It's about time

Most visitors to Rome head straight for the Coliseum, the Palatine Hill, the Trevi Fountain, the Spanish Steps or the Vatican. But to experience Rome as it was thousands of years ago, visit the Time Elevator, a hi- tech ride and one of the city's newest attractions.

The 'trip' begins in 773BC with Romulus and Remus being adopted by a she-wolf. My seat tilts through the blurring trees and bushes as we pursue the wolf through the forest on the screen ahead. The combination of a wide-screen movie, surround sound and seat motion, plus 'raindrops' and simulated wind gusts, creates an irresistible realism.

According to legend, Romulus and Remus - twin sons of war god Mars - were cast adrift on the Tiber and found by the wolf. Later, Romulus killed Remus and built Rome on the river's eastern shore.

Having established as much, the ride jumps to 44BC and the Roman Forum, which is alive with conspiracy and intrigue. Julius Caesar rules as a dictator over the Republic of Rome and the hectic streets around the Forum swarm with squabbling senators. Through our headsets we listen as Brutus plots to kill Caesar. Later, we watch as a conspiracy of senators brings him to his end. Killing Caesar isn't the answer to the Republic's problems, however, and his adopted son, Octavian, proclaims himself Augustus Caesar, the first Roman emperor, in 27BC.

In the real world, 10 minutes from the Time Elevator, the ruins of the Roman Forum now swarm with tourists, who have come to ogle the overturned boulders and fallen stone columns that once contained the marketplace, business district, temples, senate building and law courts. When Rome fell, the Forum was forgotten, then buried.

Much of ancient Rome remains underground. Close to the Forum, the Coliseum stands over a rabbit warren of underground rooms where archaeologists have excavated the skulls of tigers, giraffes, bears and other animals used in shows and gladiatorial contests. Beneath the 12th-century Basilica of San Clemente lies a fourth-century church built over a first-century house, beside which stood a pagan temple. And St Peter's Basilica leads to a city under the Vatican, where St Peter's tomb is to be found.