Forum Boarium

Piazza della Bocca della Verità stands on what was once Ancient Rome’s cattle market (Forum Boarium). Opposite Chiesa Santa Maria in Cosmedin are two tiny Roman temples dating to the 2nd century BC: the round Tempio di Ercole Vincitore and the Tempio di Portunus, dedicated to the god of rivers and ports, Portunus. Just off the piazza, the Arco di Giano (Arch of Janus) is a four-sided Roman arch that once covered a crossroads. Beyond it is the medieval Chiesa di San Giorgio in Velabro, a beautiful, atmospheric church, the original 7th-century portico of which was completely destroyed by a Mafia bomb attack in 1993.