Not many people known that Milan was the capital city of the Western Roman Empire during the reign of Imperator Diocletian, nor that right here emperor Constantine issued the Edict of Milan that allowed Christianity to become the dominant religion in the Empire. Just bits and pieces remained from this glorious historical period, however, if you try hard enough you may collect all these pieces and try to imagine how Milan once looked like. There are in total 14 ancient sights that are connected to the Roman period and testify of the importance of this city. All of these 14 sights will be covered on this page.
Roman forums were structures of great importance for the Roman Empire. Most of the towns and cities had one. It was a marketplace where people could exchange goods, but it was also an important place to get together. It was used for political discussions and debates, rendezvous and meetings. However, there is not much left from the Milan’s forum nowadays. The remains were found accidentally during the restoration of the Ambrose Library in 1990s. Nowadays, underneath the Ambrose Library visitors can see just a part of the pavement of once great Forum that measured 55 by 160 meters.
The church San Vittore al Corpo is a masterpiece; it is located just next to the National Museum of Science and Technology and it is never crowded. Having in mind how intricately decorated it is, it would be a shame not to visit it. Much has been theorized about the Imperial Mausoleum, the most probable version would be that it was constructed in the late ancient period between the 4th and 5th century, on the site which had already been used as a Christian burial site.
Only during the construction of the metro network have they discovered what lies beneath Duomo. Before Duomo was built, on this turf there was an Episcopal complex consisting of Basilica Santa Maria Maggiore and Basilica di Santa Tecla, which were demolished in order to build the cathedral. Santa Tecla had an adjacent structure - a baptistery (a separate building used for baptism) called The Baptistery of San Givanni (Battistero di San Giovanni alle Fonti).
There are no historical facts to support that Sent Ambrose founded this church in the 4th century. However, according to the popular belief, he is believed to have commissioned the construction on one of the road intersections that led to the Alps, which connected the city of Milan with Rezia (Latin Reatia, an ancient alpine region populated by people called Reti).
