Venue: Via dei Fori Imperiali
Town: Rome, IT

The Via dei Fori Imperiali (formerly Via dei Monti, then Via dell'Impero) is a road in the centre of the city of Rome, Italy, that is in a straight line from the Piazza Venezia to the Colosseum. The road was built in 1932 to rediscover and make visible the Imperial fora: Forum of Trajan, Forum of Augustus and Forum of Nerva, as well as Trajan's Market, previously hidden under the buildings. Most of these monuments can be seen on both sides of the road. The street is lined with stone pines (Pinus pinea). Since the 1990s, there has been a new deal of archaeological excavation along the road and in its gardens. In the Roman regulatory plans of 1873, 1883 and 1909 it was planned to open a road between Piazza Venezia and the Colosseum, therefore on the route of the present Via dei Fori Imperiali. The project was consistent with the philosophy of urban planning of the time, which provided for the opening in the city centres of wide connecting roads created by gutting the ancient building fabric. A classic example is the transformation of Paris during the Second French Empire, by Napoleon III and the prefect Baron Haussmann, but there were similar interventions in London (1848-1865), Florence (1859-1865), Vienna (1857) and Brussels (1867-1871). The Via dei Fori Imperiali was finally built during the Fascist period between 1924 and 1932. The tentative name of the road during its construction was Via dei Monti, but it was named Via dell'Impero when it was inaugurated. Mussolini, on horseback, cut the ribbon opening the road on 9 April 1932 and led a military parade with veterans of World War I. After the end of World War II, the road was renamed to its present name. Each year on 2 June it hosts a parade in celebration of the founding of the modern Italian Republic. The road was built to rediscover and make visible the Imperial fora: Forum of Trajan, Forum of Augustus, Forum of Caesar, Forum of Nerva and Trajan's Market, previously hidden under the buildings. This decision ne