According to legend, the Palatine is the hill where Romulus originally founded the town of Rome. It is a very important strategic place, allowing to control the banks of the river Tiber, and it shows traces of ancient dwellings dating back to the Iron Age. During the republican age the place became a residential area: here you can find the houses of important persons (such as Cicero) and representatives of the noble class, for example emperor Augustus (whose palace may be visited with prior booking), who chose this area with the precise intention to reconnect himself to the mythological founder of Rome. The building of Nero’s and Domitian’s residences transformed the Palatine Hill into a large open-air royal palace. At the feet of the Palatine, between the Capitoline and Quirinal hills, stood the complex of the Forum Boarium, that during the years increased its extension and its importance, until it became the centre of the city life, both from the commercial, religious and administrative points of view.