We continued our river walk south of the Forum, in one of the oldest parts of Rome. This area is where the bulk of Romans worked and lived during the empire, and it's littered with dozens of ruins from that period. It gets very few tourists because the ruins are spread out and surrounded by the modern-era city, so it's a bit of a chore to see them. And for the most part they're rather small so there's no particular reason to try to see all of them. But it's one of the most interesting parts of Rome to wander around, because around every corner there's an unexpected surprise waiting. Perhaps the biggest surprise is the largest ruin in the area, the Theatre of Marcello. The theatre was started by Julius Caesar, and was to be the preeminent venue for live theatre performances. Unfortunately, the Roman public couldn't care less about bloodless drama, so the shows quickly degenerated into the usual bloody carnage to compete with the Colosseum. During the Middle Ages the theatre was converted into a fortress and fought over by the Colonna and Orsini families. More surprisingly, the ruin is now an apartment building, with some very fashionable apartments.