Arco di Traiano (Arch of Trajan), Ancona

The Arch of Trajan stands at the head of the northern mole of Ancona's harbour, in the Marche region on Italy's Adriatic coast, a tall and unusually slender Roman triumphal arch erected around AD 115. It was raised by decree to honour the Emperor Trajan, who at his own expense enlarged and fortified the port of Ancona, making it a key embarkation point for the fleets sailing east toward Dalmatia and the Danube. The design is traditionally attributed to Apollodorus of Damascus, Trajan's favoured architect, and the arch's height of roughly eighteen metres on a comparatively narrow base gives it an elegant, vertical proportion quite different from the broad arches of Rome. It is built of white Proconnesian marble over a core, with fluted Corinthian columns on tall pedestals framing the single passageway and a dedicatory inscription, now lost in its bronze lettering but once honouring Trajan, his sister Marciana and his wife Plotina. Bronze statues and trophies that originally crowned the attic have likewise vanished, but the marble structure itself survives in remarkable condition after nearly two thousand years of salt air and earthquakes. The arch served both as a monument and as a gateway controlling access to the quays, and it remains the symbol of maritime Ancona, standing directly above the bustle of the modern commercial and ferry port. A short walk along the waterfront leads to the eighteenth-century Mole Vanvitelliana, so the two great monuments of Ancona's port can be seen together. Freestanding and freely accessible at all hours, the Arco di Traiano is one of the finest Roman survivals on the central Adriatic.