Eleven columns, fifteen metres tall, stand here embedded in the side wall of a later building, their feet a few metres below street level. They are what remains of the temple that Emperor had built around the year 145 for his deified predecessor , and the rest of that temple has become the wall around them.
What makes this so Roman is what happened next. In the seventeenth century, built a papal customs house over it, simply absorbing the columns into the new facade as load-bearing elements. After that it became the stock exchange, and today the Chamber of Commerce sits behind it. The same structure has been in service for almost nineteen centuries, each time for something different.
The difference in height is worth a look. The street you're standing on lies metres above the original level, because Rome has slowly crept upward through rubble, floods and new construction. If you look down along the columns, you'll see the ancient ground level, where the steps of the temple once began.
The little square outside is small and quiet, and almost everyone passing through is on their way to somewhere else.
We leave the square heading north along Via de' Burrò and come out on the square with the tall column.
Sources. Story: Sovrintendenza Capitolina ai Beni Culturali (Tempio di Adriano); Camera di Commercio di Roma, history of the building Photos: Photo: Chabe01 (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0)
