From the main entrance on Via dei Fori Imperali, descend into the extraordinary archaeologial complex that is the Foro Romano (Roman Forum). This was once the heart of Republican Rome, the austere enclave that preceded the hedonistic society that grew up under the emperors in the 1st to the 4th century AD, but was soon transformed by the pleasure-crazed citizens of imperial Rome. It began life as a marshy valley between the Capitoline and Palatine hills -- a valley crossed by a mud track and used as a cemetery by Iron Age settlers. Over the years a market center and some huts were established here, and after the land was drained in the 6th century BC, the site eventually became a political, religious, and commercial center -- namely, the Forum. The original Roman Forum is only one part of the labyrinthine archaeological complex that goes by that name. It can also be confused with the later Imperial Forums (or, more properly, Fora), built by Julius Caesar and other emperors as the city's needs grew.

Hundreds of years of plunder and the tendency of later Romans to scavenge what was left of the better building materials reduced the Forum to its current desolate state. It's difficult to imagine that this enormous area was once Rome's pulsating heart, filled with stately and extravagant temples, palaces, and shops, and crowded with people from all corners of the empire. Adding to the confusion is the fact that the Forum developed over many centuries; what you see today are not the ruins from just one period but from a span of almost 900 years, from about 500 BC to AD 400. Archaeological digs continue to discover more about the site, but for the uninitiated, making sense of these gaunt and craggy ruins isn't easy. It's worth investing in the famous book, Rome Then and Now, which superimposes plans of many of the Forum buildings onto photos of the present sites (it can be purchased at the Colosseo bookshop, among other places, for EUR 10). Nonetheless, the enduring romance of the place, with its lonely columns and great, broken fragments of sculpted marble and stone, makes for a quintessential Roman walk.