Archaeological area of the New Testaccio Market

Starting from the 2nd century BC and then between the 1st and 2nd century AD, when the ancient landing place of Rome at the Forum Boarium became insufficient for the needs of the citizens, the Testaccio plain was used for the construction of a port – Emporium – as well as buildings for the conservation and storage of goods, such as the Porticus Aemilia, the Horrea Galbana, Lolliana, Seiana and a large controlled landfill of oil amphorae from the imperial age (Monte dei Cocci or Monte Testaccio). Monte Testaccio, familiarly called by the Romans “Monte dei cocci” (Mount of Shards), is therefore in reality the product of an enormous voluntary accumulation, formed between the 1st and 3rd century AD, composed exclusively of fragments of amphorae. In particular, the amphorae present there came from southern Spain and were intended for the oil trade that supplied the market of the Urbs. These containers, after transport by sea, were unloaded in the nearby river port of Emporio. Considered “non-returnable”, once the contents were decanted, they were reduced to fragments and taken to that sort of landfill.

The excavation and restoration in the basement of the New Testaccio Market, a quadrilateral of about one hectare, which lasted several years, brought to light numerous finds.

In particular, the excavation has brought to light various phases: the early imperial one of the Augustan-Flavian age (1st century AD) with a system of covered rooms and uncovered courtyards served by service roads that are very original for the building material used. All the “walls” of the system are in fact made with emptied and reused amphorae stacked on top of each other. At present this system of rooms has been identified as a large landfill area for reused building material, consisting mostly of amphora and brick material, together with rooms, probably warehouses, with beaten earth floors. The subsequent phase of the Middle Imperial Age, in particular the Trajan-Hadrian Age (end of the 1st century AD - mid-2nd century AD) is characterised by the construction levels of a trapezoidal building, identified as a horreum, i.e. a warehouse for storing goods, consisting of rows of rectangular rooms overlooking a large central porticoed square: only the construction levels of this warehouse remain. The horreum was in fact entirely stripped in ancient times - between the end of the 3rd and the beginning of the 4th century AD, up to the thresholds of the ground floor.

Phot credits: Fabio Caricchia