Begun under Domitian but inaugurated by Nerva in A.D: 97, the complex appears as an elongated rectangle, whose form was exaggerated by the presence of high columns protruding slightly from the continuous perimeter wall. Two of these, traditionally know as the “Colonnacce”, are still visible at the corner of Via dei Fori Imperiale and Via Cavour. The piazza was closed off by the temple dedicated to Minerva, with six columns along the front of the pronaos and three on the sides. The temple was destroyed at the beginning of the seventeenth century by order of Pope Paul the fifth, who used its spolia in the fountain of the Acqua Paula on the Janiculum, and in the Borghese Chapel at Santa Maria Maggiore. Behind the temple was found the Porticus Absidata, a semicircular building with several orders of columns that served as a monumental entrance to the Forum from the Subura while masking the rear of the Temple of Minerva. The recent excavations show that the Forum continued in use for a very long time. As late as the eighth century A.D. the piazza was maintained in good condition. During the last decades of the century a road was created along the line of the ancient Argiletum, linking the area of the Roman Forum with the Subura. Along this road in the course of the ninth century a series of large houses was built. These substantial buildings had two floors, and in one case a portico along the street. They are now restored, and visible in the Forum itself. (Riccardo Santangeli Valenzani)