Via dei Fori Imperiali

This guide to Via dei Fori Imperiali in Rome opens in 1932, when Mussolini had a dense medieval quarter cleared to open a sightline from Piazza Venezia to the Colosseum, displacing 746 families and demolishing three churches. It follows the boulevard's stated purpose, revealing the ancient Imperial Forums of Caesar, Augustus, Trajan and Nerva, against what the construction did to them. Stand along the central strip to take in the excavated forums on both sides at once.