Casa dei Cavalieri di Rodi, Palazzo in the Forum of Augustus, Rome, Italy

Casa dei Cavalieri di Rodi stands on a high rusticated base in the Forum of Augustus. Its front has six tall arched openings separated by slender columns, with a red flag in the second arch from the right. A small arched window sits to the right, and a pointed arched window with a balcony is at the far left. Below, large blind arches are cut into the wall.

A small church and Basilian monastery were built in the 9th or 10th century on the podium of the Temple of Mars Ultor. By 1320 the site belonged to the Knights Hospitaller, whose Roman priory settled there after 1312. Cardinal Marco Barbo rebuilt the house between 1467 and 1470, giving it its present form.

The name recalls the Knights of Rhodes, as the Hospitallers were called after losing Rhodes in 1522. The order's Roman priory was based here from 1312, and a 1334 inventory lists three pharmacies and 23 houses it owned between the Torre dei Conti and the Torre delle Milizie. Since 1946 the house has belonged to the Sovereign Military Order of Malta and hosts the association of its Italian knights.

Plan your visit by checking access requirements in advance, as this site often operates with restricted hours and group size limits. The location sits within the archaeological area of the Imperial Forums, making it easy to combine with nearby ruins during one trip.

The 1467-1470 rebuilding by Cardinal Marco Barbo reused a monumental structure known as the "Domitianic terrace", identified by its brick stamps. Scholars interpret it as the remains of a fountain fed by the Aqua Marcia, probably never finished because it was absorbed into the eastern portico of Trajan's Forum. Part of its staircase is still visible from the loggia.