Once again I am listing what is on our agenda in rome....day 2. We have hired a tour guide to take us through the Forum and Colosseum. There are some things nearby that we also want to tackle:
The Mouth of Truth (Basilica Santa maria in Cosmedin
Basilica di Santa Prassede
and Basilica de Santa Maria Maggiore
I know the Arch of Constantine is in this general area as well.

I always hope to find some hidden treasures from travelling people like you. If you think we are seeing too much or there is something we left out...please let us know. Again, we are travelling with 3 kids (16, 12 and 9). If there are any must sees you suggest or must eat restaurants....we will take that info too!

The Arch of Constantine is right next to the Colosseum.

The Bocca della Verita can be tricky to get to from the Forum and Colosseum becuase the Palatine hill is in the way, so it can seem like and be a long walk around, 15 to 20 minutes.

Just to be clear, Santa Prassede and Santa Maria Maggiore are very close to one another, though not exactly next to the Forum and Colosseum, probably a 15-minute walk.

Quite close to the Colosseum and well worth a visit is the Church of San Clemente, with ancient churches on lower levels.

A reasonable restaurant with interesting food near the Colosseum, but just far enough away to not be a tourist trap is Taverna dei Quaranta at Via Claudia 24.

Once you've finished your tour, one less-visited site nearby is the enormous fortified Basilica of the Santi Quattro Coronati.

For descriptions, see..
http://www.fodors.com/world/europe/i...ew-180107.html
and
http://www.revealedrome.com/2010/07/...-coronati.html

Some more photos?
http://www.pbase.com/isolaverde/rome1107

Like us though, you may not get to see the further series of wonderful frescoes discovered there only relatively recently - but who knows?
http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=552546

Peter

the church of St Peter in chain with the Moses statue of Michelangelo is really close to the Colosseum too.

and st. peter in chains is on the way to santa maria maggiore too. san prassede is beautiful and we were lucky enough to get there as a choir was rehearsing, which made the atmosphrere even more magical. remember to take some change [50c pieces are useful] to put in the machines to make the lights come on to illuminate the mosaics.

san clemente is really quite a long way from the colosseum; we got very sore feet that day. a cab or bus might be a good idea. we did find a nice gelateria near-by.

Thank you everyone.....writing every hint down...so appreciated!!!!!