Here we have a view of the Trajan’s Forum, the largest and most monumental of the Imperial forums of Rome! Today there are only ruins and the remains, although some of them are really impressive, in addition to some fantastic items as well-preserved as the Column of Trajan. As a local tour guide here in Rome I usually explain it to my touristis, obersving how they could be astonished to listen a story made of propaganda, beauty and power. 

First of all imagine to be in the Rome of the I and II century a.D. when in this area stood a huge square paved in marble and in the centre a big statue, a bronze equestrian one depicting Trajan in the guise of a general. Behold, this is only a small taste of what it really was this Forum: not only a great work of engineering and architectural fit for a man as Trajan, who wanted at all costs to represent itself as the unvanquished, of the general supreme and excellent soldier. No, because the Forum had also a purpose of the urban environment. After the creation of many Forums, among which that of Caesar (here) and Augustus (here), the Romans felt the need of a new space in which to think about their business. Don't forget that the Forum was a public square where busying themselves merchants, orators, lawyers, and judges. A place of politics, all for the roman community.

Trajan wanted that his Forum should be able to underline the precious victory against the Dacians, the tribes coming from modern-day Romania. It was a tremendous war fought on several occasions, which, however, will see Trajan, the optimus princeps, as the only winner. In the first decade of the II century a.D., then, the emperor orders to Apollodorus of Damascus, his main architect, the creation of the Forum. How did he find the money to create it? Simply used the treasure brought to Rome after a victorious military campaign: we're talking about 5 million pounds of gold and 10 million pounds of silver! And what built Apollodorus of Damascus?

As you can see in the plan, we can't start from the impressive porticoed square, and paved with marble, in the centre, the huge equestrian statue, in bronze, depicting the emperor. To the left the extraordinary Basilica Ulpia, from the family name of Trajan, having five naves flanked by imposing columns (of which there are still a few standing). Subsequently, along one of the long sides of the basilica, open here a small square on which stood the Column of Trajan, the symbol of the whole Forum and not only. Even today, this marble column, surrounded by mountains that run along the stem and that will tell us about the events and the episodes of the dacian wars, is there to remind us of the wars of Trajan. Perhaps this is the base on which it rests, even today, the column also became his tomb, where the ashes of the optimus princeps and his wife were kept. To the sides of the square opened two buildings, probably two-storey building, which served as libraries and perhaps from the offices. Back on the big square, then, still today millions of tourists are affected by the walls in brick and the series of arches of what is considered the first true commercial center of the story!The Markets of Trajan, a place where people could find everything: goods and merchandise various from everywhere, even from the exotic markets outside the borders of the Roman Empire. One way to emphasize how, for Trajan, Rome was an open multicultural city, the center of his world. Imagine how Apollodorus made it digging completely out a part of the Quirinal Hill to complete his urban project! 

Moreover the Trajan's Forum was not just a place of meeting and of the business, not just a eulogy in marble to the enterprises of Trajan, and not only a skillful tool of propaganda. No, the Trajan’s Forum, with the ruins of today, represents the greatness of the ancient Rome, a greatness that was appreciated even at that time. For example let’s read the sentences wrote by Cassiodoro in order to have an idea: “More we contemplate it (the Trajan’s Forum) more it seems a miracle: who climbs the Campidoglio glimpses a work of art that is beyond the human genius”.