Client:
Comune di Roma, Municipio Roma III
Project:
Sergio Bianchi, Elisabetta Straffi
Collaborators:
Giovanni Favilla, Elisabetta Straffi, Enrico Bianchi, Pietro Fiorentini
Planning: 2003-2005
Work management: 2005-2006
Status: Project
Redevelopment of via Tiburtina Antica and nearby Aurelian Walls area
We managed to design the road and its sidewalk according to the “Nuova Pianta di Roma”by Giovanni Battista Nolli, 1748.The intent was to restore the perception of the Monumental Porta Tiburtina as the gate to via Tiburtina.The works also included archaeological excavations that led to discovery of an ancient a mausoleum dating to the Julio-Claudian period
The modern via “Tiburtina antica” coincides with a short segment of the ancient highway, which facilitated communication between Rome and Tivoli. Just outside the Esquiline Gate (Arch of Gallienus) of the Servian Wall, the road intersects at the point where Augustus erected the monumental Porta Tiburtina, the arcades of aquae Marcia, Tepula and Iulia, which were later encapsulated within the Aurelian Wall. Immediately beyond this, where the modern via dei Falisci and via degli Apuli meet, the ancient via Collatina diverged from the via Tiburtina. The sacellum divae Mariae stood at this intersection by at least the 16th century. The roads were flanked by a series of tombs, many of which were excavated when the San Lorenzo district was urbanized. A rectangular foundation composed of tufa blocks and concrete was unearthed in 2005 during a recent renovation of via “Tiburtina Antica”; this foundation pertains to a mausoleum dating to the Julio-Claudian period. Below the northern side of the structure was another tomb dating to the 1st century AD which housed a cremation burial, represented by a ceramic urn and a cinerary amphora. The mausoleum appears to have been dismantled for practical reasons and to obtain building material when the Aurelian Wall was constructed. The area continued to serve a funerary function following the construction of the Wall, as a pair of inhumation burials attest. These burials, which date to the Late Antique or early Medieval periods, did not contain any funeral goods.
Massimiliano Munzi, Massimo Pentiricci (Sovrintendenza BB.CC. Comune di Roma)