Skip to content
ENITSign in

Arch of Trajan of Ancona

Trajan’s slender white-marble arch of 115 AD, standing free on Ancona’s harbor mole.

  • Ancona
  • Monument
Plan your visit
Where
Ancona
Best for
Harbor-mole arch of 115 AD
Allow
15 minutes
Tickets
Free

Trajan paid to enlarge Ancona’s harbor at his own expense around 100 AD, and a grateful Senate raised this arch on the mole itself, dedicating it around 115. Likely designed by Apollodorus of Damascus, the same architect behind Trajan’s Column in Rome, it is built of pure white Greek marble, its fluted Corinthian columns giving it a slenderness unusual among Roman triumphal arches.

Six bronze statues once stood along its attic, facing land and sea, and fourteen bronze ship’s rams decorated it; all were stripped during a Saracen raid in 839. A 2000 restoration removed the nineteenth-century railings that had fenced it off, and today it stands open on the harbor mole, visible from the cathedral hill above and from ships still entering the port it was built to celebrate.

Sources and citations (3)
  1. Comune di Ancona, Ufficio di PianoI luoghi delle eccellenzePDF page 20, Arco di Traiano, Localizzazione and Proprieta e vincoliRead source
  2. Comune di AnconaArco di TraianoPage title and Indirizzo sectionRead source
  3. Autorita di Sistema Portuale del Mare Adriatico CentralePorto di Ancona: Porto Antico, debutto on lineI luoghi del Porto Antico, Arco di Traiano paragraphRead source

Three things worth finding

If you see nothing else, see these.

  1. The white marble archApollodorus of Damascus, about 115 CE

    A slender arch of white Greek marble with fluted Corinthian columns, more delicate than most Roman triumphal arches.Harbor mole

  2. The dedicationLatin inscription

    Holes in the stone mark where bronze letters once spelled out the Senate’s dedication to Trajan.On the attic

  3. The harbor viewWaterfront setting

    Stand beside the arch and watch ships enter the harbor it was built to celebrate, with the cathedral hill above.From the quay

Plan your visit

Everything you need before you go.

Tickets
Free
Booking
No booking needed
Time needed
15 minutes
Best time
Late afternoon, when low sun catches the white marble against the water.
Getting there
It’s a flat, easy walk from the historic center along the harborfront (Lungomare Vanvitelli/Banchina); there’s no dedicated parking, but street parking near the port is usually available.
Accessibility
Level, paved harborfront access; the monument itself has no interior to enter.

Free, no ticket or booking; the arch sits within the working port area, so access follows the port’s general pedestrian routes rather than a fixed visiting schedule.

Walk it in combination with the cathedral: the two share sightlines, and seeing the arch from Guasco hill first makes the close-up more rewarding.

Get directionsGoogle MapsApple Maps

Good to know

How long should you spend at the Arch of Trajan in Ancona?

Fifteen minutes is enough to see the arch and take in the harbor, longer if you photograph it.

Is the Arch of Trajan worth visiting?

Yes, if you like Roman architecture: it is a rare arch built to celebrate a harbor, still standing on the mole that Trajan paid to enlarge. It works well with a visit to the cathedral.

Is there an entrance fee for the Arch of Trajan?

No ticket is needed: it stands in the open on the harbor mole and can be seen at any time. Late afternoon light is best on the white marble.

More to see nearby

Same city first, then the nearest across the region.

A letter from Italy, once a month.

The places, tables and makers we found worth your time. One email, no noise.

One letter a month. Unsubscribe at any time. We never share your address.

Help us get it right

What is it about?