Roman Forum & Palatine Hill

The Forum was ancient Rome's downtown for a thousand years — senate house, law courts, triumphal route, sacred fires, and the rostra where Mark Antony delivered Caesar's funeral oration. What survives is a valley of columns and arches between the Capitoline and Palatine hills, and it rewards preparation more than any other site in Rome: with no context it's rubble, with a little it's the most evocative walk in Europe.

Enter from Via dei Fori Imperiali or the quieter Via di San Gregorio gate and walk the Via Sacra — the same basalt slabs the triumphs marched on. The landmarks to anchor a visit: the Curia (senate house, intact because it became a church), the Arch of Septimius Severus, the House of the Vestal Virgins with its lily ponds, the Temple of Antoninus and Faustina's bronze doors, and the Arch of Titus with its carved menorah — the earliest surviving image of the Jerusalem temple treasure.

Then climb the Palatine, where Rome began (Romulus's legendary hut site is marked) and where the emperors built palaces so vast the hill's name became the word "palace" in every European language. The Domus Augustana's sunken stadium, the frescoed House of Augustus (timed entry, included in the Full Experience ticket), and the Farnese Gardens' terrace are the highlights. The terrace view over the Forum in late-afternoon light is the best free photograph in Rome.

Go in the afternoon after an early-morning Colosseum slot: the tour groups do the Forum before lunch, and the site holds its heat pleasantly until close. There is almost no shade and only two water fountains — carry a bottle.