Piazzale delle Corporazioni, Roman archaeological square in Ostia, Italy.
Piazzale delle Corporazioni is a large open courtyard in Ostia, lined on all four sides by a portico with rows of small rooms that once served as offices for merchants and shippers. The floor of the portico is almost entirely covered in black and white mosaics, and the remains of a temple still stand at the center of the space.
The square was first laid out during the reign of Augustus and later reshaped under Emperor Claudius. It took its current form in the 2nd century CE, when the double portico was built and most of the surviving mosaics were added.
The floor mosaics in front of each office show the symbol of the merchant or trading company that once worked there, making it easy to tell one trader from another. Some inscriptions name the city or region the merchant came from, turning the ground itself into a kind of directory.
The site is part of the Ostia Antica archaeological park, which is easy to reach by train from Rome. Wear comfortable shoes since the ground is uneven and following all the mosaics along the portico takes a fair amount of walking.
The square sits directly behind a large Roman theater, and merchants are thought to have used the space between performances as well as during working hours. This connection between trade and public entertainment in one place was unusual even by Roman standards.
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