2 Best Sights in Italy

The round layout of the Temple of Hercules Victor led it to be mistakenly identified for centuries as the Temple of Vesta, which has a similar shape but really sits on the other side of Palatine Hill in the Roman Forum. Now called by its correct name, it was built in the 2nd century BC around the same time as its neighbor, the Tempio di Portuno. The little park around the temples was once ancient Rome's cattle market, but now has benches to rest weary feet.

A picture-perfect, if dollhouse-size, Roman temple, this rectangular edifice from the 2nd century BC is built in the Greek style. Positioned in a bend in the Tiber River and long known as the Temple of Fortuna Virilis (Manly Fortune), it was appropriately dedicated to Portunus, the protector of ports. It now sits on a slip of greenery between two well-trafficked roads and owes its fine state of preservation to the fact that it was consecrated as a church in the 9th century.