The story of this place
Legend holds that Romulus founded Rome on the Palatine in 753 BC, and archaeology confirms Iron Age huts on its slopes. The hill became the most desirable address in the Republic—Cicero and Mark Antony lived here—before Augustus was born on it and made it the imperial residence. Successive emperors expanded the complex: Domitian's vast Domus Augustana and Domus Flavia gave us the very word 'palace.' Beneath the ruins lie the House of Augustus and House of Livia, their frescoes still vivid. From the Palatine's terraces you look down onto the Circus Maximus, where 250,000 Romans once roared at chariot races.