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Roman Forum (Foro Romano)
When it came to cremating Caesar, purchasing a harlot for the night, or sacrificing a naked victim, the Roman Forum was the place to be. Traversed by the Via Sacra (Sacred Way), the Broadway of ancient Rome, the Forum was built in the marshy land between the Palatine and Capitoline hills, and it flourished as the center of Roman life in the days of the Republic before it gradually lost prestige to the Imperial Forums.
You'll see only ruins and fragments, an arch or two, and lots of overturned boulders, but with some imagination you can feel the rush of history here. That any semblance of the Forum remains today is miraculous because it was used for years (like the Colosseum) as a quarry. Eventually it reverted to what the Italians call a campo vaccino (cow pasture). But excavations in the 19th century began to bring to light one of the world's most historic spots.
By day, the columns of now-vanished temples and the stones from which long-forgotten orators spoke are mere shells. Bits of grass and weeds grow where a triumphant Caesar was once lionized. But at night, when the Forum is silent in the moonlight, it isn't difficult to imagine vestal virgins still guarding the sacred temple fire. The best view of the Roman Forum at night is from Campidoglio or Capitoline Hill, Michelangelo's piazza from the Renaissance that overlooks the Forum.
You can spend at least a morning wandering alone through the ruins of the Forum. If you're content with just looking at the ruins, you can do so at your leisure. To imbue the stones with some meaning, buy a detailed plan at the gate (the temples are hard to locate otherwise).
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