★★★★★ 5.0
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Mercati di Traiano Museo dei Fori Imperiali
Picture this: it's 113 CE, and workers are hauling the final bricks up six towering stories carved straight into the Quirinal Hill. Emperor Trajan is about to open what everyone will call the world's first shopping mall... except here's the secret it wasn't a mall at all. Those 170 rooms sprawling across this massive semicircular complex? They were administrative offices for Trajan's imperial bureaucrats, not shops. The real shopkeepers got pushed out to make room for this forum and they had to relocate elsewhere entirely. Stand here on Via Quattro Novembre and look up at that brick facade wrapping around the hillside. They excavated 35 meters of solid rock to build this thing, and Apollodorus of Damascus, Trajan's favorite architect, designed every curve to echo the forum's hemicycle. Inside, there's this incredible street called Via Biberatica, the drinking street, because Roman tavern owners set up shop along its winding path through the complex. And see that leaning tower poking above? That's the Torre delle Milizie, added in 1200... it started tilting after the earthquake of 1348, and it's been frozen mid-tilt for 677 years. Locals know the best views are from the upper terraces at sunset, when you can see straight across to the Colosseum with golden light hitting these ancient brick walls.
Did You Know?
- Trajan's Market is often called the world's oldest shopping mall, but recent archaeological evidence suggests it may have served primarily as an administrative and managerial hub for the adjacent Forum of Trajan, with commercial activity concentrated in the lower levels and offices above—challenging the traditional 'shopping center' narrative and offering a fascinating glimpse into the complexity of Roman urban life.
- The entire complex is a marvel of ancient engineering: to create space for Trajan's Forum, the architect Apollodorus of Damascus had to cut away part of the Quirinal Hill, then cleverly terraced the remaining slope to prevent landslides, using the curved shape of the Great Hemicycle not just for beauty but for structural stability—a solution so effective that it still stands strong after nearly 2,000 years.
- Over the centuries, Trajan's Market has been continuously adapted: during the Middle Ages, new floors and defensive towers like the Torre delle Milizie were added, and in the Renaissance, artists and architects studied and sketched its ruins, helping to preserve its legacy. Today, the site not only showcases ancient Roman architecture but also hosts exhibitions on Rome's medieval and Renaissance history, making it a living timeline of the city's evolution.