This is one of Rome’s best attractions, but without the crowds

Here’s a Roman archaeological site with all the beauty, history and sheer gargantuan scale of Rome’s most famous attractions, yet with a tiny fraction of the crowds. The Baths of Caracalla is heaving with hidden details you could easily spend hours exploring.

Visit the caldarium

The Baths of Caracalla, completed in AD 217 by Emperor Caracalla.Credit: iStock

The Baths of Caracalla is a massive, luxurious public bathhouse completed in AD 217 by Emperor Caracalla, who had some making up to do with the Roman public after murdering his brother, the popular Geta, along with 20,000 of his supporters. A walking route in the modern-day ruins begins with a tour of the gardens before skirting the “caldarium”, or hot pools: a circular room, once with marble floors, that was topped with a 40-metre-high dome (the same size as the Pantheon).

See the tepidarium

The tepidarium featured just two pools with tepid water.Credit: iStock

It’s estimated that the Baths of Caracalla could host up to 1600 bathers at any time, Roman citizens who began with a soak in the caldarium before moving on to the tepidarium. This was a smaller transitional space with only two pools, which contained water that was – you guessed it – tepid. The tepidarium is visible on the main walking route from the frigidarium, which we will cover next.

Move on to the frigidarium

This cavernous central space once had a high roof held up by eight huge columns made from Egyptian granite. The frigidarium had four pools filled with cold water; this was also a meeting area, a place for bathers to relax along marble-tiled walls and take in the sight of statues, fountains and waterfalls within the complex. The main route for visitors runs through the middle of this space, with the caldarium and tepidarium visible to the right, and the natatio to the left.

Explore the natatio

Imagine hundreds of ancient Romans at leisure in the natatio.Credit: Alamy

After a quick swing through the Palestra Orientale, a space used as a gym, modern-day visitors arrive at the natatio, an Olympic-sized outdoor pool. Here you can see niches along the walls that once housed statues of gods; admire the intact mosaics that line the floors; and imagine hundreds of ancient Romans at leisure, listening to music, playing games, gambling, and relaxing in cool waters to stave off the heat of summer.

Go to the library

Take time to explore the outer grounds of Caracalla, where you will find the old library. This was the second bathhouse in the Roman Empire to house a public library as well, this one an 830-square-metre space with 32 niches that housed books – half in Greek, half in Latin. The niches are all still visible, as is a cavernous alcove that probably contained a large statue.

Head underground

The Mithraeum was the place of worship of the god Mithras.Credit: iStock

Some of the subterranean features here have been opened to the public only in the past few years, and they’re spectacular. See the Mithraeum, the largest known space dedicated to the worship of the Persian god Mithra – a fresco of Mithra on the western wall has been lovingly restored. There are also extensive tunnels used by workers to run the baths, and to store wood for the furnaces (about 10 tonnes were burnt here every day). Finally, visit the “domus”, the ruins of a two-storey house built before the baths and beautifully preserved, with incredible frescoed walls and ceilings, and a room dedicated to Egyptian and Roman gods.

Take coffee and more history

Start the day with coffee and pastries in the Testaccio neighbourhood.Credit: iStock

Though visitor numbers at the Baths of Caracalla are far smaller than sites in central Rome, the ruins are not difficult to get to. In fact, you could begin your day at Pasticceria Barberini, an excellent purveyor of coffee and pastries in the Testaccio neighbourhood, before walking east to Piazza Albania to admire a well-preserved section of the Servian Wall, a 4th-century BC barrier that once encircled the city. From there, continue walking 15 minutes or so to the baths.