Rome: Forum-Palentine-Colloseum plus Capitoline Museum in one day?

That is a lot to do in just one day. It will be exhausting. And if you are dealing with hot temps in Rome it will be even more exhausting. I would suggest doing these over a few days.

The Museum is so close to the Colosseum that I think your plan is doable. I had no difficulties just walking in at the Capitoline Museums mid-afternoon in Sept.

I agree that you probably will not have a ticket line of any significance at the Capitoline Museums. They weren't busy except for a few school groups when I was there earlier this month, and Rick says they are not usually busy. I just walked up and bought my ticket on the spot. Those museums are quite large. The exhibits are spread across two buildings (both with at least two floors) plus a connecting hallway. There are lots of stairs; I don't know about elevators. The museums are located at the top of a long flight of outdoor stairs, so they are a potentially tiring destination. Going is definitely worthwhile if you're a fan of classical sculpture and/or Roman mosaics. Bronzes, ceramics and Etruscan artifacts are also displayed. I was given a cash register receipt and separate tickets for the two buildings; keep track of all of them.

Centrale Montemartini is an outpost of the Capitoline Museums (included on the same multi-day ticket) located near the Garbatella Metro station. A former electrical power station (with the equipment still in place), it normally houses primarily sculpture. I believe the best sculpture is at the main Capitoline Museum buildings, so I think CM is skippable from the standpoint of the sculpture for the typical tourist. However, until June 25 of this year, there's a special exhibition of mosaics from the Capitoline collection. They've just added 14 recently-restored works (I just missed them). I was really impressed with this exhibition and think it's something mosaic junkies will not want to miss. When exiting the Metro station, take the Via Ostiense exit. There may be unavoidable stairs involved; I don't remember seeing an elevator for that exit--but I wasn't looking for one.

I suspect it's the cash register receipt from the Capitoline Museums that is needed for entry here, but I'm not sure, because the ticket desk wasn't staffed when I arrived. There were only 3 or 4 other visitors at the time I was there.

Centrale Montemartini

I can't comment on the Colosseum or Forum; I've never been inside either.

We've done exactly the Capitoline> Forum>Palatine>Colosseum plan in a single day on a Rome trip years ago. That plus a ton of other walking that I'm not sure I'd be up to now but we're still BIG walkers so you never know! What we didn't do was take time for a sit-down lunch; we'd packed along some snack bars, refillable water bottles and whatnot + had a sit-down coffee/potty stop somewhere during the day to rest the feet for a few minutes.

We were up and out early so that we didn't have to run to get there (we were staying in the Prati area so had some ground to cover) and were at the Capitoline when the doors opened. End of March you shouldn't have much of a queue. How long to spend? All depends on how much of it you find interesting but if you're done by late morning, then eat and run off the Forum/Palatine. There are connected to each other so you'll be doing them both at one time. I wish I could remember how long we spent at both but we were self-guiding with a book and didn't exactly hustle. Then off the Colosseum, which we self-guided at with a book as well.

In hindsight, the Palatine/Forum really benefit from an experienced human guide as they're complex sites. 3-4-hour tours which include those two and the Colosseum is something I routinely recommend to visitors truly interested in more than just the arena, as that one is the easiest of the 3 to understand on one's own. They also have some structures open there now (S.U.P.E.R. sites) that weren't at the time, although they are not included in the general-entry ticket. Is that what you have?

All told, plus additional poking about and brief breaks here and there, I think we were knees up and cold beers in hand by 4:00 - 4:30 or so. :O)

It’s a long but do-able day. The Capitoline Museum opens at 9:30 am — be there when it opens to make this work optimally.

The Palatine Hill complex is vast. There are several nooks and crannies, plus a museum up top, and it could take a very long part of a day to explore and see much of it. A much shorter, quickie pass-through could be done, of course, but you’ll still have an fair amount of climbing and walking involved. There’s also an overlook of the Forum from the viewpoint, which could help tie that in.

Thanks everyone for your perspectives, this gives me a better concept of the area. It seems doable and good to know we can just pop by. I suppose I will have to factor in our level of jet lag on the morning in question. This is the reason that I reserved the colosseum for late in the day. Also, if the weather agrees, the light should be quite beautiful.

The mosaic exhibition at the Centrale Montemartini sounds magnificent, I watched the video on the museum website. It is quite farther out but we might be able to get over there on the Sunday when I also wanted to go to the Appian Way. I love mosaics!

Luckily (or not), we live in a three story house on a hill so we are used to climbing stairs and hills and being on our feet most of the day as we exhibit our work at art fairs throughout the year. Still, we’re approaching 70 so it must be considered. I didn’t realize that the Forum was so vast, I must study up on it more.
Happy travels!