Thermal baths played a key role in the field of entertainment. They were hot in these enormous buildings, warm and cold baths, as well as rooms for a range of other activities, and the best examples of their splendor are the baths of Caracalla and Diocletian in Rome. from the 3rd and 4th centuries A.D.. e. Roman theaters differed from Greek theaters in this, that they were built above-ground and had a semicircular orchestra. Marcello's Theater, completed under Augustus, it is the only surviving example in Rome itself; it is also the first example of the use of multiple architectural orders in one building. In general, however, the Romans preferred the atmosphere of their amphitheaters, where gladiator fights and other great public events were organized. These tabernacles were built on an elliptical plan and were characterized by a very solid structure, with the use of various materials. Exterior walls, pierced by rows of arcades, overwhelmed with their mass; the auditorium inside was stepped. The best preserved is the so-called Colosseum in Rome; other amphitheatres can be found in Verona. Its gates, Pozzuoli and Pompeii. The proof of the durability of these buildings is the fact. that they are still playing their part.
Roman houses fall into three categories. The domus, or residential residence, was symmetrically grouped around the atrium and one or more peristyles. The villa had a less regular plan. a patrician country manor, usually decorated with porticoes and colonnades, and with such an interior layout, that the rooms are sunny and dark at all times. Poorer Romans lived in insulae. multi-storey tenement-type buildings, often vaulted symmetrically along streets and squares. Few Roman palaces have survived to this day. The most important of these is the confusingly named Villa Adriana in Tivoli, with fancy building replicas, which Emperor Hadrian saw on his travels, as well as arrowheads, terraces and fountains. A hundred years earlier it was established, only partially preserved, the famous Golden House of Nero.
Roman law forbade burial inside the city walls, as a result, the Via Appia became the largest cemetery, at which they grew cylindrical, towering mausoleums, of which the tomb of Cecilius is the most beautiful. Similar, but the larger structure is the mausoleum of Emperor Augustus, first built in the city center. In turn, the Mausoleum of Hadrian was by far the most impressive tombstone monument erected by the Romans, but was later transformed into Castel Sant'Angelo.
A characteristic Roman creation was the triumphal arch. usually erected in honor of some military victory and richly decorated with reliefs, the whole is topped with a large group of sculptures, usually depicting an equestrian triumphal chariot. Many arches can be admired in Rome, others are in Ancona. Oh yeah. Benevento, Rimini and Susa.
Another Roman invention was the aqueduct, built to supply water to cities. The aqueducts were plain and purely functional, and the water ran along a slightly sloping channel. Often, however, the waterworks are distinguished by their majesty, especially if the terrain topography required a multi-level construction. Fragments of aqueducts can be found south of Rome, but the most impressive surviving examples are outside the country. The Romans also excelled in building bridges. During imperial times, eleven of them in the capital spanned the banks of the Tiber; most of them were replaced with new ones or rebuilt, but Pons Fabricius is in a near primeval state. Another. little altered ancient bridges, is the graceful Ponte di Solesta in Aascoli Piceno. with only one span, and the five-span Ponte di Tiberio in Rimini.