The Forum of Saepinum stands where the town's two main roads met, that is the Decumanus and the Cardum Maximum, both built in pre-Roman times. The forum was the major public area in every Roman town, and it was here that trade and commerce were conducted alongside political and administrative business as well.
Saepinum's forum was a huge irregular rectangular space covering an are of 1400 square meters, for centuries it remained covered in earth and was floored with rectangular slabs of stone only in the Augustan age, when a gutter was built in as well to allow rainwater to drain away from the forum.
As in other Roman towns, the Forum of Saepinum was surrounded by inportant public buildings, rather than private houses: the South-east side of the forum has only been partly excavated, while on the opposite site have been found several chambers, probably used as meeting places for priests or as the seat of the town's Senate.
Near the forum there is a temple possibly dedicated to the Capitoline trio of Jupiter, Juno and Minerva and on the far side the so called baths of Silvanus. On one of the short sides stand another place of worship and a public fountain, along with other less important buildings.
The north-west side of the forum is closed in by the Basilica, one of whose sides faces onto the forum area. The Basilica measures aboiut 30 per 20 meters and dates back to the mid-4th century AD. It served as an administrative office and Hall of justice. The peristilium stands above a low podium: there are 8 ionic columns on each long side and 4 columns on each of the short sides, delimiting the confines of the basilica area itself.
The columns and their ionic capitals were originally more than 6 mt tall. The facade overlooking the forum had three entrances as did the other facade looking onto the decumanum, The 20 elegant columns are supported by numerous fragments of remains from buildings of earlier eras.
; newWindow.focus())
; newWindow.focus())
; newWindow.focus())
; newWindow.focus())
; newWindow.focus())