The Roman Forum

The Roman Forum

We let the professionals take over today.  Talk Walks Tours was recommended by Rick Steves, and turned out to be a good decision.  The tours are small (10 people today) and allows one to skip all the long entry lines.  Our guide, Elena, was very well informed and pointed out history and structural aspects we would have probably missed.  The tour included the Colosseum (upper and lower levels), the Palatine Hill and a look at the Roman Forum.  We got a complete description of how the Colosseum was constructed, the original appearance and the functions.  Elena continued to impress upon us that this was a place of death. Events were sponsored by the wealthy and powerful in order to appease the middle classes and the poor, "Bread and Circus".  Sound familiar? Over the nearly 400 years of use, it is estimated that 400,000 people and about 1,000,000 animals died here.  During Titus inaugural 100 days alone more than 2000 gladiators died.  And, the people loved this.  Wow!

The steep climb up the Palatine Hill was well worth the effort.  Here, where Romulus founded Rome, are the remains of the wealthy rulers' villas and the Gardens of Farnese.  The Hill offers an expansive view of the Forum and the surrounding area and is where Elena pointed out significant buildings.  She left us here, and we walked down into the Forum area for a leisurely walk and viewing.  We were impressed with the Temple of the Vestal Virgins and Caesar's cremation site.  Surprisingly, the Forum is a very small area amongst all the larger ruins of temples and shops of the area.  Our exit took us under the Via dei Fori Imperiali and into Trajan's Forum.

At Elena's suggestion we had a late lunch at Ai Bozzi in Trastavere.  The outside belied an elegant interior where we had delicious beef carpaccio and polio.  Pictures worthy of a travel log at flickr.  

Observations of two visitors.
   The Roman Forum is really just a tiny rectangular area amongst all the ruins.