The New Forma Urbis Museum - A Wonderful Way to Experience Ancient Rome

It is quite an extraordinary experience to walk around in present Rome, surrounded by the Rome of the past.

Nowhere is this quite so special as at the Forma Urbis museum.

Visiting the Forma Urbis Museum and Celio Archaeological Park - Everything you need to know

Overlooking the Colosseum and next to the Palatine Hill, the Caelian Hill is one of the areas in Rome where you can experience all layers of its history.

But what if I told you that right here, you could walk into a large map of Rome?

An ancient and very detailed map of Rome, made out of marble?

You will walk on history in the newly opened Museo della Forma Urbis.

Behind the Colosseum, on the Caelian Hill, the Celio Archaeological Park preserves important archaeological remains, including the remains of the temple of Divo Claudio.

But the main attraction of the park is the Museo della Forma Urbis.

It is home to the surviving fragments of a gigantic marble plan, once carefully carved and recently reconstructed.

On this page, we'll be talking about:

• The history of Celio Hill
• The Celio Archaeological Park
• What is the Forma Urbis?
• Everything there is to see at the new museum
• Practical visit information

The history of the Celio Hill

The Celio has been inhabited for a very long time, but came to prominence in ancient Rome when the hill became a fashionable neighborhood for the wealthy.

In the Middle Ages, many churches were built on the Celio hill (including the church dedicated to Saints John and Paul), and there were plenty of noble estates, small vineyards and monasteries.

In the 16th century, this whole area was the property of the Cornwall noble family, called the Vigna of Marquis Cornovalia.

It remained in the family until Napoleon ruled Rome briefly in the first years of the 1800's.

The French emperor began a huge project to make a public garden in this area and needed to move vast amounts of soil. 

They purchased the Vigna Cornovalgia land to serve as a dumping ground for all this debris, which freed up the area around the Arch of Constantine, the Colosseum, and the lower level of the Roman Forum while also covering up everything that was here.

More works were planned, but the turmoil of the 1800's meant that little progress was made.

Eventually, when Rome became the capital of a newly unified Italy in 1871, another building was erected on the land which was used as a gym.

This building was recently converted into the Museo della Forma Urbis, located within the new archaeological park.

Apart from the museum, showcasing the marvelous map of the imperial city, the newly opened Parco Archeologico del Celio houses other interesting ancient remains.

All about the Celio Archaeological Park

On the hill overlooking the Colosseum, you'll not only find monumental artefacts, marble fragments, building material and other archeological details but also rows of ancient tombstones.

It is mainly from funerary inscriptions and reliefs that archaeologists and historians have learnt about the economy and society of ancient Rome.

According to Pliny the Younger, Romans thought one of the worst things in the world was to have no tombstone to leave a memory of your life.

This interesting fact is illustrated beautifully by the many sarcophagi and stele of varying shapes and designs to be admired here.

The park also holds two reconstructed tombs from the Republican era, a fragment of the Temple to Fortuna Muliebris and monumental fragments of the cornice of the Temple of Castor and Pollux.

The most curious exhibit of the archeological park is an anemoscope, which is decorated with sixteen faces, twelve of which are associated with the Latin name of a wind. 

Inside the park, in the building of the former Palestra della Gioventù Italiana del Littorio (a gym for boys during the reign of the fascists), the new Forma Urbis Romae museum is set up.

The museum consists of one large room showcasing the remaining fragments of the wonderful Severan marble plan of ancient Rome.

No matter when you visit Rome, there are five things you should always bring:

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What is the Forma Urbis?

The Latin phrase Forma Urbis Romae means 'city plan of Rome'.

It’s not what this map was called in ancient Rome, but rather is a modern name we use today.

This is because it’s still the best definition to describe the marble slabs that together form a giant map of Rome.

This marble map of Rome was created by emperor Septimius Severus in the early 200's CE.

It showed the details of the buildings, roads, gardens and more in the city at the time.

Originally the map was 18m/60ft high and 13m/43ft wide, with the marble plan carved into 150 marble slabs.

It was hung on the wall of Vespasian’s Temple of Peace in the Imperial Forums.

Today we can still see that wall, on the outside of the church of Santi Cosma e Damiano, adjacent to the Roman Forum.

It depicted the ground plan of every architectural feature in the ancient city, from large public monuments to small shops, rooms, and even staircases.

Following standard practice, the map was oriented with the southeast at the top.

Some historians think this map could have been used as an actual map.

Others suggest that it was “cadastral”, meaning it showed strict property delineations including differentiating between public and private properties.

Today though, many scholars agree the map was likely a decorative form of propaganda to display the grandeur of the city. 

After the fall of the Roman empire, Rome's population shrank significantly and large parts of the city fell into disrepair.

This part of ancient Rome was slowly buried and the magnificent monuments became simply construction material.

Many parts of the marble plan fell off or were removed, to be used in other buildings.

In 1562, some of the marble pieces were rediscovered and gifted to the Farnese family.

Fragments were used in the construction of the Farnese family’s Secret Garden between the Via Giulia and the Tiber.

In the early 18th century, some fragments made their way to the Capitoline Museum collection, where they were exhibited on a wall.

This inspired a sort of treasure hunt to both find other pieces of marble, but also to work out which pieces fitted together.

To date around 10-15% of the marble map has been recovered.

What there is to see in the new museum

The Forma Urbis museum houses the remaining fragments of the marble map, brought together in a major project to recreate the famous Forma Urbis Romae.

It is one of the rarest and most important testimonies of the ancient city and beautifully displayed in a bespoke space.

The last large exhibition of the marble plan took place between 1903 and 1924 in the garden of the Palazzo dei Conservatori so this has been a long time coming!

The museum consists of a huge room in which the existing parts of the Severan marble plan have been installed in the floor.

There is also an overlay of a detailed, extremely accurate map of Rome that dates from the 1700's created by Italian architect Giovanni Battista Nolli.

Although just a small percentage of the map was rediscovered, the display of the Forma Urbis Romae slabs combined with the more recent map brings the broken marble map back to life.

Rome is often described as a lasagna of historical layers, and the combination of the two historical maps you'll see at the Museo della Forma Urbis shows that like no other.

See how imperial temples, baths and estates resolve into Renaissance vineyards and Baroque piazzas.

Follow the ancient aqueducts and imagine the city of Rome as we enjoy it today by using that one monument that you have probably just passed and that will remain on Roman maps forever, the Colosseum.

There are also information boards with more details about the history of the map, how they were affixed to the original wall and the ongoing work to identify how some pieces fit into the design.

Practical visit information

The Museo della Forma Urbis is located in the Parco Archeologico del Celio, a short walk from the Colosseum at Viale del Parco Del Celio 20.

The park opens daily at 7:00AM and closes at 5:30PM.

During summertime, the park stays open until 8:00PM.

The museum is open from Tuesday to Sunday from 10:00AM until 4:00PM (last entrance at 3:00PM).

Both the park and museum are closed on December 25, New Year's Day and May 1.

While it's free to walk around the park and the ancient ruins on display there, you do need entrance tickets for the museum itself.

You can purchase these in person, but as entrance is timed and there is a maximum number of people allowed inside at any one time, booking ahead is a good idea.

There are different options for visiting with a tour guide as well, some of which combine a visit to the Forma Urbis with other ancient sites around the city.