New Piazza Opens Next to Tomb of First Roman Emperor

In the Middle Ages, the structure was repurposed as a fortress, before then being converted into a garden, and later a bullfighting arena. In the 19th century, a concert hall was built into the brick and concrete shell of the tomb.

This was ripped out in the 1930s, when Mussolini’s fascist government decided to expose and isolate the ancient monument. The surrounding neighborhood was also demolished and replaced with a quadrangular piazza defined by heavy, rationalist buildings on three sides, and a pavilion to display another recently excavated Augustan monument, the Altar of Peace, on the fourth.

The pavilion was replaced in 2006 with a new, controversial museum, designed by American architect Richard Meier. That year, a competition was also held to redesign the area immediately around the Mausoleum and was won by a group headed by Italian architect Francesco Cellini. It is this vision which, after a considerable delay, has now been partially realized.  

The remodeled Piazza Augusto Imperatore spreads out on the south side of the Mausoleum, in front of its ancient entrance. Wide stairs descend from the east and west to the ground level of the tomb, allowing for a greater appreciation of the monument, which in the layout of the 1930s effectively sat in a sunken hollow.

In the sunlight, the expanse of white stone paving, framed by the 1930s and 40s buildings, has the semblance of the 15th century Ideal City paintings or Giorgio De Chirico’s Italian squares of the 1950s. Aesthetically, the piazza is striking.

However, the absence of shade means that the same sun bakes anyone who walks across it. Trees have been planted in beds along one side, which when fully grown will presumably provide some relief, but it is noticeable that for now, people cling to the shallow shadow cast by the roof of the new bookshop and bar along one edge. 

Work continues at the site, and the Mausoleum itself is scheduled to open next year as a new exhibition space.