Vitruvius’s Basilica at Fano

This building is the only structure known to have been designed by the great Roman engineer and author, Marcus Vitruvius Pollio.  No remains of the basilica have survived to the present day; nonetheless, we know a lot about the structure because Vitruvius described it in some detail in his treatise de Architectura.  This building is representative of the Roman basilica form–a vast open hall, covered with a roof supported on long-span timber trusses.