Largo di Torre Argentina, in the center of the Italian capital, will undergo renovation by 2021
One of the most famous crimes in history will enter the tourist itinerary of Roma. Largo di Torre Argentina, the place where Julius Caesar was murdered more than two thousand years ago, will be open to the public for the first time in 2021, when restoration work on the ruins of the complex of temples and public buildings that stood there at the time is completed. of the Republic of Roma and in the early years of the Roman Empire.
According to the city council of the Italian capital, the works will end in mid-2021. The project, budgeted at 985 thousand euros, will be financed by the Bulgari brand, in a partnership between companies and public authorities that has helped to conserve the architectural and cultural heritage of Pomegranate. The company finances the renovation and, in return, has the right to attach its brand to the historic landmark.
The ruins of Largo di Torre Argentina, in the center of Rome, will reopen to the public in 2021 Photo: Mario Roberto Durán Ortiz / Creative Commons / Reproduction
Bulgari itself has already invested around 1,5 million euros in the renovation of the Spanish Steps, in Piazza di Espagna, in 2016. The model enabled renovations in points such as Fontana di Trevi, by the Fendi brand, and Coliseum, by Tod's, among others .
What happened at that location?
Surrounded by busy streets, bus and taxi stops and shops, Largo di Torre Argentina is a square that bears no resemblance to the grandeur of the region in 44 BC, the year in which Julius Caesar was assassinated, exactly at that point.
Then dictator of the Republic of Rome, he was surrounded by 60 senators, including his adopted son Marcus Julius Brutus, and died from 23 stab wounds in mid-March. The ambush took place in Pompey's Curia, a hall that, at the time, housed meetings and sessions of the Roman Senate.
The curia was part of an even larger complex, the Theater of Pompey, one of the main buildings of the Republican period and which dominated the region called Campo de Marte.
The ruins of the square were discovered in the 1920s. In addition to the meeting point – and conspiracies – of the Senate, the remains of four temples were revealed, from different periods. The Temple of Juturna dates from the 101rd century BC, and was later rebuilt as the Church of Saint Nicolas of Limestone (also in ruins). The Temple of Fortune of the Day, completed in XNUMX BC, has a round shape and six columns that are still visible. In it was the colossal statue representing the goddess, found by archaeologists in the first excavation, later taken to the Capitoline Museums.
The oldest of them is the Temple of Feronia, from the 80rd century BC, whose white mosaics, placed after a fire in the year XNUMX, are still clearly visible. The largest of them is the Temple of Lares Permarinos, and much of its foundation has not been excavated.
Empire of Roman cats
The general public never had access to the archaeological complex. With the renovation, walkways will be installed between the ruins, special lighting, emergency exits and public bathrooms.
Without the presence of humans, the place became an empire of Roman cats. The feline population is so large and traditional that a sanctuary for the animals was created on the outskirts of the square. The cats also ended up becoming real attractions for tourists who include the square on their itinerary.
Another curiosity comes from the name of the square. Largo di Torre Argentina is not named after the South American country, but in honor of the city of Strasbourg, which, in Roman times, was called Argentorato. In 1503, a nobleman from Alsace built his palace in the region and, attached, the Torre Argentoratina, which ended up definitively naming the square.
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