Things to Do in Roman Forum

Walking the Via Sacra at Opening

The Forum's main thoroughfare runs from the Arch of Titus down to the Capitoline. Arrive early. Walking it before the tour buses arrive is the closest you'll get to the place breathing on its own. The basalt paving stones are uneven, worn into grooves by two millennia of cart wheels and sandals, and your footsteps echo off the ruins of the Basilica Julia. Morning light hits the Temple of Castor and Pollux columns. The angle flatters photographs all day.

The Curia Julia and Senate Floor

The reconstructed Senate house is one of the few Forum buildings you can enter. Step inside. It's startlingly intact, with original opus sectile marble flooring in geometric patterns of green serpentine and red porphyry. Acoustics are strange and dampened. The bronze doors are replicas (the originals are at San Giovanni in Laterano). Stand in the middle of the room, and you get a decent sense of how compact ancient Roman political theater was.

Palatine Hill Above the Forum

The Palatine sits directly above the Forum's southern edge, and the imperial palace ruins up there give you the best overhead view of the whole archaeological zone. Wander the Domus Augustana's sunken courtyards. Past umbrella pines that smell sharply of resin in the heat. Out to the Stadium of Domitian, a sunken oval that still looks like something you could run a foot race in.

Temple of Saturn and the Rostra

Eight Ionic columns are all that remain of the Temple of Saturn, which once housed Rome's treasury. They tower over the western end of the Forum with that weathered-cream color travertine takes on after a few centuries. Just below sits the Rostra. The brick stump of the orator's platform is where Roman politicians delivered the speeches that shaped the late Republic. The decorative ship prows that gave the platform its name are long gone. Just the bricks remain.

House of the Vestal Virgins

The atrium of the Vestals' residence is one of the prettier corners of the Forum, with a long reflecting pool, headless statues of senior priestesses lining the courtyard, and roses and oleander that the conservation team keeps blooming through the warmer months. The bees here are loud in May. The round Temple of Vesta next door, where the sacred flame burned, is mostly reconstructed. The marble feels right.

Monti is the artisan neighborhood just north of the Forum. You'll find leafy piazzas. The kind of wine bars that fill up with locals after 9pm.

Celio sits between the Colosseum and the Caelian Hill. Quieter, greener. Good if you want a calm base within walking distance.

Centro Storico around Piazza Navona, more expensive. Puts the Pantheon and Campo de' Fiori within easy reach. Worth it.

Trastevere sits across the river. Livelier at night, and a 25-minute walk to the Forum through some of Rome's prettiest backstreets.

Esquilino sits near Termini. The most budget-friendly option, with the best transport links. The area immediately around the station can feel rough after dark.

Aventino is the residential hill south of the Forum. Genteel, leafy, quiet. The orange garden sits up here, plus a handful of upscale guesthouses.