Roman Forum

The Forum Romanum can be disappointing for about thirty seconds.

You enter expecting the centre of the Roman Empire and are greeted by a landscape of broken columns, scattered stones and half vanished foundations. Then your eyes adjust. The valley itself is the attraction.

This stretch of ground between the Palatine and Capitoline Hills was once the busiest and most influential place in the Western world. Senators argued here, merchants struck deals here, emperors celebrated victories here and, judging by Roman literature, an impressive amount of gossip circulated here as well. Before any of that, it was a swamp. The Romans drained it using the Cloaca Maxima, an engineering project so effective that parts of it still function more than two millennia later. Modern cities have achieved less.

The Forum rewards people who enjoy noticing details. A few worn stones turn out to be the remains of the Temple of Vesta, where Rome's sacred flame burned for centuries. Nearby stands the spot where Julius Caesar was cremated after his assassination in 44 BC. Visitors still leave flowers there today, perhaps the longest running public relations campaign in history.

What makes the Forum remarkable is how much imagination it demands. Ancient Romans would have struggled to recognise the place. The temples were painted in vivid colours, statues gleamed, and the valley was packed with crowds, noise, ambition and ceremony. The elegant world of white marble that appears in films owes more to time than to Roman taste.

The Colosseum delivers its impact immediately. The Forum works differently. It slowly reveals that many of the ideas, institutions and power structures that shaped Europe emerged from a patch of land that began life as a muddy valley. By the time you leave, the ruins no longer feel like ruins. They feel like evidence.