Colosseum – Bread and Circuses

Colosseum is an amphitheater, which has become one of Rome’s most popular tourist attractions, with millions of visitors each year. The first one to use the name Colosseum, was the English monk Bede in 700 AD. The name probably referred to a giant statue of Nero that stood nearby.

Matera – The Stone City

The Sassi di Matera – “stone city” was probably founded by the Romans in the third century BC. The buildings are located on both sides of a valley. The streets in some parts of the Sassi is located on the rooftops of other houses. A more “modern” city was built around the thirteenth century.

Pompeii Buried in Ashes

Just inside the Bay of Naples in Campania is Mount Vesuvius. It is hundreds of thousands years old, and has erupted more than 50 times. The most famous eruption occurred in 79 AD, when the volcano had Pompeii buried under a six-meter thick blanket of volcanic ash.