L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, JANUARY 13, 2022 www.italoamericano.org 22 L'Italo-Americano have appeared originally and in its reconstruction over the c e n t u r i e s . B y t h e t w e l f t h c e n t u r y t h e p o w e r f u l Colonna family used it as a fortress. In the sixteenth century Francesco Soderini purchased the mausoleum, annexed it to his villa, and built a garden in the struc- ture. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries it was used as an animal baiting and bullfighting ring before the Pope put a stop to the c r u e l s p e c t a c l e s . A t t h e beginning of the twentieth century, a concert hall was built on top of the structure where Arturo Toscanini once played Wagner, which out- raged his Roman audience. The hall, now removed, is pictured in a photograph on the fence. All the inscribed plaques that once adorned the mon- ument's entrance are now preserved next door in the M u s e o d e l l ' A r a P a c i s . Typical of the unfortunate practice of repurposing mar- b l e f r o m a n c i e n t m o n u - ments, the obelisks that once flanked its doors are now in the Piazza del Quirinale and Piazza dell'Esquilino. O v e r t h e l a s t s e v e r a l years, we have watched in our visits to the piazza as workers restored and stabi- lized the outer wall, which remains much lower than t h e o r i g i n a l . T h a t o n c e earth-choked entrance that I saw in 1973 is now a dramat- ic reconstructed brick arch, a harbinger of what lies with- in. In November 2021 the site was finally opened to the public for the first time in decades, and Carole and I rushed to take our first tour. Our tour guide recounted t h e h i s t o r y o f t h e m a u - soleum. B e y o n d t h a t d r a m a t i c doorway arch, like Caracalla and the Pantheon, the interi- o r o f t h e m a u s o l e u m i s a j a w - d r o p p i n g e x a m p l e o f R o m a n i n g e n u i t y , b o t h ancient and modern. Though lower than they once were, its walls still tower above the visitor. There is evidence of the crypts where emperors and their family members w e r e o n c e b u r i e d . Complementing the ancient walls, the modern recon- structed interior is a testi- mony to Italian restoration, w h i c h h a s p r e s e r v e d t h i s p r i c e l e s s m o n u m e n t f o r future generations. B u t t h e s i g n i f i c a n c e o f Piazza Augusto Imperatore does not stop with just the history of the mausoleum. T h e c e n t u r i e s s i n c e h a v e added layers to the piazza. Just to the south of the mau- soleum are two churches, the sixteenth-century Chiesa di San Gerolamo dei Croati and the seventeenth-century C h i e s a S a n R o c c ' all'Augusteo. Their newly restored Renaissance and classical revivalist façades add yet another layer to the history of the piazza. Their interiors are worth a studied, c o n t e m p l a t i v e t o u r . Updating to the twentieth century, to the north and east are two Mussolini-era buildings: their stark white c o l u m n s s p e a k o f Mussolini's bloated notion of restoring modern Italy to the a c c o m p l i s h m e n t s o f t h e Roman Empire. Images on the façades depict an ideal- ized, pastoral Rome, the sub- ject of many nineteenth-cen- tury romantic paintings. The white marble columns of the e a s t e r n f a ç a d e a r e M u s s o l i n i ' s v a i n g l o r i o u s e f f o r t s t o l i n k h i s f a s c i s t regime to Augustus's "city of marble." The timeline on the fence tells us that Mussolini began the original excavation of the mausoleum. He directed archeologist and architect Antonio Munoz to excavate the mausoleum down to its o r i g i n a l R o m a n l e v e l , h e then destroyed surrounding nineteenth-century neigh- borhoods to make space for h i s o w n s t a r k f a ç a d e s . Mussolini purportedly once s a i d , " A f t e r m y d e a t h , r e m o v e t h e s t a t u e o f A u g u s t u s a n d p u t m i n e there." But history had other p l a n s f o r h i m a n d h i s oppressive fascist regime. I n 2 0 0 6 , a d d i n g y e t another layer of architectural history to the site, Richard Meier completed the Museo dell' Ara Pacis on the west- ern flank of the piazza. The Ara Pacis houses the altar to Pax, the goddess of peace, w h i c h t h e s e n a t e b u i l t i n honor of Augustus's victori- ous return from Gaul and Spain. At the time, controversy surrounded the building of a m o d e r n s t r u c t u r e i n t h e piazza. Its modern design c a u s e d a f i r e s t o r m o f protests in Rome and was once even vandalized. But there is no reason to assume that the twenty-first century should not have a place in Rome's history. In his mod- ern structure, Meier added yet another layer to the piaz- za's history and links mod- ern Italy in a creative and effective design with the his- tory of Rome. In a stunning discovery, only recently archeologists unearthed in the piazza one o f t h e m o s t i m p o r t a n t Roman finds in decades: the cippus of the pomerium, a Rome boundary marker, l a i d d o w n b y E m p e r o r C l a u d i u s . T h e s t o n e h a s great cultural significance for the history of Rome, as it defined Roman citizenship and prohibited soldiers from crossing into the city with arms. Historians also add that the placement of the s t o n e e x t e n d e d t h e c i t y boundaries and corresponds with the expansion of the Roman Empire, which can be credited to Augustus. It is the very marker that defined R o m a n i d e n t i t y a n d t h e rights granted to its citizens. Adding yet another layer to the piazza, in one of the most extraordinary archeo- logical reconstructions in Rome to date, planners have created a wide staircase that descends hundreds of feet between the two churches to the original level of the mau- soleum. The excavation pro- vides a dramatic view of the m a u s o l e u m ' s e n t r a n c e , much as it was when it was originally constructed. Not yet completed, this massive p r o j e c t i s y e t a n o t h e r impressive engineering feat and a beautifully planned r e s t o r a t i o n o f t h e s i t e . Visitors can see a large ren- dering of the completed pro- ject on the fence. Thus, the twenty-second century has added yet another layer to what I must consider Rome's most remarkable piazza. Kenneth Scambray's most r e c e n t b o o k i s I t a l i a n I m m i g r a t i o n i n t h e American West: 1870-1940. Univ. of Nevada Press. Continued from page 20 T h e r e c o n s t r u c t e d e n t r a n c e t o t h e m a u s o l e u m ( P h o t o : C a r o l e Scambray/Scambray Family Papers) Here is how the mausoleum may have looked during the Middle Ages (Photo: Morphart Creations/Shutterstock) LIFE PEOPLE PLACES HERITAGE

• Cover