The Via Sacra, the Sacred Road, connected some of the most important religious sites in the Forum Romanum, stretching from the summit of the Capitoline Hill to the area of the Colosseum.

There are still many doubts about the course of the road. It changed several times in antiquity, and it is possible that there were several different courses that were called the Via Sacra at the same time, some longer, some shorter.

The most ancient part of the Via Sacra is the part between the Regia, the residence of the kings and later of the pontifex maximus, and the Domus Publica, the house of the rex sacrorum, about 40m to the east. It is a very short stretch of road, but it connected two of the most important religious houses in archaic Rome.

A much longer Via Sacra started on the Arx on the Capitoline Hill, passed the Comitium and the Basilica Aemilia, progressed in front of the Regia and the Domus Publica. The rest of the course is less certain and it might have changed several times in antiquity, especially after the construction of the Basilica of Maxentius and the Temple of Amor and Roma appears to have moved the Via Sacra. Currently the Via Sacra passes under the Arch of Titus and ends in front of the Arch of Constantine, but before that it appears to have passed the area now occupied by the Basilica of Maxentius and the Temple of Amor and Roma to continue towards the Esquiline Hill.

Under the currently visible paving substantial remains of two older roads have been found.

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