The Original Caesar's Palace

Italy Travelog #8
Palatine Hill, Rome - Sunday, 25 May 2025, 1:30pm

Have you seen Caesar's Palace? No, not the casino in Las Vegas; I mean the real Caesar's Palace. The original, in Rome.

Well, I was just there, atop the Palatine Hill in Rome, and I can barely say I saw it, either. That's because Caesar's Palace, called Domus Augustus (the Home of Augustus), which was built almost 2,000 years ago is today in ruins. And even the ruins haven't always been well cared for.

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The palace fell into disuse after the fall of the Roman Empire then crumbled. Many of its stones were stolen—or "repurposed" to build or decorate buildings elsewhere, either in Rome or overseas. Plus there was natural deterioration and an earthquake. Together these left the palace not even a shell of its former self; more of an outline of where something amazing once stood. And it got covered over in dirt.

The ruins were rediscovered in the late 17th and early 18th centuries by wealthy landowners. They did some of the excavation and began "repurposing" all over again. They replaced several of the original limestone and marble walls with 17th century bricks, and turned the area into an open-air garden.

From Palatine Hill to the Roman Forum

Italy Travelog #9
Rome - Sunday, 25 May 2025, 3pm

Our tour guide left us atop the Palatine Hill overlooking the Roman Forum. We were a little miffed about that. For one, we felt like our tour guide was "timing us out" 2.5 hours into what was supposed to be a 3 hour tour. The guide arrived 15 minutes late, and the organizer assured us multiple times that timing would be a problem. "He'll stay with you as long as you need," the guy assured us. Bzzt! That carriage turned into a pumpking right on schedule, nevermind that it rolled up 15 minutes late to the ball. And two, the guide left us as we were overlooking a history-rich area we would have loved to have an knowledgeable person guide us through, the Roman Forum.



Oh, and three, we weren't sure how to get down off the hill into the area below.

Well, the power of the Internet in our pockets helped with that. We doubled back toward the Colosseum, which you can see in the distance in the next photo.



Fortunately we didn't have to go as far back as the Colosseum, just maybe 1/4 that distance. Then down the steps. Lots of steps.

It's kind of funny but for years when I've heard "Roman Forum" I've thought of a political forum; as in, this is the place where Rome's senators met to discuss lawmaking. Bzzt! It's was more like Main Street, USA... except for being Main Street, SPQR. In the photo above you can see the remnants of some of the temples and public memorials erected in ancient times.



This building (above) looked pretty cool. It's one of several temples in the forum. This one's not to a god, though, but to Antoninus and Faustina, an emperor and his wife. It was dedicated by the Roman Senate in 161 CE. Later it was turned into a Catholic church, after the facade was stolen— by the Catholic church, to pretty up another Catholic church. The brick steps would've been put in a few hundred years ago to replace stone steps they stole.



As we walked down the Via Sacra of the Roman Forum one other thing that was interesting was the Palatine Hill itself. A lot is built into the side of it. And you can see people standing on a viewing platform at the top. That's where we were when our guide pumpkined out on us and where I made the first two photos in this journal entry.

Late Lunch in the Jewish Ghetto

Italy Travelog #10
Rome - Sunday, 25 May 2025, 5pm

This afternoon after we finished sightseeing in and around the Roman Forum we walked to the Jewish ghetto. Rome's Jewish population is small; it's estimated at 28,000 across all of Italy. But it's there. There's a historic temple there, a museum/memorial to those murdered by Nazis in WWII and, around the corner, a row of restaurants. Both Jewish and Italian culture are all about "Eat, eat!" 😅



A friend recommended a particular restaurant she'd been to years ago. I think it was featured on Guy Fieri's show. (They've got his picture on their website). Unfortunately it was closing as we arrived. No problem; there are literally six other restaurants on the same block, plus many on other streets. We cruised past several of them reading the menus and settled down at one that had a good combination of fresh pasta and meat dishes.



We shared an appetizer of hummus and pita. For mains Hawk had a bowl of spaghetti pomodori while I enjoyed pasta and "goulash". It was a tomato based sauce with braised beef. It was delicious.