Via dei Fori Imperiali

for Janet

My friend, Janet Cooper, was in Rome this past weekend. We made an appointment for Sunday morning and, as she was staying near the Colosseum, we headed towards the Fori Imperiali.

foto of a little church and a big building with a jungled terrace

Looking away from the Colosseum and towards via delle Carine, you can see the church of Santa Maria della Neve al Colosseo on the left, on the corner with via del Cardello. Turn around and you see this:

Peek-a-Boo Colosseo

The last weekend of the month, via dei Fori Imperiali is closed to the traffic making it a great place to go for a walk with friends and or family. In fact, despite the grey weather, their was much animation.

Beneath the wall is via dei Fori Imperiali (Imperial Fora). The fori are a series of monumenta squares and their buildings. they are all in the same area facing via dei Fori Imperiali. The forums are: Forum of Caesar (46 BC), Forum of Augustus (2 BC), Forum of Nerva (81-96 AD), Forum of Trajan (113 AD), yhr latter being built using the spoils from Dacia.

The Forum aka Foro, was the center of public life. It offered Romans a place to congregate and exchange social and business activities.

via dei Fori Imperiali with some people walking and some people on foot scooters

looking down on via dei Fori Imperiali

woman wearing a hat in front of the colosseum

Janet, her hat, and the Colosseum

a view of via dei fori imperiali and the colosseum

Colosseum and foot scooters

via Cavour

Because of the ongoing metro construction in the area, part of via Cavour was closed. But it gave us a chance to admire the lions holding up the balconies.

A corbel, in architecture, is a support to help bear the weight of the balcony.

restyling continues

excavation site on fori imperiali with columns suffering from pollution

The Forum of Nerva

deteriorating columns at the foro imperiali

The Colonnacce, Forum of Nerva

The columns that were once part of the Temple of Minerva

woman holding a camera in fron of two columns

Janet

excavation site with many archetectural fragments

in the background a heap of broken marble pieces

Parasol pines and Nerva

Statue of Nerva

Forum of Nerva

“The Imperial Fora are a monumental architectural complex, formed by a series of buildings and monumental squares, the centre of the political activity of ancient Rome, built in a period of about 150 years, between 46 BC and 113 AD.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statue_of_Nerva

In the background are two cupolas as well as the top of the Trajan Column. One cupola is that of Santa Maria di Loreto al Foro Traiano (1585). And I believe the other cupola to be that of Santissimo Nome di Maria al Foro Traiano (1751).