After a lovely visit to the Palatine hill on Thursday, Gia thankfully provided me with the motivation to visit the Markets of Trajan. Despite my exhaustion and desire to go back to St. John's and nap, I accompanied Gia to the markets and am definitely glad I did. On the way out of the Palatine museum we first strolled over to the Temple of Peace to take some photos. The Temple is completely open so anyone can walk through it, but there was no one around except for us and Daniele; a nice change of pace from all the jam-packed tourist areas we had gotten used to visiting. After spending sometime enjoying our private moment in the Temple, we set off to the Markets of Trajan.
Getting there was... fun. Because of the construction on the Via dei Fori Imperiali, we had to walk around and up a steep side street, but weren't sure if we were going the right way and couldn't find the entrance. The journey took a little bit longer than it necessarily should have, so we were extremely relieved to finally happen upon the entrance to the museum. Entering we were greeted with the refreshing conditioned air of the indoor part of the museum. We walked through the gift shop first in order to get to the “biglietteria,” where we both practiced our Italian and were relieved that the man humored us by responding in Italian rather than pegging us as helpless Americans like so many others do when we’re with the rest of the group.
The exhibit was cool but actually a bit confusing. I expected to see all the classical statues and busts that were on display, but what I wasn’t expecting was another modern exhibit that was happening throughout all the classical stuff simultaneously. There were strange retro outfits on display and I wasn’t entirely sure why or what I was actually looking at. There were some really funky and creative items. My favorites were two handbags, one in the shape of a pug puppy and the other with a vintage rotary phone dial on the front. I definitely enjoyed looking at the eccentric clothing pieces, but I could not let go of how weird it felt to have them juxtaposed with all the classical statues. I couldn’t figure out for the life of me what the modern exhibit had to do with the Markets of Trajan.
That being said, there was something extremely special about the outdoor part of the market. We exited the exhibit on the top floor and found ourselves faced with an incredible side view of the monument to Vittorio Emmanuele II and the Fori Imperiali. I looked across to the Basilica Ulpia and found the exact location where I had been standing the other day. In that moment I realized that I am beginning to get a true sense of orientation in this city, which is exactly what I wanted from this course when I applied. After taking a brief respite to soak in the incredible view, we continued down the outside stairs to the bottom level of the market where all the stalls were. It was indescribably cool to see the actual stalls of the market where transactions would take place. I immediately got a strong visual of the market being packed and filled with commodities, sort of like an open-air market today except with more togas and a sepia filter. This was a really nice way to end our little tour; there was such a strong feeling of history in the markets. Thus we concluded our visit and started off on our next journey – to the gelateria!
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