The book is the result of three years of excavations (2005-2008) on the north-west side of Rome’s Via dei Fori Imperiali, directly behind the Forum area. Contexts and landscapes extending from the Archaic period (6th century B.C.) to the time of Augustushave been discovered. Two wealthy houses from the Archaic period, destroyed most likely by the great fire of 390 B.C. and quickly rebuilt afterwards, were found in the area towards the south-eastern slope of the Capitoline Hill. They were subsequently dismantled during the construction of Caesar’s Forum, which had occupied the entire area. This feature was originally 20 metres shorter than the one we know today and the many facets of its interesting story are fully discussed in these pages.