Piazza Augusto Imperatore is an urban square in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

, Italy, created in 1937 by the

fascist regime Fascism ( ) is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural social hie ...

to enhance the

Mausoleum of Augustus The Mausoleum of Augustus (; ) is a large tomb built by the Roman Emperor Augustus in 28 BC on the Campus Martius in Rome, Italy. The mausoleum is located on the Piazza Augusto Imperatore, near the corner with Via di Ripetta as it runs along th ...

History

The demolitions of buildings around the Mausoleum of Augustus began in 1934, following the Rome Master Plan approved in 1931, with the aim, typical of the fascist regime, to celebrate the monuments of

ancient Rome In modern historiography, ancient Rome is the Roman people, Roman civilisation from the founding of Rome, founding of the Italian city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the Fall of the Western Roman Empire, collapse of the Western Roman Em ...

. The architectural isolation of the Mausoleum from the other buildings was obtained through a large demolition work, which destroyed about 120 buildings (the former San Rocco Hospital among others) on an area of about up to Lungotevere in Augusta, similarly to other building projects carried out throughout the city in those years, such as

Via della Conciliazione Via della Conciliazione ("Road of the Conciliation") is a street in the Rione of Borgo within Rome, Italy. Roughly in length, it connects Saint Peter's Square to the Castel Sant'Angelo on the western bank of the Tiber River. The road was constr ...

and

Via dell'Impero The Via dei Fori Imperiali (formerly ''Via dei Monti'', then ''Via dell'Impero'') is a road in the centre of the city of Rome, Italy, that is in a straight line from the Piazza Venezia to the Colosseum. Its course takes it over parts of the Foru ...

. The design of the square is due to

Vittorio Ballio Morpurgo Vittorio Ballio Morpurgo (1890 in Rome – 1966 in Rome) was an Italian architecture, Italian architect. He was a prominent representative of Rationalism (architecture), Italian Rationalist architecture of the 1930s. References

1890 ...

, but Massimo Piacentini (first cousin of the more famous

Marcello Marcello is a common masculine Italian given name. It is a variant of Marcellus (name), Marcellus. The Spanish and Portuguese version of the name is Marcelo, differing in having only one "l", while the Greek form is Markellos. Etymology The nam ...

) was also involved in it. To enhance the monument, the square was surrounded by the three new large headquarters of the INPS, in the rationalist style, which were built in 1938 on the north, east and south sides. The west side, in the area of the former Port of Ripetta (no longer existing at that time), was occupied by a celebratory structure made of glass and concrete, which housed the restored ''

Ara Pacis The (Latin, "Altar of Augustan Peace"; commonly shortened to ) is an altar in Rome dedicated to the Pax Romana. The monument was commissioned by the Roman Senate on July 4, 13 BC to honour the return of Augustus to Rome after three years in Hisp ...

Augustae'': this first temporary structure, designed by Morpurgo on the occasion of the Bimillennium of Augustus in 1938, was replaced only in 2006 by the present edifice designed by

Richard Meier Richard Meier (born October 12, 1934) is an American abstract artist and architect, whose geometric designs make prominent use of the color white. A winner of the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 1984, Meier has designed several iconic buildings ...

, which houses the

Museum of the Ara Pacis The Museum of the Ara Pacis (Italian: Museo dell'Ara Pacis) belongs to the ''Sistema dei Musei in Comune'' of Rome (Italy); it houses the ''Ara Pacis'' of Augustus, an ancient monument that was initially inaugurated on 30 January 9 B.C. Structur ...

. The works were definitively stopped only in 1952, following the mobilization of ''

Italia Nostra Italia Nostra (''Our Italy'') is an Italian not for profit organization dedicated to the protection and promotion of the country’s historical, artistic and environmental patrimony. History The organization was formed on 29 October 1955, b ...

'' which criticized the plans for a further development of the square. In the summer of 2020, a new construction site was opened for an overall urban re-development of the square, with an expected duration of 2 years.

References

Bibliography

* * Betti, Fabio, D'Amelio Angela Maria, and Rossella Leone, ''Mausoleo di Augusto: demolizioni e scavi; fotografie 1928/1941'', Electa, 2011.

External links

* Augusto Imperatore Rome R. IV Campo Marzio Italian fascist architecture {{Rome-stub

History

See also

References

Bibliography

External links