Discovery made during Via Alessandrina dig.
Archaeologists in Rome unearthed a colossal Roman marble head buried for centuries beneath Trajan’s Forum, the city’s mayor Roberto Gualtieri announced on Saturday.
The discovery of the male head, characterised by thick hair and an intense expression, was made as part of ongoing excavations on Via Alessandrina in a project initiated by Rome’s superintendency for cultural heritage last November.
“Rome never ceases to amaze” – Gualtieri said in a statement announcing the discovery – “Beneath our feet, every day, lives an ancient history that continues to thrill the world”.
Gualtieri noted that the head re-emerged from a mediaeval-era layer in an area where the monumental columned Porticus Trisigmentata once stood, adding that archaeologists are at work to reveal its identity.
Roma non smette mai di stupire.
Sotto i nostri passi, ogni giorno, vive una storia millenaria che continua a emozionare il mondo.
Durante gli scavi di via Alessandrina – avviati dalla Sovrintendenza Capitolina lo scorso novembre grazie ai fondi del Pnrr – è riemersa una testa… pic.twitter.com/Jgu9y6WhhS
— Roberto Gualtieri (@gualtierieurope) June 21, 2025
The ongoing excavations aim to reconnect the monumental areas of the Forums of Augustus, Trajan and Nerva, removing Via Alessandrina which currently divides these spaces, in an effort to restore continuity to the archaeological complex.
The works, which are scheduled to end in 2026, are financed under the Caput Mundi project financed with €4.7 million from Italy’s post-covid National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR) funds.
Via Alessandrina was built in the second half of the 16th century by Cardinal Michele Bonelli, a grand-nephew of Pope Pius V and a native of the Ligurian province of Alessandria, hence the origin of the street’s name.
The road survived Mussolini’s demolition campaign (1927-1935) to clear dwellings that had built up over the centuries on top of the archaeological remains between Piazza Venezia and the Colosseum to make way for the opening of Via dell’Impero, today’s Via dei Fori Imperiali.
