and the Lateran Obelisk, in a quarter of an hour on foot along Viale Carlo Felice. Not far away is the Casino Giustiniani Massimo al Laterano, open on limited days. It's the classic day of the great basilicas, and the amphitheater becomes its ancient prologue.

Anyone who wants to stay on the theme of Roman spectacles can go to the Colosseum and the Ludus Magnus, the gladiators' training school next to the Flavian Amphitheater, which is viewed from the street, and then to the Circus Maximus for the chariot races. The comparison between the public scale of those monuments and the court dimension of the Castrense is the key to understanding all three.

For the Rome of the Severans, the same patrons as the residence, it's worth seeing the Baths of Caracalla and the Arch of Septimius Severus in the Forum. For the Rome of Helena and Constantine, the Mausoleum of Santa Costanza and the Arch of Constantine. Anyone who prefers nearby churches has Santa Bibiana and Sant'Eusebio all'Esquilino, along the road toward Termini.

Frequently asked questions

Can you visit the Castrense Amphitheater?

The exterior can be seen freely and for free from Viale Castrense, outside the walls, at any hour. The interior can be visited only on a booked guided visit as part of the Santa Croce in Gerusalemme archaeological complex, run by the Special Superintendency of Rome, or during special openings. The Ministry lists visits on the second and fourth Sunday of the month, with booking mandatory through CoopCulture.

How much does the visit cost?

The Ministry of Culture listing gives a ticket of €5.50 full price, with no reductions, for the guided visit to the archaeological complex. Booking is mandatory and is done through CoopCulture, the concessionaire named by the Ministry. The outside walk around the amphitheater, from Viale Castrense, is free. For special openings the price depends on how the individual event is organized and has to be checked case by case.

Who runs the Castrense Amphitheater?

The Ministry of Culture places the amphitheater in the Santa Croce in Gerusalemme archaeological complex, entrusted to the Special Superintendency of Rome. The interior of the arena is occupied by the garden of the monastery attached to the basilica of Santa Croce, which is part of the religious complex. For archaeological visits the reference is the Superintendency, for the garden and the religious community's initiatives it's the basilica.

When do the visits take place?

According to the Ministry of Culture listing the visits take place on the second and fourth Sunday of the month, at 10:00 for individual visitors and at 11:30 for groups of up to 20 people. The complex is closed in August. The ministry's listing gives July 31, 2024 as its last update, so it's best to confirm the dates by calling 06 7070221 or on the Superintendency's website.

Why is it called Castrense?

The name comes from castrum, which in the Latin of the late imperial age also meant the emperor's residence and his court. Castrense amphitheater therefore means the amphitheater of the imperial residence, reserved for the court. It wasn't tied to a military camp. The interpretation that links it to soldiers is widespread but finds no support in the context, which is that of a large residence with gardens, circus and palace.

How big is it compared with the Colosseum?

The Castrense Amphitheater measures 88 meters on its major axis and 75.80 on the minor one, according to the Superintendency. The Colosseum is over 180 meters on its long axis. The Castrense was a court amphitheater, designed for a limited audience, while the Colosseum was meant for the whole city. Today only the first tier of arcades of the Castrense remains, after the reduction ordered by Paul IV in the 1500s.

Can you enter the monks' garden?

The garden inside the amphitheater belongs to the complex of the basilica of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme and is not a public garden. It can be seen only during organized visits or authorized special openings. For specific requests the channel is the basilica, through the contacts on its official website. There are no free entrances and you should never enter fenced areas without authorization.

How do you get there by public transport?

The simplest solution is the subway to San Giovanni, Lines A and C, and then about a kilometer on foot along Viale Carlo Felice to the square of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme. From Termini you get there on foot in a good half hour through the Esquilino. For trams and buses heading to the Porta Maggiore and Santa Croce area, use the route planner on the ATAC website.

Who wrote this page

The page comes from the editorial team of Tour Leader Pro, the Rome-based company that designs itineraries, visits and cultural events across Rome and Lazio. The hours, fares and booking arrangements given here come from the official sources cited in the text, as of the date stated at the top: visits to the complex depend on the Superintendency's calendar, so check again before you leave the house. Tell us what you find changed.

Building a day in the Santa Croce and San Giovanni area means fitting together visits on fixed dates, openings by booking, Sunday masses in the basilicas, museums with different hours and traffic that makes it complicated to get around by car, for yourself or for an organized group. If you face this kind of puzzle, on Tour Leader Pro you'll find working materials designed for people who guide groups and for people who organize on their own.

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