Velian Hill

Santa Francesca Romana (Italian: Basilica di Santa Francesca Romana), previously known as Santa Maria Nova, is a Roman Catholic church situated next to the Roman Forum in the rione Campitelli in Rome, Italy.

The confessio of Santa Francesca Romana is the confessio, the enclosed area below the altar, of the Basilica of Santa Francesca Romana in Rome. It was built between 1638 and 1649 to a design by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, including a sculptural group of St Frances and the angel. Bernini's sculpture was taken during the French occupation in 1798 and is now lost. The current marble sculpture was created in 1866 by Giosuè Meli.

The Temple of Venus and Roma (Latin: Templum Veneris et Romae) is thought to have been the largest temple in Ancient Rome. Located on the Velian Hill, between the eastern edge of the Forum Romanum and the Colosseum, in Rome, it was dedicated to the goddesses Venus Felix ("Venus the Bringer of Good Fortune") and Roma Aeterna ("Eternal Rome"). The building was the creation of the emperor Hadrian and construction began in 121. It was officially inaugurated by Hadrian in 135, and finished in 141 under Antoninus Pius. Damaged by fire in 307, it was restored with alterations by the emperor Maxentius.

The Arch of Titus (Italian: Arco di Tito; Latin: Arcus Titi) is a 1st-century AD honorific arch, located on the Via Sacra, Rome, just to the south-east of the Roman Forum. It was constructed in c. 81 AD by the Emperor Domitian shortly after the death of his older brother Titus to commemorate Titus's official deification or consecratio and the victory of Titus together with their father, Vespasian, over the Jewish rebellion in Judaea. The arch contains panels depicting the triumphal procession celebrated in 71 AD after the Roman victory culminating in the fall of Jerusalem, and provides one of the few contemporary depictions of artifacts of Herod's Temple. It became a symbol of the Jewish diaspora, and the menorah depicted on the arch served as the model for the menorah used as the emblem of the state of Israel.The arch has provided the general model for many triumphal arches erected since the 16th century—perhaps most famously it is the inspiration for the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, France.

The Via dei Fori Imperiali (formerly Via dei Monti, then Via dell'Impero) is a road in the centre of the city of Rome, Italy, that runs in a straight line from the Piazza Venezia to the Colosseum. Its course takes it over parts of the Forum of Trajan, Forum of Augustus and Forum of Nerva, parts of which can be seen on both sides of the road. Since the 1990s, there has been a great deal of archeological excavation on both sides of the road, as significant Imperial Roman relics remain to be found underneath it.

The Basilica of Maxentius and Constantine (Italian: Basilica di Massenzio), sometimes known as the Basilica Nova—meaning "new basilica"—or Basilica of Maxentius, is an ancient building in the Roman Forum, Rome, Italy. It was the largest building in the Forum, and the last Roman basilica built in the city.

The Colossus of Constantine (Italian: Statua Colossale di Costantino I) was a huge many times life-size acrolithic early 4th century AD statue depicting the Roman emperor Constantine the Great (c. 280–337), commissioned by himself, which originally occupied the west apse of the Basilica of Maxentius on the Via Sacra, near the Forum Romanum in Rome. Surviving portions of the Colossus now reside in the courtyard of the Palazzo dei Conservatori, now part of the Capitoline Museums, on the Capitoline Hill, above the west end of the Forum.

The Porticus Margaritaria was an ancient building in the city of Rome known only from the Notitia et Curiosum. The complex was seemingly commercial in nature as numerous inscriptions refer to jewelers (CIL VI.9207, 9221, 9239, 9418, 9419). It was most likely located outside of the Forum Romanum and adjacent to the House of Vestals. Directly across the Sacra Via was the Basilica Nova. To its south-east was the Temple of Venus and Roma and beyond that the Colosseum. Nothing remains of the Porticus Margaritaria except for some sections of foundation and ruins. Jordan (I.2.476) placed the porticus on the boundary of Region VIII, between the Forum Boarium and the Forum Holitorium.

The Via Sacra (Latin: Sacra Via, "Sacred Street") was the main street of ancient Rome, leading from the top of the Capitoline Hill, through some of the most important religious sites of the Forum (where it is the widest street), to the Colosseum. The road was part of the traditional route of the Roman Triumph that began on the outskirts of the city and proceeded through the Roman Forum. Later it was paved and during the reign of Nero it was lined with colonnades. The road provided the setting for many deeds and misdeeds of Rome's history, the solemn religious festivals, the magnificent triumphs of victorious generals, and the daily throng assembling in the Basilicas to chat, throw dice, engage in business, or secure justice. Many prostitutes lined the street as well, looking for potential customers. From the reign of Augustus, the Via Sacra played a role in the Apotheosis ceremony by which deceased Roman Emperors were formally deified. The body of the Emperor, concealed under a wax death mask, was carried on a pall from the Palatine hill down the Via Sacra into the Forum, where funeral orations were held before the procession of Knights and Senators resumed its course to the Campus Martius.

San Sebastiano al Palatino is a church on the northeastern corner of the Palatine Hill in Rome. It is dedicated to Saint Sebastian, a late-third-century Christian martyr under the reign of Diocletian. According to legend, the church was built on the site of the saint's "first" martyrdom with arrows, which was unsuccessful.

The Elagabalium was a temple built by the Roman emperor Elagabalus, located on the north-east corner of the Palatine Hill. During Elagabalus' reign from 218 until 222, the Elagabalium was the center of a controversial religious cult, dedicated to Elagabalus, of which the emperor himself was the high priest.

The Meta Sudans (Latin: "sweating turning post") was a large monumental conical fountain in ancient Rome.The Meta Sudans was built some time between 89 and 96 under the Flavian emperors, a few years after the completion of the nearby Colosseum. It was built between the Colosseum and the Temple of Venus and Roma, close to the later Arch of Constantine, at the juncture of four regions of ancient Rome: regions I, III, IV, X (and perhaps II).A meta was a tall conical object in a Roman circus that stood at either end of the central spina, around which racing chariots would turn. The Meta Sudans had the same shape, and also functioned as a similar kind of turning point, in that it marked the spot where a Roman triumphal procession would turn left from the via Triumphalis along the east side of the Palatine onto the via Sacra and into the Forum Romanum itself. The Meta Sudans was built of a brick and concrete core, faced with marble. It seems to have "sweated" the water (sudans means "sweating"), rather than jetting it out the top. This may mean that it oozed out the top, or perhaps that water came from holes in its side. The monument is estimated to have stood up to 17m high; until the 20th century, its concrete core was still over 9m high. It had a base pool 16m wide and 1.4m deep. The fountain was obviously damaged in the Middle Ages because it already appears as a ruin in early views of the Colosseum. Photos from the end of the 19th century show a conical structure of solid bricks next to the Arch of Constantine, surrounded by its own original, reflecting stone pool. The ruins of Meta Sudans survived until the 20th century. In 1936 Benito Mussolini had its remains wantonly demolished and paved over to make room for the new traffic circle around the Colosseum. A commemorative plaque was set in the road. Although the above-ground structure is gone, its foundations were later re-excavated, revealing the extensive substructure. After another excavation in 1997-98 the traffic circle was closed and the area became a pedestrian district.Extensive excavations directed by Clementina Panella of the University of Rome "La Sapienza" have revealed extensive archaeological information about the Meta Sudans and the northeast slope of the Palatine Hill.