studentsineurope

Paying to Enter the Roman Forum

For anyone who visited the Eternal City two or more years ago, it will come as a shock that you now have to pay to enter the Roman Forum. This isn’t exactly breaking news – the site was already closed to the non-paying public when I passed through Rome a year ago. But if you’re making a repeat visit to the seat of Roman culture and you remember that a stroll down the Sacred Way came gratis, you should be prepared for this unfortunate change. Even so, I have to admit that my reason for writing about it isn’t to prevent you the embarrassment and inconvenience of running into an unexpected gate. As a history buff there’s something about the decision to close the Forum that bothers me.

I never minded paying to enter the Colosseum, even though the ancient Romans didn’t have to. I never minded paying to view the imperial palaces on the Palatine Hill. I generally figure that eight or twelve euros is a fair price given the upkeep that these ancient sites require, and I suppose I should feel the same way about the Forum. But I can’t help but feel that the Forum was more than a monument – it was a living part of the everyday city. Back when the Forum was open, locals used to place fresh flowers on the spot where Caesar was assassinated. Caesar was more than a historical figure for these people, he was part of their personal identities as Romans. How can this tradition survive if every memorial costs the price of a ticket in addition to a bouquet? Who will bother now that you can’t just wander through?

Legend connects the Forum with the earliest history of Rome, before there was an Empire, before there was even a Republic. Supposedly founded by Rome’s earliest kings, the Forum was the heart of Roman government, commerce, and religion for over a millennium until the Empire’s fall – and then it kept right on going. Despite the fact that the monuments in the Forum began to decay and become buried under debris, the Forum remained a tourist destination for Medieval travelers, a source of building material for later Italian rulers, an inspiration for European artists during the Renaissance and Enlightenment, and the location of archaeological excavations as early as the late 1700’s. Up until very recently, the Forum was also my favorite place in Rome, because it was the perfect spot to sit down for an hour, eat a panino, work on a sketch, and think about how many feet had passed over the round, worn cobbles of the pavement.

The Forum has always changed with the times, and I guess in this era of capitalism the decision to sell tickets is appropriate. Still, I haven’t entered the Forum since the gates went up. I’d like to see it again, but I always end up deciding to explore something new instead of revisiting the old. And that’s what’s so sad about closing the Forum. The Forum was the symbolic heart of Rome. As a public gathering place where Romans have come and gone for over 2500 years, the Forum puts the “eternal” in Eternal City. Or at least it did. Now that you have to pay for what was once a public good, I doubt you’ll find many Romans inside.