Mausoleum of Augustus (Mausoleo di Augusto)

More than any other ones, the ruins of this mortuary monument highlight that the evolution of Rome was carried out through the urban stratification occurred on the ancient imperial ruins: partly submerged by the actual road surface, today you can see the Sepulchre of the great Emperor Caesar Octavian Augustus, who died in the year 14 AD at the age of 67.

His funeral pyre burnt for five days and the ashes were collected by the hands of his wife Livia. Before him, the Sepulchre was reached by his children, except for Giulia who, during her widowhood, had love affairs with five aristocrats and was exiled, not for the scandal, but because she was accused of conspiracy; his relatives, such as his son-in-law Agrippa and his nephew Marcello; many of his dynastic descendants, Nerone excluded, till Nerva.

The Mausoleum was inaugurated in 28 BC. Built on an oriental model, it originally consisted in two or three overlapping cylindrical trunks, culminating in the statue of Augustus. Each level was characterized by a florid timbered garden. The two obelisks adorning the entrance are now positioned one at the Quirinal and the other at St. Maria Maggiore.