It was considered the greatest basilica in imperial Rome, designed by the flair of the archi-star of the time Apollodorus of Damascus in the service of Emperor Trajan. An architectural grandeur that now becomes more perceptible, just as it appeared two thousand years ago. And without special effects from three-dimensional digital technology.

In the Forum of Trajan, Rome's Basilica Ulpia is reborn, or at least an important portion with the reconstruction of the double colonnade, along with part of the reconstructed great architrave. The Imperial Forums are changing skylines, then. Tourists and Romans in these festive days will get an additional surprise from walking through the central archaeological area.

Just get to the area of the Forum of Trajan, almost next to Trajan's Column where the reconstruction site of the Basilica Ulpia has been completed. A complex and ambitious work that began in 2021.

The technique adopted is that of anastylosis, that is, from the recovery of the original columns, for years stored on the ground at the archaeological site, and reassembled together like a giant puzzle to evoke the initial verticality of the building.

The spectacle is immediate. One now sees the first row of columns surmounted by a reconstructed architrave, and on this stand mounted the other original columns of the basilica, in green cipolin, which in years past had been mistakenly mounted elsewhere in the Forum. The stacked double colonnade reaches a height of nearly 24 meters. A challenge to earthquake-resistant standards, in the shadow of Trajan's Column.

The Basilica bears the name "Ulpia" because it was named by the emperor after his family (his full name was in fact Marcus Ulpius Traianus). It was built between 107 and 113 to be the largest in Rome, a full 170 meters long and sixty meters wide. It appeared elevated on three steps of ancient yellow marble, which now, with the restoration site, have been put back into view at the foot of the colonnade.