BE A SPECTATOR FOR THE GREATEST SIGHTS OF ROME

THE Colosseum is a showstopper. One of the most famous buildings in the world, the Flavian Ampitheatre as it also likes to be known on formal occasions, was originally half arena, half circus. But without the clowns.

Completed in AD 80, its 80,000 spectators were treated to gladiatorial contests and executions; it also multi-tasked as a venue for feeding Christians to the lions.

The Palazzo Manfredi hotel, where I was staying, is close enough to the Colosseum to hear the lions roar — had they still been there in their cages, waiting for the next human meal. Back when Christianity was regarded as a wacky, but dangerous idea thought up by deranged desert dwellers, life could be brutally short for adherents.

After all, Rome didn’t create a great empire by loving its enemies; they did it by killing everybody who disagreed with them. Very few of those dragged to the Colosseum got off with a stiff fine.

But then, in one of the strangest twists of history, the Roman hierarchy embraced Christianity, and before we knew it we had places like St. Peter’s Basilica, the Apostolic Palace and the Sistine Chapel.

From my room in the Palm Suites — the part of the Palazzo Manfredi closest to the Colosseum — I could gaze across the few square miles of real estate that is home to some of the most famous architecture in the world — pagan, Christian and secular.

If I were to book into that room this year, I’d also be able to see the new skatepark built with a view over the Colosseum.

The council apparently wants to attract more young visitors, so they’ve built what they call “the skate-park with the best view in the world.”

To be honest, that’s probably not hyperbole — it really has a magnificent panorama.

I probably won’t be giving it a try. I’ve never gone skateboarding, roller skating or ice skating for that matter. I took my advice from my old history teacher at school in Downpatrick. He was my careers master as well, and a very wise gentleman.

“Mal,” he said one day. “My advice would be — find out what you don’t do very well. Then don’t do it.”

He might well have been thinking of skate-boarding.