Temple of Portunus Temple

Address: Piazza della Bocca della Verità, 00186 Roma RM, Italy

Admission: Free entry to view from the square; included in many guided walks of the Forum/Area (~€16 combined tickets for nearby sites)

The Temple of Portunus is a late Republican Roman temple located in the Forum Boarium beside the Tiber River in Rome, notable for its rectangular plan and Ionic order. The temple is one of the best-preserved small Republican temples in the city and dates to around the 2nd-1st century BCE.

Architectural features include a raised podium, a columned portico at the front and engaged columns along the cella walls, producing a pseudoperipteral appearance. The stone-faced structure retains much of its classical form due to conversion to a Christian building in the Middle Ages, which helped protect it.

The temple stands in the Forum Boarium district, close to the Tiber and near other well-known monuments such as the circular Temple of Hercules Victor, and is easily visited on foot from central Rome.

• Preservation: A well-preserved example of a Roman Republican pseudoperipteral Ionic temple, its survival owes much to medieval reuse which protected the superstructure.

The Temple is in the Forum Boarium by the river and the Bocca della Verità. From the Colosseum area it’s about a 15-20 minute walk along Via dei Fori Imperiali and across the Tiber; the nearest bus stops are on Viale Aventino.

• See the temple at dusk when the stone warms in the low light and the nearby Boca della Verità draws fewer crowds.
• Combine with a visit to the neighbouring Forum Boarium and the Forum area for context.