Via Alessandrina

A privileged view of the Imperial Forum excavations and Trajan's Markets

Via Alessandrina was the main route of the Alessandrino district built in the second half of the 16th century by Cardinal Michele Bonelli, a native of the province of Alessandria, hence the origin of the street's name.
This street is the only remaining evidence of the district, which was completely demolished in the 1930s for the opening of Via dell'Impero, today's Via dei Fori Imperiali. 

The Footbridge of Campo Carleo
Connects the area of the Imperial Forums with the Monti district.
The present artefact, suspended over the archaeological area of the Forum of Trajan, replaces the ancient Via di Campo Carleo, dismantled in the 1930s during excavations and in turn replaced first with a wooden footbridge, then with one of cement and iron, which was, however, damaging the wall to which it was attached.
The characteristics of the path are: the material (cor-ten iron and steel); the low impact on the skyline of the archaeological area; the respect for the monument to which it is attached, without damaging the ancient material; and the connection with Via Alessandrina according to the principles of the elimination of architectural barriers.

Excavations from 2018 to 2020
The excavations removed the northern section, about 60 metres long, of the Via Alessandrina, which connected the current Piazza del Foro di Traiano to Largo Corrado Ricci. The street was the main axis of the Alessandrino district, which was built at the end of the 16th century by Cardinal Michele Bonelli, known as the Alessandrino because he was born in the Piedmontese city. The complete demolition of the district between 1924 and 1932 for the opening of the Via dell'Impero, today's Via dei Fori Imperiali, deprived Via Alessandrina of its original residential fabric. As a result, the surviving route, crossing the Forums of Augustus, Nerva and Trajan, made it difficult to understand the remains of the ancient architectural complexes.

Hence the decision to remove the road accepted by the MiBACT-Roma Capitale Joint Commission, established in 2014, for the elaboration of a study for a Strategic Plan for the arrangement and development of Rome's Central Archaeological Area. The Commission, accepting what had already been proposed in the 2008 Guidelines, emphasised the need to proceed with the visual and physical reunification of the monumental areas of the Forums of Trajan, Augustus, and Nerva, with the consequent elimination of the Via Alessandrina road layout.

The excavation of Via Alessandrina, after a preliminary campaign in 2016, took place continuously from March 2018 until last November under the scientific direction of the archaeologists of the Superintendence. The intervention, of high scientific value, has made it possible to acquire many significant data for the reconstruction of the history of the monumental centre of the city of Rome, bringing to light a new portion of the Forum of Trajan square in addition to the remains of the dwellings of the medieval quarter, whose foundations rested directly on the Forum of Trajan square, now deprived of its original white marble slab pavement, the impressions of which remain clearly visible on the preparation mortar.