Starting from piazza Venezia, our walk will unroll trough the sequence of squares and public buildings built by different emperors in order to enlarge the Republican forum area. At first we’re going to enjoy the enormous forum built by emperor Trajan at the beginning of the II century AD to celebrate his triumph over the barbarian Dacians, where the majestic decorated column stands out (the emperor himself was buried in its base). Walking on via dei fori imperiali we’ll admire the remains of Julius Ceasar’s forum, dominated by the columns of the temple dedicated to Venus Genitrix, and the ruins of Augustus’ forum, closed on the rear by a massive wall in tufa stone blocks on which we can still read the traces left by the temple of Mars Ultor. As a matter of fact, the so called “colonnacce” (the “ugly columns”) are the only remaining part of Nerva’s forum, also called “Passing through” forum because it was built in a narrow space between Augustus’ and Vespasian’s forum. The last was also called templum Pacis and in ancient times it was popular because of its marvellous marbles and because of the fragrance of its inner rose garden. After passing the ruins of Maxentius’ basilica and of the temple of Venus and Rome, we’ll stop in front of the symbol of Rome: the Colosseum.
