Baths of Caracalla

These are some of the ancient largest and best-preserved ancient baths still standing today. While at first glance, you might only see bare brick walls, collapsed porticoes, and beautiful floor mosaics, the entire base structure of the baths remains intact; some parts measure over 30 meters tall and let you really imagine how it must have been in its day. The baths were opened in 216 during the reign of Marcus Aurelius (whose birth name was Caracalla) and remained in use for over 300 years. They were finally abandoned in 537 when the aqueducts feeding the city were destroyed by Barbarian invaders. It had a capacity for about 2,000 people.

These baths were built between 212-216AD as part of a large baths complex in the early days of Imperial Rome. Only parts of the original structure remain today. It was a luxurious place and the pride of Emperor Marcus Aurelius. In fact, it has served as the model for many modern buildings like train stations and government buildings.

The experience of wandering through the ruins of the Baths of Caracalla is indescribable; the texture of the walls and the magnificent domes and just spectacular. The fact that it's all surrounded by thick green vegetation only makes it all that more interesting.

In these springs, the Romans could accommodate 1600 people simultaneously. They were open 24 hours a day and every day thousands of tickets were sold. So, they had to install large tanks (with capacity of 80,000 liters) to store water from the aqueduct (Acqua Nova Antoniniana. They are worth seeing because they are well preserved and there are lovely mosaics.