Exclusive Rome Underground San Clemente Basilica Small-Group Tour – VIP Entrance

Begin your journey near the Colosseum and take a pleasant walk through the surrounding neighborhood. In a delightful little piazza off Via Cavour, you will find the church of San Pietro in Vincoli (St. Peter in Chains). The church houses an important relic, the two sets of chains that bound St. Peter when he was imprisoned in Jerusalem and Rome. The highlight of this church is undoubtedly Michelangelo’s statue of Moses, an unfinished masterpiece by the Renaissance genius that was originally intended to be part of the tomb of Pope Julius II. The original plans included an enormous funeral monument with 47 statues, but it was never completed due to Michelangelo's other commissions.

Leaving San Pietro in Vincoli, continue to see the ruins of the Ludus Magnus, an ancient gladiator training school located on the northeast side of the Colosseum. The visit includes the entrance into the most important gladiator gym, the Ludus Magnus, built by the emperor Domitian at the end of the 1st century. A.D. The building, entirely in brick, consisted of a rectangular building, probably on three floors, with a large porticoed courtyard in the center. Around the courtyard there were a series of rectangular rooms destined to house the gladiators. The characterizing element is constituted by the presence, in the courtyard of the building, of a miniature amphitheater, intended for training gladiators. After about half an hour, we will proceed towards San Clemente.