Forum Romanum

Address	Piazza di Santa Maria Nova
Admissions	Free
Hours	Monday to Saturday, November to February, 9 am to 4:30 pm; March, 9 am to 5:30 pm; March 28 to August, 9 am to 7 pm; September, 9am to 7 pm; October, 9 am to 6 pm
Phone	06-39967700

If one spot visually captures the history of ancient Rome, it is the Forum. What began as a place for vendors and consumers to buy and sell goods, developed into a center of the utmost political and social significance. Among the temples, statues, courts, and palaces, ancient Rome flourished, and solidified the culture that is studied by so many historians and archaeologists today.

Evidence of over a dozen major buildings and monuments still remains on the grassy field. The most numerous remains are that of the temples. The Temple of Castor and Pollux, the Temple of Saturn, The Temple of Romulus, the Temple of Vespasian, and the Temple of Venus and Roma, all boast tall, imposing columns, although only a few of the originals are still standing. A part of the once circular Temple of Vesta also stands, next to which is the foundation and few remains of the once great Palace of the Vestal Virgins.

Among the structures of political import, the Rostrum and the Curia are most notable. The Rostrum served as a brick podium where political leaders would address the public. In the immediate vicinity of the Rostrum stands the Curia, known as the Senate House, where laws were debated and set forth.

A walk through the Forum will also lead you to the Arch of Semperus Severus and the Arch of Titus. Both are in remarkably good condition for their age, and stand on opposite ends of the Forum. Archaeologists have proposed various visual reconstructions of the Forum, but nothing can compare to the site itself. Like the Coliseum, the Roman Forum forces the imagination to piece together the ruins of what once acted as the focal point of such a great state.