James Tucker in Cov

The Forum and the Palatine Hill are the centre of old ancient Rome, and I guess it's pretty lucky/incredible that so much of it still survives. The forum is the old city centre, full of republican temples and buildings, and then is towered over by the Palatine Hill, covered in (and mostly made of) ancient palaces. At one end of the whole spread is the colosseum, at the other end is the Senate (which still stands!) and Roman city hall. The Senate end (left) contains the Rostrum (apparently a low wall) where people made speeches and met up, a pillared temple, and triumphal arch.
Off to one side are the remains of the Basilica of Constantine, a huge, but less graceful Imperial building. Only one of the three aisles remains, but that's plenty all on its own. Apparently this is what the original St. Peter's would have looked like.
The Via Sacra is still pretty recognisable. To the right of the road is the Vestal temple, and to the left is apparently where Julius Caesar was cremated and memorialised. The hill rising to the right is actually mostly one huge ruin of Imperial palaces (see below). Anyhow, it was a hot, dry day, and though thousands of people headed into the site (it's free) we got there early enough to get a run of the place. The Palatine hill and Colusseum are more impressive in size and design, but it's the various familiar names and styles of the forum that really left an impression on me.