Roman Forum

The last time we visited Rome, it was before the Roman Forum had been fenced off, and you could walk through it casually on the way to somewhere else in Rome. As stayed in Trastevere before, there were many opportunities to do this. So I was sad when I heard that they had fenced the Forum off. However, after seeing what they have done, I see that I was wrong. There have been many upgrades in terms of both access (more paths to places) displays (at least three new museums that weren't there previously) and maintenance (we saw people actively engaged in maintenance, and one small ongoing archaeological excavation. Seems like the money they are getting from limiting access was worth it. Respect to Italy, which seems to recognize the importance of historic sites.

One very cool thing we got to see was the Cryptoporticus, which was the Emperor's secret passageway down to the Roman Forum. Previously an entrance to this had been visible on the Palatine, but you couldn't go through it. Now you can and it was very cool. They projected some decorations on the wall, and there was one section of preserved ceiling decoration.