Travel Tips

In the early republic, the Forum was a chaotic place, with food stalls and brothels as well as temples and the Senate House. By the 2nd century BC it was decided that Rome required a more salubrious centre and the food stores were replaced by business centres and law courts. The Forum remained the ceremonial centre of the city under the Empire with Emperors renovating old buildings and erecting new temples and monuments.

Built during the reign of Emperor Domitian between AD 81 and AD 96, the arch commemorates the sack of Jerusalem by his father Vespasian and brother Titus in AD 71. During the Middle Ages it was absorbed into the Frangipane fortresses and then brought back to its original shape in 1821 by Giuseppe Valedier.

The basilica's three vast barrel vaults are all that remain of the Forum's largest building. It was begun in AD 308 by Maxentius while Constantine completed it after he defeated his rival at the battle of Milvio in AD 312. Three enormous coffered vaults remain which originally measured up to 35m (115ft) and were faced with marble.

The basilica's apse and hexagonal arches were often used as models by Renaissance architects striving to recreate a Classical symmetry. Michelangelo allegedly studied the basilica's architecture when working on the dome at St Peter's.

Dating from the early 4th century AD, this temple was dedicated to Divus Romulus, the son of the Emperor Maxentius who died in 307 AD. The temple, begun by Maxentius and completed by Constantine, has remained practically intact thanks to it having been transformed, in the Middle Ages, into the atrium of the church of St. Cosma and St. Damiano. The bronze doors are the 4th century originals.

The House of the Vestal Virgins was the living quarters of the priestess and the Vestals. This enormous complex of 50 rooms was once annexed to the Temple. Best preserved are the rooms overlooking a pretty courtyard, ornamented with statues of Vestals, ponds of waterlilies and rose trees.

In 141 AD, the temple was originally erected in honor of Faustina by her husband, the Emperor Antoninus Pius, who wanted to deify her and raised her to the ranks of the goddesses. When Antoninus himself died in AD 161 the Senate of Rome decided to dedicate the Temple to both husband and wife.

The site of the ancient Temple of Antoninus and Faustina, of which many significant remains are still visible, was once occupied by the church of San Lorenzo in Miranda, built in the 7th-8th centuries and completely restructured on the occasion of Charles V's visit to Rome in 1528.

Together with the Arch of Titus, the Arch of Septimius Severus is the only remaining arch of the original six that once stood in the Forum. The arch dates back to AD 203, the tenth anniversary of the accession to the throne by the emperor. It was built with travertine and bricks and covered with marble. On top of it are the celebrative inscriptions of the victories over the Arabs in Parthia (modern day Iran and Iraq) and Arabia. The reliefs portray scenes of the wars fought by Septimus Severus.

Dedicated in 498 BC, the Temple of Saturn is the oldest sacred place in Rome, after the Temples of Vesta and Jupiter. It was rebuilt in 42 BC and again in the fourth century AD by the senate and people of Rome, as recorded on the architrave. The surviving Ionic columns, with their scrolled volutes, date from this period. Because of the link of Saturn with agriculture, the original source of Rome's wealth, the temple was the repository for the State treasury, the Aerarium Populi Roman, which was located beneath the stairs under the high podium. It also contained the bronze tablets on which Roman law was inscribed. The temple was also the focus of the annual Saturnalia celebrations, when, for up to a week in December, schools closed, slaves dined with their masters, presents were exchanged and a fair and market were held.