Brought to light in 1933 during the reclamation works carried out by Prince Giovanni Torlonia, this monumental portico is perpendicularly linked to the Colonnaded Road. The travertine columns, in shafts crudely carved in “rustic ashlar” style, originally also ran around the other three buildings of the Trajan’s warehouse complex, along the quays and around the wet dock. The colonnade’s particular stylistic type is one of the distinctive traits of Claudian architecture, which may be found in other monuments attributed to that emperor, such as Porta Maggiore and the Temple of the Divine Claudius in Rome. Today, although a few columns remain to bear witness to the portico’s monumental nature, it actually extended in front of Trajan’s warehouses for more than half a kilometer, from the banks of Fossa Traiana to the northern end of the north-south pier, offering every vessel entering the harbour a view of a long and majestic sight, the very image of Rome’s magnificence.
The Portico of Claudius during excavation (1932)
The Portico of Claudius during excavation (1932)
Reconstruction of the Portico of Claudius
(École française de Rome)
Foundation of a subdivision wall of the port
(photo: École française de Rome)
Renovation of the Late Antique floor, small opus spicatum bricks
(photo: École française de Rome)
Floors and foundations in the Portico of Claudius
(photo: École française de Rome)