Stadium of Domitian — Attraction in Rome

Stadium of Domitian, Piazza Navona

Negative 11 stars.

Rome is my favorite city in the world, and when it comes to amazing sites, museums, history, and the glories of the human craft, surely there is no place so rich with them as gorgeous Rome. So I don't easily hand out negative 11 stars to any museum in such an amazing place. I also am vastly more inclined to become unhinged in my love for a place in Rome, and so unable to provide accurate information, and it is a unique situation wherein I dislike a place so much that I cannot not speak in a review with the proper scholarly dispassion.

That said: don't go to the Stadium of Domitian.

My God! I beg of you! Don't go to the Stadium of Domitian!

Don't go if you have only three days in Rome, and don't go if you have been born in Rome and will live there for 120 years.

"Wow", you exclaim. "It must be terrifying and horrible."

No, it's fine, you know, in it's evil way. It's a small bit of ruins of what used to be a stadium a couple thousand years ago in the place that is now Piazza Navona. If you walk by this, I guess you call it a museum, along the North exterior of Piazza Navona you can look down through a pretty neat window there and see the museum and some of the ruins. Looking through this window you have now seen pretty much everything worth seeing in the museum.

But you want to go in? We wanted to go in too. It's only 145 euros per person. The audio guide is free with the admission. One of the things that drew us in was a dignified mention somewhere near the entrance that this was a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

That sounded neat.

After our visit I was going to do an expose' on how there was something terribly wrong with the whole UNESCO World Heritage Site thing.

There is nothing wrong with the UNESCO World Heritage Site thing!

As far as I can tell the whole of Central Rome is, quite appropriately, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Stadium of Domitian is as much a UNESCO World Heritage Site as the Tiger Store where I bought a hand crank personal fan for one euro.

I'm pretty sure I gave that Tiger five stars. And why not, it's a UNESCO World Heritage Site. So was the Apartment we stayed in, and our toilet. Yes, our toilet was a UNESCO World Heritage Site! But our stupid, crappy apartment shower was not. I simply refuse to say our funky, decrepit, handheld shower was a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Even if it was.

Just like The Stadium of Domitian.

The exhibits are well labeled and full of information. The gift store is pretty good. Which saved it from getting minus 12 stars.

Don't go.

I'm not suggesting or...

Excellent, especially if you're interested in history! It's amazing to be down at what was once street level and really see that Rome is built on Rome! If you come through plazza navona you'll see a sign for the stadium, scan the qr code on the sign to get 10% off your entry. You get a small speaker thing that you use to help you tour the area, not all the info points match exactly what you see but most is accurate and very interesting. The space isn't all that big give yourself half an hour to an hour depending on how interested you are in history as you're given a lot of information. If you pay for the extended tour you are brought across the plazza to the second section which is underneath a French college (?), it's less impressive than the main section but still interesting. If you can, pay the extra bit and go to the second half, but if you're short on time then don't worry that you're missing much by just visiting...

There are two levels of admission here: A less expensive one with continuous entry where you only see the northern tip of the ruin, and a slightly more expensive one that leaves according to a schedule where you see more. I didn't want to wait 40 minutes for the next timed admission so I took the lower level tour and went right in. The more limited tour probably isn't worth it for most people unless you are an ancient Rome buff who has to see everything and you can't wait around for the timed entry. It is very much like what you would see in a small section of the Colosseum only less well preserved, with several arches and stairways and that's about all. It is presented well, with descriptive plaques and an audio tour that is included. The longer tour may be more interesting and I would choose that one if I were to come back, though you must plan ahead due to the limited...