Now a huge basin of dusty grass, the Circo Massimo was ancient Rome's most spectacular chariot racetrack, a 250,000-seat stadium centered on a 600m circuit. Nowadays it's used to host outdoor concerts and as a running track by local joggers. Little remains of the original structure apart from a small segment at the southern end, which can be visited independently (adult/reduced €7/4) or through the Circo Maximo Experience (circomaximoexperience.it; adult/reduced €12/10), a 40-minute virtual-reality tour.
Here you can explore the corridors that led to the tiered seating, as well as shops, taverns, even latrines. Overlooking everything is the medieval Torre della Moletta.
Chariot races were held at the Circo as far back as the 4th century BC, but it wasn’t until Trajan rebuilt it after the AD 64 fire that it reached its maximum grandeur.
