Roman Forum of Aquileia

The Roman Forum is located a short distance from the Basilica complex, to the north. Currently the site, restored and partially rebuilt in the thirties of the last century, is crossed by the regional road 352, but in ancient times the space was closed to traffic and was located on the axis of the cardo maximus, the main road that ran through the city in a north-south direction. The vast square was paved and surrounded by a portico raised by three steps, occupied by shops (tabernae) with terracotta floors and sometimes mosaic squares. In the first half of the 1st century A.D. the columns, surmounted by composite capitals, supported an attic adorned with parapets with erotos and garlands alternating with plinths with protomes of Iuppiter Ammon (Jupiter with ram's horns) and Medusa, symbol of the eastern and western borders of the Empire. The southern side of the Forum was occupied by the Basilica, a place dedicated to the administration of justice and seat of public meetings: few traces of the building remain on the ground, but it is deduced that it was divided into three naves by a series of columns, and that the short sides were concluded by two apses. From a well in front of the Basilica was recovered, among other materials, the gilded bronze head of a statue of a man of high rank, violently torn from the bust, originally belonging to the sculptural decoration of the Forum and now on display at the National Archaeological Museum of the city. Most of the sculptural and architectural decoration of the complex, which enriched the Forum even during the monumentalisation phases of the 4th century, was lost after the destruction and plundering between the end of the 5th and the beginning of the 7th century. On site you can admire copies of some statues, plinths with Jupiter Ammon and Medusa and parapets with erotos and garlands.