There is a construction project just to the south of our apartment here in Rome. There is also what appears to be a major archaeological wonder here as well. I started looking around to see what was going on, and stumbled onto some stuff.
Largo di Torre Argentina is a square in Rome, Italy, that hosts four Republican Roman temples, and the remains of Pompey’s Theatre. It is located in the ancient Campus Martius.
The name of the square comes from the Torre Argentina, which takes its name from the city of Strasbourg, whose Latin name was Argentoratum. In 1503, in fact, the Papal Master of Ceremonies Johannes Burckardt from Strasbourg built in via del Sudario a palace (now at number 44), called Casa del Burcardo, to which the tower is annexed.
The other tower in the square is not the one giving the name to the place, but the Medieval Torre del Papitto(“Little Pope’s Tower”), attributed by tradition to Antipope Anacletus II Pierleoni, allegedly not a tall person.
A map showing Pompey’s Theatre and other Roman structures in black and modern structures in red.
After Italian unification, it was decided to reconstruct part of Rome (1909), demolishing the zone of Torre Argentina. During the works (1927), however, the colossal head and arms of a marble statue were discovered. The archeological investigation brought to light the presence of a holy area, dating to the Republican era, with four temples and part of Pompey’s Theater.
Julius Caesar was killed in the Curia of the Theatre of Pompey, and the spot he was believed to be assassinated is in the square.
16.04.2012 Rome, the temples of the Sacred by Luca Ferrari When we speak of Rome, and in particular of his empire, the first name that comes to mind is that of Gaius Julius Caesar (100 BC – 44 BC), his conquests in Europe, his dictatorship and his brutal killing by a twenty-three stabbed by several senators conspirators. Today, in the third millennium, that place, surrounded by modern trams, buses and shops, still has the power to evoke the history.
The place where it was perpetrated ql’omicidio of Caesar was the Curia of Pompey, in the ancient Campo Marzio, which now houses the remains of four Republican Roman temples of age. The area is located in the square called Largo Torre Argentina. The name comes from the prelate, a native of Strasbourg, Johannes Burckhardt, master of ceremonies of four popes (Pope Sixtus IV, Innocent VIII, Alexander VI, Julius III and Pius II).Burckhardt, he used to sign Argentinus.
It is in this area that there is one of the most famous archaeological sites. The so-called “sacred area”, composed of the remains of four important architectural buildings: the temple of Feronia (IV-III century BC.), The temple of Juturna (241 BC), the temple of the Lares Permarini (190 BC) and the temple Fortuna (101 BC).
In contemporary times, in the square, passing cars.Tram. Buses. The frenzy of capital dominates unchallenged. It is often difficult to concentrate on what we have left a legacy of more than two thousand years ago. We must secure the vegetation that grows among the various architectural structures.Almost lost. Take a trip back for centuries.
Of the four, the best preserved, and certainly the most recognizable, is the temple of Juturna, the nymph of the sources, who achieved immortality and mastery of waterways through the love of Zeus, the king of the gods. The building is of particular importance then a memorial, because it seems to have been made to celebrate the victory of the Romans in the Egadi Islands to the powerful and evil enemy Carthage.
Something special is the Temple of Fortuna. It is attributed eponymous goddess, since there were found some remains (head, legs and arms) of the statue of the goddess, and are now preserved in the Capitoline Museums, in Rome. It is characterized by six columns.
While we can not get out and walk among the temples, you can see (and photograph) from all possible angles. A dip in Roman history and mythology, while the new civilization is moving in his new path, but with a heart still devoted to antiquity. As happens every time you go to Largo Torre Argentina.
Here’snother post, this time about the construction that’s going on right next to the site:
YARDS AND INCONVENIENCE
“Useless and dangerous the new Terminal 8” Traders and residents in the war
Challenged the work of laying the rails of the extension of the tram to Piazza Venezia. Bottlenecks and shops with no customers, “At least diverted elsewhere tourist buses”
Work on the tram route 8 in the Dark Shops
ROME – Tram 8, works and protests.The Argentine traders are on a war footing, as residents worried about the new road, throw the contrary, the proposals. “We believe – Piccirilli said Viviana Di Capua Association inhabitants center (AACS) – that the path is left to the side road to the tram route between Florida and workshops on Dark should be used only by local traffic and private life should be studied instead of a alternative route for buses and cabs. “
Hot tracks
VIA BUS TOUR – And it is war against the coaches, “I’m too invasive – attacks the AACS – should have a path similar to that of the Jubilee, which is outside of the historic center. And henceforth especially from this area. ” According to residents’ well also be assessed via the route of San Venancio, or where the buses turn away from the shops towards the Capitol Dark: A Journey so twisted should be absolutely prohibited. ” And while the locals they are prepared to join a table with the commissioner because “the proposals of the citizens who live every day the area can have a value”, the other traders are furious.
Bulldozers for excavation work necessary to the laying of new tracks
SURROUNDED STORES, June COLLECTIONS ‘- The shops are surrounded by barriers and sometimes besieged the yards: “We’ve gone from a collection of a few thousand to a few hundreds a day – Yari says Grossi Ducati coffee – I’ve had to reduce staff at least seven units: if the work goes forward and there will be a chance for us to vent or access, we will be forced to close. In these days barely keep the opening activity. “
Barriers to the tram 8: obstacles for those who want to reach bars and shops
“END OF THE LINE THAT YOU DO NOT NEED TO NOTHING” -“Regardless of personal damage – said Andrea Borzi, historians stores Borzi – moving a terminal of 300 meters is useless. For us, business is becoming impossible, including the arrival of goods. And then the buildings on the Manor are all shops of the seventeenth century: trembling when passing buses, let alone now. “ the rumors fly. On the morning of July 4, there was great excitement because of the shops on the asphalt was previously uncovered all resurfaced: tell of problems with its gas and with the tunnels below.
Capitals found during the excavations for the tram 8
AREA ARCHAEOLOGICAL obscured – “From what was to be the centrality of the Sacred-says Mark Hare, president of the Argentina-Arenula and its exploitation, it has gone the exact opposite is obscured by the rails and trams, which fit an architectural element that is a barrier. ” Neither, says the merchant, is considered “the natural daily traffic jam that will be created by the occupation of the roadway of two rails, which effectively prevent the movement even now, since you still spend the bus which also have their stops, and the many lines of Open bus of tourists, of which Rome has the enviable record of permissions granted, blocking traffic. “THE WAY OF THE KNOT ASTALLI – A case – to the feared consequences – even closing because of Astalli: “It will become a node, a funnel. It will direct via the Plebiscite all traffic from Piazza Venezia to Argentina. ” Retailers also complain that the terminal not to obscure the Teatro Argentina, goes so to obscure a more important building, Barbo Palace, the papal residence from 1462: “The work made sense if you could take the tram to Termini,” said with one voice. And Matthew Roccas, councilor of the historic shops and a large stationery store on Arenula “the question is simple: the administration does not communicate.”
DENIED THE CYCLE – “Last year there was a meeting with the Agency for Mobility – explains Roccas – during which we explained the technical issues related to the tram in the area and asked a bike path that goes from Piazza Venezia, which was connected with the other existing, so that there was a circuit.Nothing. ” The Association had also requested that historic shops do not shut the roads. And now asks: “Way of Astalli will be reopened or remain closed for ever? We want to understand.But one thing we are certain: if the problem was not to keep the bus loop in front of the theater, was enough to move to Piazza Cairoli. “
Work on the tram route 8 in the Dark Shops
Bulldozers for excavation work necessary to the laying of new tracks
Barriers to the tram 8: obstacles for those who want to reach bars and shops
Capitals found during the excavations for the tram 8
