Forum

At point of intersection between the cardus maximus and decumanus maximus, in correspondence with the present Piazza Tre Martiri, was the Forum, the heart of public life and business transactions. In the forum, the paving in chalky stone covered the whole square (now partially visible in two areas specially prepared and placed about 1.5 m below the present ground level).
The archaeological findings remind us that, in the age of Augustus, the Forum was wider than the current Piazza Tre Martiri: the Forum was closed in on the North by the theatre in brickwork and on the Southern by the archway which signaled its entry; the Basilica, which was where legal and business activities were administrated in Roman times, rose on the side close to the sea, across from which is now via San Michelino in foro.
The Forum is also dominated by the memory of Julius Caesar, evoked by two modern signs: the statue in bronze and the stone milestone at the head of via IV Novembre. According to tradition (but never confirmed in any report written by the general himself) he would harangue his army in the very Forum of Ariminum following the passage of the Rubicon, in 49 BD.