Hidden Rome

A Six-Day Excavation of the City Beneath the City, literally and figuratively

Rome
7 Nights / 6 Days
February 2027
TBD
Moderate
From $10,000
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Places You Will Stand ↓
Itinerary ↓
Gallery ↓
Why This Journey ↓
What’s Included ↓

Tour Overview

Rome is not one city but a stack of them, each built from the rubble of the last. Most visitors see only the top layer — the Colosseum, the Trevi, the postcard — and go home. This tour goes down, and behind, and underneath, inspired by Darius’s latest publication Hidden Rome, a special edition for National Geographic.

Over six days we read Rome as a single document written and overwritten across three thousand years: a working-class hill made entirely of smashed ancient jars; a cult chamber to Mithras discovered by accident beneath an old pasta factory; a Caesar-era cemetery unearthed under a Vatican parking structure; an imperial villa most Romans have never seen; a wine estate on the Appian Way run by one of Italy’s oldest families. Each day excavates a single theme — how the city was built, whom it worshipped, how it entertained itself, how it fed itself from the sea, and how it buried its dead.

We travel in December on purpose. The light is low and gold, the crowds have gone home, and several of the doors that stay firmly shut in high season open quietly for a small group with the right introductions.

A man walks along a sunny street near the ancient Roman amphitheater in Nîmes, France, holding a paper bag and touching his head.
A faint, monochrome outline of a classical statue depicting a standing figure with one arm raised and a deer by their side on a pedestal.

Places You Will Stand

01

Ancient & archaeological

  • Monte Testaccio — the hill built entirely of ancient amphora fragments
  • Colosseum & the Ludus Magnus (gladiator training school)
  • Circus Maximus
  • Mithraeum of the Circus Maximus (special access, underground)
  • Ostia Antica — Rome’s remarkably preserved port city
  • Isola Sacra necropolis, Portus (access-dependent — see note)
  • Parco degli Acquedotti — the great aqueduct arches
  • Villa dei Sette Bassi — a vast, rarely-opened imperial villa (special access)
  • The Pantheon — a pagan temple that became a church
  • Basilica of San Clemente — three stacked centuries in one building
  • Via Triumphalis necropolis, Santa Rosa (special access, Vatican)
02

Vatican

  • Vatican Museums
  • The Santa Rosa necropolis of the Caesars (special access)
03

Neighbourhoods & districts

  • Testaccio
  • The Jewish Ghetto
  • EUR — Rome’s rationalist “Square Colosseum” quarter
04

Modern Rome

  • Cinecittà film studios
05

Food & wine

  • Testaccio Market with an artisan cheese tasting
  • Lunch at Flavio al Velavevodetto — a trattoria carved into Monte Testaccio
  • A Roman-Jewish lunch in the Ghetto (carciofi alla giudia)
  • Roman pizza
  • A private lunch at Fattoria di Fiorano, the Antinori family’s organic estate on the Appia (the farm kitchen, L’Orto di Alberico)
  • Welcome and farewell dinners

DAY-BY-DAY ITINERARY

Day 1 · Sunday 6 December

Arrival

Private transfer and check-in, with the afternoon free to settle in. In the evening, a welcome dinner of Roman classics to open the week.

Private arrival transfer
Evening welcome dinner

Day 2 · Monday 7 December

Built on Broken Jars

Rome's foundations, both literal and edible, in a single neighbourhood. We begin at Monte Testaccio — a thirty-five-metre hill made of nothing but the smashed amphorae of the ancient city's river port — then move through the Testaccio Market for a tasting with an artisan cheesemonger. Lunch is inside the hill itself.

Monte Testaccio
Testaccio Market & cheese tasting
Lunch at Flavio al Velavevodetto (dug into the amphora hill, shards visible behind glass)

Day 3 · Tuesday 8 December

Temples Beneath Churches

The Feast of the Immaculate Conception — a Roman holiday, and the one day the city's churches are at their most alive. We trace how Rome converted its gods: the Pantheon, a pagan temple still standing because it became a church; and San Clemente, where a twelfth-century basilica sits on a fourth-century church, which sits on a first-century house and its own hidden shrine. Lunch is in the Jewish Ghetto — the culinary layer that stays open when Catholic Rome closes.

The Pantheon
Basilica of San Clemente (three levels)
Roman-Jewish lunch in the Ghetto

Day 4 · Wednesday 9 December

Bread, Circuses & the Cult Below

The day of spectacle. The Colosseum and the Ludus Magnus, where gladiators trained; the Circus Maximus, where a quarter-million Romans once roared. Then down: special access to the Mithraeum of the Circus Maximus, an intact underground temple to a mystery god, found by chance during 1930s building works. Lunch is the food of the ancient crowd — Roman pizza.

Colosseum & Ludus Magnus
Circus Maximus
Mithraeum of the Circus Maximus (special access)
Roman pizza lunch

Day 5 · Thursday 10 December

The Mouth of the Empire

Southwest to the sea, and the machinery that actually fed Rome. We pass through EUR, the rationalist district and its marble "Square Colosseum," then spend the heart of the day at Ostia Antica — a whole Roman port town preserved in streets, warehouses, baths and taverns — with the Isola Sacra necropolis of Portus if access allows.

EUR
Ostia Antica
Isola Sacra necropolis, Portus (access-dependent)

Day 6 · Friday 11 December

A Cemetery Under the Car Park

The hidden dead of the Vatican. Special access to the Via Triumphalis necropolis at Santa Rosa — an ancient Roman burial ground discovered in 2003 during construction of a Vatican parking structure, now walked on suspended catwalks under the theme "life and death in the Rome of the Caesars." The visit continues into the Vatican Museums.

Via Triumphalis necropolis, Santa Rosa (special access)
Vatican Museums

Day 7 · Saturday 12 December

Cinema, Aqueducts & Wine on the Appia

A finale on Rome's green southeastern edge, where every layer of the city sits within a few kilometres of the next. A morning at Cinecittà, where Rome has played itself on film since Ben-Hur and Cleopatra. A private lunch at Fattoria di Fiorano, the Antinori family's organic estate on the Appia Antica, in its farm kitchen. Then the golden arches of the Parco degli Acquedotti and the rarely-opened Villa dei Sette Bassi, before a farewell dinner.

Cinecittà film studios (half day)
Private lunch at Fattoria di Fiorano (L'Orto di Alberico)
Parco degli Acquedotti
Villa dei Sette Bassi (special access)
Farewell dinner

Day 8 · Sunday 13 December

Departure

Private transfer for onward travel.

Private departure transfer

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Travel With Context

Every destination becomes richer when you understand the people who lived there, the events that shaped it, and why it still matters today.

Led by an Archaeologist

Experience Rome alongside someone who has dedicated his career to studying, teaching, and sharing its history.

Thoughtfully Sized Groups

Small groups create space for conversation, flexibility, and meaningful engagement throughout the journey.

Stories Beyond the Guidebook

Discover unexpected connections between archaeology, architecture, food, culture, mythology, and everyday life.

Local Perspective

Benefit from decades of living and working in Rome while exploring both world-famous landmarks and lesser-known places that reveal another side of the city.

What's Included

Included:

7 nights' accommodation (hotel tier TBD)
All listed guided visits and special-access fees
Expert guiding
All meals listed above
Arrival and departure transfers

Not Included:

International flights
Travel insurance
Gratuities
Any meals or activities not listed

From Past Travelers

stars

“Darius made archaeology feel immediate and human. The conversations were just as memorable as the places we visited.”

Traveler Name
Location
stars

“Darius has an extraordinary gift for making Rome’s history feel alive. With decades of experience living, working, and studying in the city, he knows its layers like few others. Every story he tells feels like stepping through a portal to Ancient Rome. Exploring the city through his eyes is an unforgettable experience.”

Laura and Jim
Palm Beach, FL
stars

“Darius helped us see connections we never would have noticed on our own. Every place became part of a much larger story.”

Traveler Name
Location
stars

“Darius made archaeology feel immediate and human. The conversations were just as memorable as the places we visited.”

Traveler Name
Location

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