Archaeologists in Rome have uncovered a colossal Roman head buried for centuries beneath Trajan’s Forum, Mayor Roberto Gualtieri announced on Saturday.
The discovery of the marble Roman head was made during ongoing excavations along Via Alessandrina. The works are part of a major archaeological project launched last November by the city’s superintendency for cultural heritage.
The male head, notable for its thick hair and intense expression, emerged from a mediaeval layer in the area where the ancient Porticus Trisigmentata once stood. Experts are now working to identify the figure it represents.
“Rome never ceases to amaze,” Gualtieri said. “Beneath our feet, every day, lives an ancient history that continues to thrill the world.”
The excavation project aims to reconnect the monumental areas of the Forums of Augustus, Trajan, and Nerva by removing Via Alessandrina, which currently separates them. The work is scheduled for completion in 2026 and is funded through the Caput Mundi project, supported by €4.7 million from Italy’s post-Covid National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR).
Via Alessandrina was built in the late 16th century by Cardinal Michele Bonelli, a relative of Pope Pius V and a native of Alessandria in Liguria. It survived Mussolini’s major demolition works between 1927 and 1935, which cleared many later structures to create Via dell’Impero, now Via dei Fori Imperiali.
