Italy Short Break with Rome Culture and Roman Forum City Tour<< >> An Italy short break and Rome culture visit is a must do vacation. Because so much of our modern culture has its roots back there. And this online culture Roman Forum Tour will hopefully whet your appetite for the real thing. The Roman Forum is situated in the area between Piazza Venezia and the Colosseum in a valley that is between the Palatine hill and the Capitoline hill. Three thousand years ago, it originally was a marsh, which was drained with a canal that is still working, and was turned it into a center of political and social activity. Usually a Forum would have a stone pavement or walkways leading through the various buildings and areas. The Forum became the marketplace of Rome, the business district and civic center. As it expanded it included temples, a senate house and law courts.
Central to most Roman cities was a big open space or central square called the Forum. Here people would listen to speakers, find out the news, attend trials and discuss politics. They would conduct business, sell things and buy things, meet with their friends and go to school. The Forum was the heart and soul of city life.
This was the biggest and the most important and people first began meeting here around 500 BC, at the time of the founding of the Roman Republic. The Roman Senate met in the here.
Its great monuments were dismantled and used to build fortifications and other buildings such as churches and palaces. It was only in the eighteenth century that the Forum was rediscovered and brought back to life.
Today people on an Italy short break will see that columns and stone blocks are all that remain of some temples, but the arch of Titus and the arch of Septimius Severus still stand and are in excellent repair.
There are four ways to visit the Forum. You could just go and wander around but lots of the places you see wouldn’t mean anything to you. You could arm yourself with a good guide book which would spell out everything for you. You could hire one of the many guides, official and unofficial, that hang around the area. Be sure to negotiate a price before you start the tour. Or you could join one of the many guided tours around the site. On your Italy short break it’s your choice.
Here you will see how the Forum starts from the Arch of Septimius Severus and the roadway winds through the ancient stones, columns and buildings to end at the Arch of Titus, where you will be able to stroll down to the majestic Colosseum. Another must see site on your Italy short break.
Here is a brief overview of the Roman Forum.
The Septimius Severus arch has carved reliefs of his victories in Iraq and Iran during the third century and honors his two sons, Caracalla and Geta who fought with him in the war.
The arch of Titus located at the opposite end of the forum. Titus was the emperor who plundered the great Jewish temple in Jerusalem. Carvings on this arch show the treasures of the Jews being paraded through the streets of Rome. On the inside of the arch, there is a depiction of Romans carrying away a Jewish menorah.
The Curia is the largest brick building that still has a roof in the Forum. This was the Roman Senate building. What stands today is the original Egyptian marble floors and the tiers that were the seats of the senators.
The temple of Antoninus and Faustina is the best-preserved building in the Forum. The Emperor Antonius Pius wife Faustina died and in 141 AD he built a magnificent temple in her honor. This temple became the church of "San Lorenzo in Miranda" in the Middle Ages.
The temple of Saturn was erected in seventeen B.C. and was used as the public treasury and as a repository for the decrees of the senate. Eight columns remain of this temple. To the right are the three columns that remain of the temple of Vespasian. To the left you can see part of the column of Phocas that commemorates the emperor Phocas's donation of the Pantheon to the Pope of Rome.
The Basilica of Maxentius also called the Basilica of Constantine and was built in the 4th century. This basilica was used as Rome's public law courts. A basilica is an oblong building ending in a semi-circular apse used in ancient Rome, especially for a court of justice and place of public assembly.
This building inspired the plans for St. Peter's Church Basilica in the Vatican. On your Italy short break Rome culture visit I hope you visit the Roman Forum. << |
