The Globe Map
🏛️

Landmark

Temple of Portunus

★ 4.5 (478)Free

Built between roughly 80 and 70 BC near what was once the Forum Boarium, Rome's ancient cattle market and river port, this rectangular temple owes its remarkable state of preservation to its conversion into a Christian church in the Middle Ages. Its Ionic columns and travertine-and-tufa construction offer a clear, close-up look at pre-Imperial Roman temple design, distinct from the more famous Imperial-era monuments. Standing quietly beside the Temple of Hercules Victor in a small piazza near the Tiber, it draws far fewer visitors than its scale and age would suggest it deserves. A rewarding stop for anyone interested in ancient Roman religious architecture.

✨ Reasons to go

  • 1Built between 80 and 70 BC, it's one of Rome's oldest surviving temples from the Republican era.
  • 2Its survival is due to conversion into a Christian church during the Middle Ages, unlike most Republican-era temples.
  • 3Its Ionic columns and travertine-and-tufa build show Etruscan and Greek influence distinct from later Imperial-style temples.

💡 Good to know

  • 1Combine with the adjacent Temple of Hercules Victor for a two-temple stop in one small piazza
  • 2it's free and viewable from outside only
  • 3visit in the early evening, when the surrounding piazza empties out and the light is best for photos.

⏱️ Typical visit

15 min

🕰️ Best time

early morning, early evening or evening

🚶 Walking intensity

Easy pace

📍

Address

Piazza della Bocca della Verità, 00186 Roma RM, Italy · RomaGoogleApple
🎫

Booking

Walk-in

What people say

"The Temple of Portunus, located in the Forum Boarium of Rome, is a significant example of Roman architecture from the Republican period, built between 80 and 70 BC. Its design shows Etruscan and Greek influences, featuring elements such as a podium, a single tetrastyle portico, and classical characteristics of harmony and symmetry, with Ionic columns. The temple has been preserved and converted into a church, which has contributed to its exceptional state of preservation."

— RoshanInViaggio