Roman Forum

What it is

The Roman Forum is the excavated floor of the valley between the Capitoline and Palatine hills, and it was the centre of Roman public life for more than a thousand years. The Parco archeologico del Colosseo, which runs it, dates the beginning to the late 7th century BCE, when the swamp that filled the valley was drained and the first buildings for political, religious and commercial business went up. Civil basilicas for judicial work followed in the 2nd century CE. By the end of the republican period the space was already too small to serve as the administrative centre of the city, so later emperors added prestige rather than capacity: the Temple of Vespasian and Titus, the Temple of Antoninus Pius and Faustina, and the Arch of Septimius Severus at the western end, raised in 203 CE for the emperor's victories over the Parthians. Maxentius built the last great works in the early 4th century, and the final monument of all was the column put up in 608 CE for the Byzantine emperor Phocas. After that the valley silted up and turned to meadow, and Romans called it the Campo Vaccino, the cow field. What a visitor walks through today is the result of systematic excavation that only began after the unification of Italy.

Checked 2026-08-26 · Source

What's inside

The Forum is an open archaeological area rather than a building, so what is inside it is a field of separate monuments reached on foot along the Via Sacra. The Parco singles out the Arch of Augustus, the Arch of Septimius Severus, the Temple of Venus and Roma, the Basilica of Maxentius, the Temple of Vesta with the House of the Vestals, the Temple of Antoninus and Faustina, Santa Maria Antiqua with the Oratory of the Forty Martyrs and the Ramp of Domitian, and the Plutei of Trajan. Several monuments survived because they were converted into churches: the Curia Iulia became Sant'Adriano, part of the Temple of Antoninus and Faustina became San Lorenzo in Miranda, and the Temple of Romulus became Santi Cosma e Damiano. The Forum Pass SUPER ticket also opens the Museum of the Roman Forum, the Temple of Romulus, the Curia Iulia, the exhibition rooms of the Domus Tiberiana, Santa Maria Antiqua and the Horrea Piperataria, and it carries on into the Palatine and the Imperial Fora. Access to the SUPER rooms, which hold fragile painting, runs from 9.30 until one hour before closing. On site there are toilets, baby changing stations, an info point, audio guides, a refreshment point, a bookshop and a lift.

Checked 2026-08-26 · Source

How long to spend

Allow ninety minutes for the Roman Forum on its own. The Parco archeologico del Colosseo publishes no suggested visit length, so that figure is this guide's judgement rather than a number read off the operator's site, and it is built around walking pace rather than around reading every panel. Ninety minutes covers the Via Sacra end to end, the Arch of Septimius Severus and the Curia at the western end, the House of the Vestals in the middle, and the Basilica of Maxentius on the way out towards the Colosseum, at a pace that leaves time to stand still. It does not cover the Palatine. The same ticket includes the hill and the Imperial Fora, and the climb plus the Palatine Museum needs a further ninety minutes to two hours, so a visitor buying the Forum Pass SUPER should budget half a day rather than an afternoon hour. The ground is ancient paving and gravel with real slopes, and the valley holds heat, so a summer visit runs slower than the same walk in March. Anyone arriving with under an hour should enter from the Colosseum end and accept seeing the eastern half only.

Checked 2026-08-26

Season and crowds

The Roman Forum and Palatine area opens at 9.00 every day; the Colosseum opens earlier, at 8.30, which is a different time and catches people out. Closing moves three times a year. From 29 March to 30 September 2026 the Parco closes at 19.15 with last admission at 18.15. From 1 October to 24 October 2026 last admission is 17.30 and closing 18.30. From 25 October 2026 to 28 February 2027 last admission is 15.30 and closing 16.30, so a late-autumn visitor has a short afternoon and should treat 15.30 as the real deadline. The site is closed on 25 December 2026 and 1 January 2027, and on no weekday. Admission is free on the first Sunday of every month and on 25 April, 2 June and 4 November. Free days are also the busiest, and the Forum Pass SUPER cannot be used on the first free Sunday at all. For a quieter walk, arrive at opening rather than at midday: the valley has almost no shade, and between roughly 12.00 and 16.00 in summer both the crowd and the heat are at their worst.

Checked 2026-08-26 · Source

Tickets

Two tickets get a visitor into the Roman Forum, and both cost €18.00 at full price. The Forum Pass SUPER is the one to buy if the Colosseum is not part of the plan: €18.00 full, €2.00 reduced for EU citizens aged 18 up to the day of their 25th birthday, valid for one entry to the Roman Forum, the Palatine and the Imperial Fora including current exhibitions, with no Colosseum and no timed reservation. Bought online it can be used within 30 days of purchase, and once validated it is valid only for that day. The alternative is the 24h ticket for the Colosseum, Roman Forum and Palatine, also €18.00 full and €2.00 reduced, which adds one Colosseum entry at a booked time slot; it costs €11.50 with a Roma Pass and €14.00 on the RAP concession. Tickets are issued in the holder's name, and an identification document must be kept visible at the entrances alongside the ticket. Sales open 30 days before the visit date. Since 4 May 2026 the Forum Pass SUPER is sold on site only at the Largo della Salara Vecchia and Foro Romano 1 ticket offices, while the 24h ticket is sold only at Piazza del Colosseo.

Checked 2026-08-26 · Source

Getting there

No car is needed or wanted: the Forum sits inside the restricted centre of Rome, and every entrance is a short walk from public transport. The Parco lists four ways in — the gateway at Largo della Salara Vecchia 5/6, the gateway at via del Tulliano, the Via Sacra entrance from Piazza del Colosseo, and Foro Romano 1. Which one to use depends on the ticket: the Forum Pass SUPER is sold at Largo della Salara Vecchia and Foro Romano 1, so entering at the Colosseum end with no ticket in hand means walking the length of the valley to buy one. Metro line B stops at Colosseo and line C at Colosseo-Fori Imperiali, both within a few minutes of the eastern gateway. Buses 51, 75, 81, 85, 87 and 118 serve the area, with stops 70518 and 70543 nearest the Forum itself, and tram 3 runs past the Colosseum. The passage between the Parco and the Imperial Fora area is open every day from 9.00 to 18.00, which is worth knowing if the plan is to cross between the two on one Forum Pass rather than leave and re-enter.

Checked 2026-08-26 · Source

What to watch out for

Four things trip visitors up here. First, the ticket carries a name: it is issued in the holder's name and an identification document has to be kept visible at the entrance, so a ticket bought for somebody else is a problem, and the name can be changed only once, only by midnight seven days before the visit, and only for the reasons the Parco's regulations list. Second, last admission is an hour before closing all year, and in the 25 October to 28 February season that means being at the gate by 15.30. Third, the SUPER rooms inside the ticket — Santa Maria Antiqua, the Domus Tiberiana exhibition rooms and the rest — open only from 9.30 and shut one hour before the site does, because they hold paintings that crowding damages; on the Palatine, the House of Augustus is closed on Mondays and the House of Livia on Tuesdays. Fourth, the Forum Pass SUPER cannot be used on the first free Sunday of the month, which is exactly the day people assume it will work. The Parco also posts one-off closures of individual monuments on its news page, so check it in the days before travelling.

Checked 2026-08-26 · Source

Photography

The Forum photographs better from above than from inside it, and both viewpoints are free. The terrace behind the Capitoline, reached from Piazza del Campidoglio, looks straight down the valley over the Arch of Septimius Severus and the Column of Phocas, and it is the single frame most people come away wanting; the Via dei Fori Imperiali railings give a lower, flatter version of the same thing. From inside the site, the Palatine slope above the House of the Vestals gives height without a queue. Light is the constraint. The valley runs roughly east to west, so morning sun comes over the Colosseum end and puts the Arch of Septimius Severus in strong backlight, while the last hour before closing rakes along the columns of the Temple of Saturn and the Temple of Antoninus and Faustina and separates them from the background. In the October to February season closing is early enough that this good light and the last admission almost coincide, which is an argument for a late-afternoon winter visit. Bring a wide lens for the Basilica of Maxentius, whose surviving vaults are too close and too tall to fit otherwise, and expect people in every frame taken between 11.00 and 15.00.

Checked 2026-08-26

Where it is

Nearby

External links

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