But in 52 B.C., Publius Clodius Pulcher, the rabble-rousing tribune of the plebs and Caesar’s ally against the senatorial class, was killed by his political rival Milo following several years of what was more or less gang warfare on the streets of Rome. While the senate house experienced several fires and restorations over the generations, changing names depending on who paid to rebuild it, it was always in the same location. For centuries, the Roman senate met in the Curia, or meeting house, on the Comitium, ancient Rome’s primary open-air meeting space. In many ways, dying on the doorstep of Pompey’s great public work was ironic. The site of Caesar’s death is not where casual readers of Roman history might assume. The fashion house Fendi, meanwhile, funded a clean-up of the Trevi Fountain, and the luxury brand Tods paid for half of the massive restoration of the Colosseum, which reopened in 2016. Bulgari itself previously paid $1.6 million to restore Rome’s famous Baroque-era Spanish Steps. In search of funders, the city has started partnering with prominent businesses on the projects, who can foot the bills for restorations. In recent years, economic stagnation, corruption and disfunction have plagued Rome, leaving little resources available for now badly needed historic preservation projects. The propaganda effort uncovered four temples and part of the Theater of Pompey, a massive public work where the Roman senate met during the era of Julius Caesar.įollowing World War II, the Largo di Torre Argentina was among the many sites that languished due to lack of interest and funding. That’s when Italian dictator Benito Mussolini razed many sections of modern Rome to unearth the archaeology underneath to tangibly tie his dictatorship to the might of the Roman Empire. Though the spot of Caesar’s murder was immortalized by ancient historians and, later, William Shakespeare, it was actually covered over by the expanding city of Rome and lost to history until the 1920s. Rome’s mayor, Virginia Raggi, announced that the restoration is being funded by the fashion house Bulgari, which will drop about $1.1 million on the project, funding earmarked to go toward cleaning up and securing the ruins, building walkways through the site and installing public restrooms, reports. Julia Buckley at Conde Nast Travelerreports the area will soon undergo renovations before opening to the public in 2021. ![]() As a tourist spot, however, it’s infamous in a different way: The ruins in the Largo di Torre Argentina, where dozens of stray cats now call home, are currently crumbling and fenced off from the public. The spot where Julius Caesar was murdered by members of the Roman Senate is one of the most infamous sites in world history.
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