Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
fell victim to Rome's avid art collectors, and panels ended up in the Medici collection, the
Vatican and the Louvre. However, in 1936 Mussolini unearthed the remaining parts and
decided to reassemble them in the present location.
Of the reliefs, the most important depicts Augustus at the head of a procession, fol-
lowed by priests, the general Marcus Agrippa and the entire imperial family.
Mayor Gianni Alemanno promised on his election in 2008 to have the unpopular monu-
ment pulled down. However, such plans have been modified, and instead the wall dividing
the busy Lungotevere Augusta from Piazza Augusto Imperatore - which has been criti-
cised for obscuring the baroque facade of the church of San Rocco all'Augusteo - is to be
dismantled. The vast sum of €1.4 million was set aside for this, but the work shows no
sign of being taken to fruition.
MAUSOLEO DI AUGUSTO
(Piazza Augusto Imperatore; Piazza Augusto Imperatore)
This mausoleum was built in 28 BC and is
the last resting place of Augustus, who was buried here in AD 14, and his favourite neph-
ew and heir Marcellus. Mussolini had it restored in 1936 with an eye to being buried here
himself.
Once one of ancient Rome's most imposing monuments, it's now an unkempt mound of
earth, smelly and surrounded by unsightly fences. Work is apparently ongoing, though it's
proceeding at a slow pace.
MONUMENT
LOCAL KNOWLEDGE
ROME'S VERSAILLES
If Napoleon had had his way, the Palazzo del Quirinale would have been Rome's Versailles. Journalist and author
Corrado Augias explains:
'Napoleon actually chose Rome as his second capital after Paris. He wanted Versailles at Paris and the Palazzo
del Quirinale - incidentally, Rome's greatest and most beautiful palace - in Rome. He set artists and architects to
prepare it for him and sent down furniture from Paris. In the end he never came and when he was defeated in
1815 the popes took the
palazzo
back for themselves.'
Piazza di Spagna & Around
PIAZZA DI SPAGNA & THE SPANISH STEPS
See
Click here
.
PIAZZA
