Roman Forum

If you’re looking for things to do in Rome, don’t miss the Roman Forum - you’ll find some history, visitor’s tips and how to make sense of the rubble right here.

Visiting the Roman Forum

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The Roman Forum (Foro Romano in Italian) is a great sight to see in conjunction with the Roman Colosseum. This is true for two reasons - first, it helps give you a better overview of life in ancient Rome; and second, they’re right next door to one another. It is free to get in and wander around, but the jumble of rocks and half-columns might be confusing if you don’t have some sort of guide. A guide in this case isn’t necessarily a person - there are several options you can choose from to make sense of the ruins.

Purchase a “Rome: Past & Present” Book - This handy guide has pictures of what the ruins look like today along with vinyl overlays of what the buildings and monuments looked like back in Rome’s heyday. The street vendors outside the Rome Forum and the Colosseum should sell it, in several languages. It will be listed at roughly €11, but you’re free to try to haggle.

Take the Audioguide - You can rent an audioguide at the gift shop at the entrance on Via dei Fori Imperiali for about €4.

Take an Official Guided Tour - Guided tours are offered in English just about every hour for around €4. You can find out more information, including departure times and any changes in price, at the ticket booth for the Palatine Hill near the Arch of Titus.

Bring Along Your Own Guide - By this I don’t mean that you accost Roman citizens on the street and demand that they show you the Forum. No, I mean that some guidebooks of Rome have self-guided walking tours of the main sights, including the Forum. Check several guidebooks out of the library before you buy one, so you can see if it covers what you want to see - and it might just have a great walking tour as well.

Take a Promotional Tour for Free - There are lots of tour companies which offer guided tours all over Rome, and to advertise their services they often give away free tours of the Roman Forum. You’ll usually see tour guides lingering outside the entrance to the Forum in the hopes of spotting and catching the eye of a tourist. They’ll usually approach you, so if you don’t want to make the first move and you’re wanting to take advantage of their services, hold up a guidebook and look perplexed. The things to remember here are if you haven’t yet toured the rest of Rome, this a great opportunity to see if you like a particular tour company’s style - if you do, you can ask about their other guided tours around Rome and pay for those services. Also, while these tours are technically “free,” please do tip your guide - they’re hard-working people, often students of history who really know their stuff, and it’s just polite to throw a few Euro in the hat when they’re done.

You will notice that it is quite a ways down to the level of the old streets of the Rome Forum from what is modern-day Rome. Believe it or not, this is because of pollution - after centuries of life being in and around Rome, the build-up of garbage and everyday pollution caused the street level to rise. There is much more ancient Rome underneath modern Rome, but it’s nearly impossible to excavate because there’s a whole city up there now that probably wouldn’t take too kindly to having all its buildings torn down. (If you were wondering why such a giant city like Rome has such a pathetic subway system, that’s it - any more lines would tunnel right through ancient Roman structures.)

In warmer weather, don’t attempt to visit the Roman Forum at midday. It is almost entirely sand and rock, with very little vegetation and even less shade. You’ll burn to a crisp just wandering around for an hour. Bring a water bottle with you, and fill it up at one of those lovely fountains which is thoughtfully located near the WC off the main entrance on Via dei Fori Imperiali. The water is cold, refreshing and perfectly safe to drink. It’s also nice to douse your head with it (just don’t stick your head completely in the water - it’s bad form) or soak a bandana or scarf to wrap around your neck.

The Rome Forum is open every day from 9:00 until 19:00 or one hour before dark.

Roman Forum History

It might seem unbelievable when you’re looking at the Roman Forum that such a small area could be so important, but it was the political, economic and religious center of the ancient city of Rome and, by extension, the entire Roman empire. Some of the buildings which you can see pieces of include temples dedicated to Saturn, Romulus (Rome’s legendary founder), Vesta (yes, this is where Vestal Virgins came from) and Caesar himself. There are triumphal arches built by some of Rome’s emperors, the house where the Vestal Virgins lived and the largest building in the Forum, the Basilica of Maxentius. Just walking on the Rome Forum’s cobbled streets is like walking through time - you can still see the ruts made by chariot wheels on some of the stones. Even the funeral of Caeser took place in this space. So, it might not look like much now, but these few acres hold more history than most cities.

You can learn more about the history of the Roman Forum here.

And check out this video tour of the Forum from GeoBeats: