The Imperial Forums of Rome are maybe, together with the Coliseum, the best testimony of the grandness and the magnificence of the imperial Rome.
The complex of Forum of August develops itself on a rectangular area of 125 metres of length on around 120 of large, around a rectangular square surrounded by arcades in marble and statues; along one side rises the Temple in white marble, dedicated to Marte Untore where the Senate was meeting during the sessions destined to discuss themes linked to the war and the emblems taken away from the enemies during the battle were kept there.
In the northern part, in the space called "Room of the Colossus", August wanted to put a grandiose statue presumably with a highness between 11 and 12 metres dedicated to his own person.
Also in case of Forum of Cesare the heart of the complex, 160 metres long and 75 metres large, is a rectangular square surrounded by colonnades inaugurated on September 26th 46 before Christ.
On one side was placed the temple of Venus Mother, which was keeping precious art works such as the Venus of Arkesilaos, the paintings of Timomaco di Bisanzio, the collections of precious stones incised "dactylothecae" and a gold statue of Cleopatra. Afterwards, the imperator Traiano ordered the building of the Basilica Argentaria in the south-occidental area of the arcades, dedicated first to be a market of the dishes in bronze and then, in the late antique time, probably a school.
Forum of Nerva: Built during the reign of Vespasiano who wanted to dedicate it to Nerva, in the antiquity it was known under the name of Transitory Forum and was located on the area of the quarter called Argiletum.
The structures are still nowadays in phase of study and cataloguing.
In the south oriental area of the Imperial Forums Vespasiano ordered to build in 71 before Christ the Forum of the Peace initially destined to keep the collections fruit of the Judaic wars and then to sancite the attempt of the universal peace in the Roman empire but also in the various social classes of the Empire. In addition to a temple, on the ruins of which will be built in the 4th century after Christ the basilica of Massenzio, the area forecasted a big library and various environments destined to the education of the citizens.
As it is testified by the inscriptions of Plinio il Vecchio, the forum of the peace also had the merit to give back to Rome the works that Nerone had closed in his Domus Aurea such as the statues of the Galati of the city of Pergamo, the Ganymede of Leochares and some works of Fidia, Policleto and Nicomaco.
After the conquest of the Dacia, which took place in 107 after Christ the Traiano Forum, born to celebrate the grandness of the imperator, was inaugurated only 5 years later, together with the Basilica Ulpia and only a year before the Traiana Column.
The complex of the forum, more complicated in the planimetry respecting the previous ones, is developed on a rectangular area 300 metres long and 180 metres large.
The big dimensions of the monuments and of the various buildings do not leave any doubt on the role of auto celebration of the Traiano Forum, it is enough, for example, to think about the area of the central square which was a rectangle of 120 metres on 60 metres, or to think that the Basilica Ulpia was covering a space of 120 metres on 90 metres, or that the highness of the Traiana Column reaches almost 40 metres.
The access to the main square was done through an arch open along the convex perimeter wall, at the centre was placed the equestrian statue of the imperator Traiano, while all around were placed arcades, on the same style of what had been done for the forum of August. The back of the square was reserved to the Basilica Ulpia, decorated, such as the rest of the colonnade, with statues of the Daci and subdivided in 5 spacious naves; at its shoulders, in a small area extracted between the façades of the two libraries, was arising the Traiana Column. In the Forum of Traiano were taking place the most important public celebrations, such as the one of 118 after Christ in which the Imperator Adriano destroyed all the write-up of the debts contracted by the citizens with the revenue, but the entire decorated complex, from the relieves of the Traiana Column to the ones of the cherubs and of the griffons on the entrance walls, had the assignment to demonstrate not only the magnificence and the great extension of the empire of Rome but also the peace and the stability reached in the confrontations of all the neighbouring populations.
The works for the realisation of the complex nowadays known as the Markets of Traiano, started, according to the dating reported on some tile cachets, presumably between 94 and 95 after Christ, during the empire of Domiziano.
The entire complex, that includes six levels one above the other, is laying on the hills of the Quirinale and is made of a ensemble of shops and environments with institutional functions such as the rooms allotted to the "procurator Fori Divi Traiani". At the centre, around the large rectangular room, covered by six vaults, are opened numerous commercial environments organised with a functional grid of streets; the complex of the buildings results to be a large market to which is added between the 12th and the 13th century the Tower of the Militias, afterwards covered on two thirds of its highness by the actual tile coatings.

The Basilica of Maxentius is the last and the most important building constructed in this area in Imperial times. It was begun by the Emperor Maxentius but finished by Constantine. It occupied the site of ancient warehouses built to store pepper and other spices.
This huge building, of which only the north side now remains, consisted of a large central nave 35 meters high – as high as a 12-storey building today- flanked by 2 smaller intercommunicating wings covered with enormous coffered vaulted ceilings. In one of the halls there was a huge statue of Constantine, parts of which –head, arms, legs- are on show today in the Palazzo dei Conservatori on the Capitoline Hill. The bronze of the rest of the statue was melted and reused.
Proceed now along the ancient Roman street towards the Arch of Titus where you will find the entrance to the Palatine. This is the hill where, on April 21, 753BC, Romulus traced out the walls to surround the city he had founded.

The The church was built in the 9th century on an oratory by Pope Paul I, and restored in the 10th century, when it was named Santa Maria Nova ("new St. Mary"), to distinguish it from the other Roman Forum church devoted to St. Mary, Santa Maria Antiqua ("ancient St. Mary"). The church underwent a major restoration in the 12th century, when the belltower was built and the apse was decorated. In the 15th century the church was devoted to the Roman saint Francesca, whose relics are in the crypt.
The church houses the precious Madonna Glycophilousa ("our Lady of the tenderness"), an early 5th century icon from Santa Maria Antiqua.
The ancient oratory on which the current church is built was located by Pope Paul I on the place in which Simon Magus died. According to this legend, Simon Magus wanted to prove his powers as stronger than those of the apostles, and started levitating in front of Sts. Peter and Paul. The two apostles fell on their knees preaching, and Simon fell, dying. The marbles where the apostles were kept the imprints of their knees, and are kept in the south wall. is the last and the most important building constructed in this area in Imperial times. It was begun by the Emperor Maxentius but finished by Constantine. It occupied the site of ancient warehouses built to store pepper and other spices.
This huge building, of which only the north side now remains, consisted of a large central nave 35 meters high – as high as a 12-storey building today- flanked by 2 smaller intercommunicating wings covered with enormous coffered vaulted ceilings. In one of the halls there was a huge statue of Constantine, parts of which –head, arms, legs- are on show today in the Palazzo dei Conservatori on the Capitoline Hill. The bronze of the rest of the statue was melted and reused.
Proceed now along the ancient Roman street towards the Arch of Titus where you will find the entrance to the Palatine. This is the hill where, on April 21, 753BC, Romulus traced out the walls to surround the city he had founded.

The Colosseum of Rome was built in bricks and clad of travertine in a valley among the Palatino, Esquilino and Celio hills after having dried a small lake that Nerone was using for the Domus Aurea.
The edifice of four floors, with a total height of 52 metres and an extension covering and elliptical area of about 19000 square metres, measures at the main axis 256m and at the minor one 188m. The first floor is 10.50 metres high with semi-pillars in Doric style, the second floors, higher of about two metres is made of ionic pillars, the third floor is 11.60m high ahs has Corinthian pillars while the fourth one is in bricks with small square windows. At this level we also find the necessary holes to sustain the beams of the velar that, in antiquity, was used to protect the spectators from the burning sun.
The Colosseum of Rome is made of sectors to which one could access thanks to stairs and galleries where one could find, during the games, vendors of chick peas, drinks and cushions. Among the places reserved to the senators and to the members of the Court, was built on the order of August the platform of the Imperator (called "pulvinar"). To the Imperator, in fact, was probably reserved the access through the underground corridor known as passage of the Commodo, for the fact that, in a piece of the "Roman History" of Dione Cassio, it is explained how the Imperator Commodo would have sustained a murder attempt proper in what was set out as "a dark corner" of the Colosseum.
The elliptical arena of the Flavio Amphitheatre, which measures along the axis about 77m for 46, was formed by wooden board flooring covered of sand. To access to it there were two entrances: at west the "Triumphalis Door", through which were coming in the gladiators or the animals, and at east the "Libitinensis Door", through which were taken away the bodies without life of the fighters (from Labitinia Goddess of the death).
Under the arena of the Colosseum there were numerous corridors and rooms aimed at welcoming the gladiators and the ferocious beasts that could be brought at the centre of the arena thanks to elevator carriages and access ramps. Along the edges of the paved arena there was an arcade with two orders from which we have the remains while around the amphitheatre there was a paving with marks in marble on which was anchored the velarium. Outside of the edifice we can note the inscriptions remembering the consolidation works of the amphitheatre and above all the prohibition of Benedetto XIV, Pope from 1675 to 1758 after Christ, to proceed to ulterior spoliations of the monument.

The Arch of Constantine is a triumphal arch situated between the Colosseum and the Palatine Hill. It was erected to commemorate Constantine I's victory over Maxentius at the Battle of Milvian Bridge on October 28, 312.
Dedicated in 315, it is the latest of the extant triumphal arches in Rome, from which it differs by spolia, the extensive re-use of parts of earlier buildings.
The arch is 21 m high, 25.7 m wide and 7.4 m deep. It has three archways, the central one being 11.5 m high and 6.5 m wide, the lateral archways 7.4 m by 3.4 m each. The lower part of the monument is built of marble blocks, the top (called attic) is brickwork revetted with marble. A staircase formed in the thickness of the arch is entered from a door at some height from the ground, in the end towards the Palatine Hill.
The general design with a main part structured by detached columns and an attic with the main inscription above is modelled after the example of the Arch of Septimius Severus on the Roman Forum. It has been suggested that the lower part of the arch is re-used from an older monument, probably from the times of the emperor Hadrian.
The arch spans the Via Triumphalis, the way taken by the emperors when they entered the city in triumph. This route started at the Campus Martius, led through the Circus Maximus and around the Palatine Hill; immediately after the Arch of Constantine, the procession would turn left at the Meta Sudans and march along the Via Sacra to the Forum Romanum and on to the Capitoline Hill, passing both the Arches of Titus and Septimius Severus.
During the Middle Ages, the Arch of Constantine was incorporated into one of the family strongholds of ancient Rome. Works of restoration were first carried out in the 18th century; the last excavations have taken place in the late 1990s, just before the Great Jubilee of 2000.
The decoration of the arch heavily uses parts of older monuments, which are given a new meaning in the context of the Constantinian building. As it celebrates the victory of Constantine, the new "historic" friezes illustrating his campaign in Italy convey the central meaning: the praise of the emperor, both in battle and in his civilian duties. The other imagery supports this purpose: decoration taken from the "golden times" of the Empire under Trajan, Hadrian and Marcus Aurelius places Constantine next to these "good emperors", and the content of the pieces evokes images of the victorious and pious ruler.
Another explanation given for the re-use is the short time between the start of construction (late 312 at the earliest) and the dedication (summer 315), so the architects used existing artwork to make up for the lack of time to create new art. As yet another possible reason, it has often been suggested that the Romans of the 4th century lacked the artistic skill to produce acceptable artwork and therefore plundered the ancient buildings to adorn their contemporary monuments. This interpretation has become less prominent in more recent times, as the art of Late Antiquity has been appreciated in its own right. It is, of course, possible that a combination of two or all three of those explanations are correct, as they are not mutually exclusive.
Above the middle archway, the main inscription takes the most prominent place of the attic. It is identical on both sides of the arch.
Flanking the inscription on both sides, there are pairs of relief panels above the minor archways, 8 in total. They were taken from an unknown monument erected in honour of Marcus Aurelius, and show (north side, left to right) the emperor's return to Rome after the campaign (adventus), the emperor leaving the city and saluted by a personification of the Via Flaminia, the emperor distributing money among the people (largitio), the emperor interrogating a German prisoner, (south side, left to right) a captured enemy chieftain led before the emperor, a similar scene with other prisoners, the emperor speaking to the troops (adlocutio), and the emperor sacrificing pig, sheep and bull. Together with three panels now in the Capitoline Museum, the reliefs were probably taken from a triumphal monument commemorating Marcus Aurelius' war against the Sarmatians from 169 – 175, which ended with his triumphant return in 176. On the largitio panel, the figure of Marcus Aurelius' son Commodus has been eradicated after the latter's damnatio memoriae. On top of each of the columns stand marble statues of Dacian prisoners from the times of Trajan, probably taken from the Forum of Trajan.
From the same time date the two large (3 m high) panels decorating the attic on the small sides of the arch, showing scenes from the emperor's Dacian Wars. Together with the two reliefs on the inside of the central archway, they came from a large frieze celebrating the Dacian victory. The original place of this frieze was either the Forum of Trajan, as well, or the barracks of the emperor's horse guard on the Caelius.
The general layout of the main facade is identical on both sides of the arch. It is divided by four columns of Corinthian order made of Numidian yellow marble (giallo antico), one of which has been transferred into the Basilica di San Giovanni in Laterano and was replaced by a white marble column. The columns stand on bases showing victory figures on front, and captured barbarians and Roman soldiers on the sides.
The spandrels of the main archway are decorated with reliefs depicting victory figures with trophies, those of the smaller archways show river gods. Column bases and spandrel reliefs are from the times of Constantine.
Above each lateral archway are pairs of round reliefs dated to the times of Emperor Hadrian. They display scenes of hunting and sacrificing: (north side, left to right) hunt of a boar, sacrifice to Apollo, hunt of a lion, sacrifice to Hercules, (south side, left to right) departure for the hunt, sacrifice to Silvanus, hunt of a bear, sacrifice to Diana. The head of the emperor (originally Hadrian) has been reworked in all medaillons: on the north side, into Constantine in the hunting scenes and into Licinius or Constantius I in the sacrifice scenes; on the south side, vice versa. The reliefs, c. 2 m in diameter, were framed in porphyry; this framing is only extant on the right side of the northern facade.
Similar medaillons, this time of Constantinian origin, are placed on the small sides of the arch; on the eastern side, showing the Sun rising, and on the western side, the Moon, both on chariots.
The main piece from the time of Constantine is the "historical" relief frieze running around the monument under the round panels, one strip above each lateral archway and at the small sides of the arch. These reliefs depict scenes from the Italian campaign of Constantine against Maxentius which was the reason for the construction of the monument. The frieze starts at the western side with the "Departure from Milan". It continues on the southern, "outward" looking face, with the siege of a city, probably Verona, which was of great importance to the war in Northern Italy; also on that face, the Battle of Milvian Bridge with Constantine's army victorious and the enemy drowning in the river Tiber. On the eastern side, Constantine and his army enter Rome; the artist seems to have avoided using imagery of the triumph, as Constantine probably did not want to be shown triumphant over the Eternal City. On the northern face, looking "towards" the city, two strips with the emperor's actions after taking possession of Rome: Constantine speaking to the citizens on the Forum Romanum, and distributing money to the people.
In the central archway, there is one large panel of Trajan's Dacian War on each wall. Inside the lateral archways are eight portraits busts (two on each wall), destroyed to such an extent that it is no longer possible to identify them.
The main inscription would originally have been of bronze letters. It can still be read easily, though only the recesses in which the letters sat, and their attachment holes, remain. It reads thus, identically on both sides: To the Emperor Caesar Flavius Constantinus, the greatest, pious, and blessed Augustus: because he, inspired by the divine, and by the greatness of his mind, has delivered the state from the tyrant and all of his followers at the same time, with his army and just force of arms, the Senate and People of Rome have dedicated this arch, decorated with triumphs.