At the beginning of the 2 nd century the area of Testaccio was chosen to building a new port. The new berth, built between 193 BC and 174 BC in the first time by ediles curules M. Emilius Lepidus and L. Emilius Paulus and then by Q. Fulvius Flaccus and A. Postumius Albinus, was constitued by an enclosed paved area, with docks for the ships. In the 1st century AD a new edifice was built, constituted by two rows of large rectangular and vaulted rooms; they were oriented as the axis of the river, illuminated by rooflights on the side where the Tiber is, and by large carriage doors on the opposite one. It consisted of three levels; traces of the mosaic floor of the highest level, which is nowadays mostly destroyed, are still visible. On the side of the river, probably in order to prevent floods, a new building constituted by a long foundation wall and by several vaulted rooms closed by an inclined massive wall, was added to the original edifice. A new dock paved by big travertine slabs was thus built; it was also provided by pierced stones for mooring boats and presumably used as a square for unloading during the flood periods. From here it was possible to reach new several vaulted rooms, built restoring the more ancient stores which had already been filled up with earth and unusable.

The cryptoporticus, lit by rooflights, was about 250 m long. It is linked on the internal side to several rooms still preserved and partly earthed up under the route of the modern street.
In the 4th century AD a lot of the underground rooms and the cryptoporticus were abandoned and filled with earth and detritus. Among the excavation’s finds, many epigraphical fragments testify the presence of numerous corporations of craftsmen and trade workers in the port areas. From the 6th-7th century AD the left river bank and its structures were definitively abandoned, as the presence of tombs in situ testifies; the docks of Trastevere, however, were best maintained because from here it was possible to reach directly to the new focal point of the city: the Vatican.
From the 6th-7th century AD the left river bank and its structures were definitively abandoned, as the presence of tombs in situ testifies; the docks of Trastevere, however, were best maintained because from here it was possible to reach directly to the new focal point of the city: the Vatican.

(P. Di Manzano)

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