Educational Trip To Rome For International Schools

This fountain at the junction of three roads – tre vie – marks the end point of one of the aqueducts that supplied water to ancient Rome. Completed in 1762, it’s a baroque extravaganza of carved seashells, sea beasts and mermaids incorporated in a stately triumphal arch. It famously featured in the films Three Coins in the Fountain and La Dolce Vita.

Students on their own ‘Grand Tour’ can join the likes of writers Byron and Honoré de Balzac in being inspired by the view from the longest and widest staircase in Europe. The hillside was transformed in 1723 – 1725 in honour of a diplomatic visit by the king of Spain, with the staircase linking the Piazza di Spagna to the Trinita dei Monti church.

The Colosseum is the most spectacular surviving edifice of ancient Rome and the largest amphitheater in the world. See the arena where senators, Vestal Virgins and the masses watched gory gladiatorial conquests, battle reenactments, executions and mythological dramas. A visit here helps students to understand the importance of the spectacle in Roman society.

Visit the centre of classical Rome with your students, and stand on the spot where the great orators made their names. Now a sprawling ruin of architectural fragments in the city centre, the Forum was for centuries the site of processions, elections, public speeches and criminal trials.

Tip: A visit here is a good starting point for discussions on the life and times of Cicero.

The centre of the Roman Catholic Church is home to the awe-inspiring Renaissance masterpiece Basilica di San Pietro and the Vatican Museums, with rich collections from classical sculpture to Egyptian pieces, Renaissance paintings and the legendary Sistine Chapel. Students learn how the Vatican gained its position and explore its contemporary meaning.

Originally the Abbey of St Genevieve, this was converted to a secular mausoleum during the Revolution. This tomb is dedicated to great figures of French history, from famous authors and politicians, to more obscure French rescuers of Jews from the Holocaust. Students can get a flavour of the people who have helped shape the nation’s history and identity.

A local Italian chef will show you the art of creating a good Italian pizza before students try and make their own. At the end of the lesson, you and your students will taste a typical Italian dinner and the pizza you have made!

This sporty workshop lets students walk in the shoes of gladiators. Instructors teach them ancient combat techniques and explain the gladiators’ life and times. Students wear a traditional tunic, Roman sandals, belt and protective gloves, and use a wooden training sword. On completion they receive a medal declaring them a ‘Tiro’, or first level gladiator.

The Thermae Antonianae, one of the largest and best-preserved examples of an ancient spa complex, was constructed under the auspices of Emperor Caracalla. The building was finished in 216 A.D. and exhibits the rectangular plan typical of Imperial spa centres.