ROME 1

THE FORUM

Ruins of Forum Rome by Canaletto in 1742.

After the Fall of the Western Roman Empire much of the city of Rome fell into ruin, from famine, warfare, and lack of authority. The population of Rome was reduced from hundreds of thousands to tens of thousands, as the populated areas contracted to the river, largely abandoning the forum. The emperor Constans II, who visited the city in 663 AD, stripped the lead roofs of the monumental buildings, exposing the structures to the weather and hastening their deterioration. By the 8th century, the whole space was surrounded by Christian churches taking the place of abandoned and ruined temples.

During the Middle Ages, though the memory of the Forum Romanum persisted, its monuments were for the most part buried under debris, and its location was designated the “Campo Vaccino” or “cattle field,” located between the Capitoline Hill and the Colosseum.

The Forum Romanum suffered some of its worst depredations during the Italian Renaissance, particularly in the decade between 1540 and 1550, when Pope Paul III exploited it intensively for material to build the new Saint Peter’s Basilica.

Dated to the 1st century CE a seven story ramp connected the Forum with the Imperial Palace at the top of the Palatine Hill. The structure was discovered in 1900. Restoration work, however, was only started in 2009 and finally ended in 2015

The ramp connected two different zones of the city: the public area at the Forum, where business and public administration took place, and the area of private residences at the top of the hill. The structure consists of seven levels and leads to the very top, from where there is a beautiful view of Rome.