The commercial, political and
religious centre of ancient Rome, the Forum spreads along the valley
floor between the Capitoline and Palatine hills. It was constructed over about 900 years,
with Republican buildings sitting in juxtaposition with temples from the Imperial era. At
its peak, it must have been awfully crowded - like something dreamed up by Monty Python.
The site's disrepair and disintegration into pastureland mirrored the fall of the Roman
empire, and excavations have been underway since the 18th century.
The Forum is entered from the piazza leading from the Colosseum
- that house of horrors cum marble quarry, also known as the Flavian Amphitheatre. You
immediately enter another world: the past. Columns rise from grassy hillocks and
repositioned pediments and columns aid the work of the imagination. Just some of the many
must-sees include the Arch of Septimus Severus, the Temple of Saturn, the House
of the Vestals, the Temple of Antoninus & Faustina and the Arch of Titus.
