Aaah, the Forum. As in THE Forum, where the most important Roman government
buildings, to this day, still at least partially stand. A vast area between the Colosseum and Capitoline Hill, the best overall views can be had from nearby Palatine Hill. We visited The Forum several times during the week, discovering new sights each time.
Click here for previous chapters of “A Week in Rome.”
Since my original trip to Rome, the Italian government has instituted a fee to visit the Forum. This is a bit sad, as one of the highlights of our trip was just casually walking through this extraordinary collection of ruins – and not-so-ruined, for that matter – as if it was just a thoroughly integrated part of the city, and returning to it on a whim. But if the ruins are to be preserved in roughly their current state, funds are necessary, and the Italians felt that cordoning off the area and charging a fee was their best option. If you go, get the combo ticket to the Colosseum, Palatine Hill, and the Forum (they are all right next to each other, and you will need a full day).
Many of these pictures were taking from Palatine Hill, which looms over the Forum. The big arches in this next picture are part of the Basilica of Constantine, which originally was a Roman hall of justice. They, like many ruins here, don’t seem like they can possibly be that old, but they are.
As with the Colosseum and Palatine Hill, Emperor Burlusconi’s vicious lions patrol the area and fend off intruders.
The Forum both begins–
And ends, with an arch. Both are about 2,000 years old and very much intact.
The second one is the Arch of Septimus Severus, and it has numerous intact friezes depicting the fashions of the day. At the time I took this picture, Harry Potter was barely beginning to be popular and I was unaware of the association that name now has. I guess we can now call it “Snape’s Arch.” This frieze actually kind of looks like a scene out of Harry Potter. Sectum Sempra!
It takes good pictures, that arch, but is surrounded now by taller buildings. In its day, it would have been a centerpiece.
Oh, hang on, must pose in front of arch…
Churches rise up on old ruins, then fall into disrepair themselves. What I’d give to see a 2,000 year time lapse sequence of The Forum. Here ancient columns are now the front for an only slightly less ancient church built behind.
These columns are from the old Temple of Saturn, where Romans kept quite a bit of treasure, in addition to a humble wooden statue of the God Saturn which has long rotted away.
The three columns in the center of this photo are from Caligula’s palace.
The Temple of Antonius Pius and his love Faustina stands in the center below, now rebuilt as a church with the original columns.
And behind it all, the modern, pulsing city of Rome, going about its business on a hundred layers of civilization.
Table of Contents
The Colosseum
Palatine Hill
The Pantheon
The Forum
The Vatican
St. Peter in Chains
Imperial Lion
St. Peter’s Square and Basilica
Atop St. Peter’s Dome
Castel Sant’ Angelo (Pope hideaway on the Tiber River)
Day Trip to Florence
Castel Sant’ Angelo, Continued
St. Paul’s Outside the Walls (Vatican church in Rome’s Suburbs)
Great Fountains of Rome
Musei Capitolini (Capitoline Museum): Romulus and Remus and Random Body Parts
Victor Emmanuel Monument (VE Monument)
National Museum of Rome: A Treasure Vault and Lots of Heads
Wrap-Up-The-First – Summary of the Trip
Wrap-Up-The-Last – Final Summary of the Trip