5- Aventine

The Aventine covers the southern area of the ancient Rome. At the foot of the Hill on the North side there are the two tiny well preserved Temples of the Forum Boarium dedicated to Hercules and Portunus dating from the 2nd century B.C.. The Arch of Janus, dating from the 4th century A.D. and the Arco degli Argentari dedicated to the Emperor Septimius Severus in A.D. 204. Looking out to the Tiber can be seen the Ponte Rotto which is the remaining arch of a bridge built in the 2nd century B.C., its original name was the Pons Aemilius. Just upstream there is the Tiber Island, linked to the left bank by Ponte Fabricio the oldest original bridge over the Tiber still in use, it was built in 62 B.C.. To the right bank is linked by Ponte Cestio inscribed with the names of the Byzantine emperors who restored it in A.D. 370.

Set into the wall of the portico of Santa Maria in Cosmedin the Bocca della Verità (Mouth of Truth). This may have been a drain cover dating back to the 4th century B.C.. Medieval tradition had it that the formidable jaws would snap shut over the hand of those who told lies.

At the South of the Hill is the imposing pyramid faced in white marble set in the Aurelian Wall near Porta San Paolo (Porta Ostiense).

The Aurelian Wall is well preserved.