Trajan's Market

Trajan's Market is a curved cliff of Roman brick set into the side of the Quirinal Hill, above the ruins of Trajan's Forum and across Via dei Fori Imperiali from the Vittoriano. It was probably built between about AD 100 and 110, most likely to designs by Apollodorus of Damascus, Trajan's architect for the forum and for his campaigns, and inaugurated in 113. It is often called the oldest shopping centre in the world, though many scholars now think its rooms served largely as offices for the imperial administration.

Inside, you move through a stack of levels. The Great Hall is covered by a concrete vault on piers that lets light and air into the central space, and the rows of small vaulted rooms, the tabernae, open off it. A long balcony looks out over the market's great semicircular front and the forum below. The Via Biberatica, an ancient street whose name is linked with drinking, runs through the complex between the buildings, still paved. In the Middle Ages extra floors and defensive works were added, and the Torre delle Milizie, raised around 1300, still stands over the complex.

Since 2007 the complex has housed the Museum of the Imperial Fora, which gathers finds from all of ancient Rome's imperial forums. It is a quieter and more understandable visit than the main Forum, and a good place to understand how Roman concrete architecture actually worked.

Getting there

The entrance is at Via Quattro Novembre 94 in central Rome, with a second entrance on Piazza Madonna di Loreto. Ciampino Airport (CIA) is about 14 km away; Fiumicino is the main international airport.