Criptoportico Forense

Back in the day, nobody really agreed on what the cryptoporticus was for. Was it a fancy shortcut to get from the sacred temples above to the busy forum? A backstage for religious ceremonies where only the VIPs-think gods and important locals-could creep along unseen? Or just an immense storage room for ancient Roman lost and found? By the third century, that's what it became: a place to stash stuff nobody wanted on display. Still, all agree this place helped support a gigantic artificial terrace above, where two magnificent temples looked down over the forum-one for Augustus himself, the other for Rome’s top trio, the Capitoline gods. Today, very few cryptoporticuses are open to the public; you can brag you’ve seen one of the rarest Roman underground secrets in Europe!