The Mausoleo di Augusto (Mausoleum of Augustus) is the largest circular mausoleum in the ancient world. 87 metres in diameter, originally 42 metres high, built in 28 BC to house the remains of the first Roman emperor and his dynasty. It stands in Campo Marzio district of Rome, one block from the Tiber and five minutes from Piazza del Popolo, surrounded by the elegant Piazza Augusto Imperatore that Mussolini created around it in the 1930s. After serving as a fortress, a garden, a concert hall, and a car park over 2,000 years, it was closed for restoration in 2007 and reopened to the public in 2021. It is now one of Rome's most significant newly accessible monuments, and one of the least crowded important sites in the city.
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What the Mausoleo di Augusto Is
Augustus began construction of his mausoleum in 28 BC, two years after the defeat of Mark Antony and Cleopatra at Actium. The timing was deliberate: it signalled his permanence as ruler and his intention to establish a dynasty. The structure was a series of concentric rings of concrete and travertine, planted with cypress trees, with an earthen tumulus on top and a bronze statue of Augustus at the summit. A central circular chamber (the burial chamber proper) connected to an outer ring by a covered corridor. The remains of Augustus, his wife Livia, his daughter Julia, and the several members of the Julio-Claudian dynasty who predeceased him (Marcellus, Agrippa, Drusus, Germanicus) were placed here in golden urns. The ashes of the last emperor to be interred here were those of Nerva in 98 AD.
The Visit: What You See Inside
The current visit to the Mausoleo di Augusto (guided tour, mandatory, approximately 50 minutes) takes you through the restored structure: the entrance vestibule with original travertine blocks, the main corridor (ambulacrum) that circles the inner drum, the central burial chamber where the bronze urns were placed, and the upper sections with views over Campo Marzio. The restoration has consolidated the structural integrity of the monument without attempting a full reconstruction, you see the raw ancient masonry alongside the careful modern consolidation, in a way that is honest about the building's age and damage history. The audiovisual installation projected on the interior walls at certain hours adds historical context that the bare stone can't provide alone. Tickets €12. Book at museiincomune.roma.it.
Questions About the Mausoleo di Augusto
How do I visit the Mausoleo di Augusto?
Advance booking is mandatory at museiincomune.roma.it. The guided tours run at specific times (check the booking system for current schedule). The entrance is in Piazza Augusto Imperatore. The nearest metro stop is Spagna (line A, 10 minutes walk) or Flaminio (line A, 8 minutes walk).
Is the Mausoleo di Augusto worth visiting?
Yes, for three reasons: it is one of the most historically significant monuments in Rome (the burial place of the man who defined the Roman Empire), it is newly accessible after decades of closure, and it is significantly less crowded than comparable-significance sites like the Colosseum or the Pantheon. The guided tour provides historical context that makes the bare structure comprehensible. Without the tour, the restored drum of ancient concrete is impressive but difficult to interpret.
What is near the Mausoleo di Augusto in Rome?
The Ara Pacis (Altar of Peace, built 9 BC) is directly adjacent, housed in a Richard Meier-designed pavilion, it is one of the finest pieces of Roman relief sculpture in existence, celebrating the Augustan peace after decades of civil war. Ticket €12, separate from the Mausoleum. Combined, the two monuments give you the complete Augustan monumental program in Campo Marzio, a morning of extraordinarily significant Roman art and history in one square block of central Rome.
What happened to the Mausoleo di Augusto over the centuries?
After the fall of the Western Empire, the mausoleum was progressively stripped of its marble cladding (used elsewhere), converted into a fortress by the Colonna family in the medieval period, used as an amphitheater for bullfights in the 16th century, converted into a hanging garden in the 18th century (the Bosco Correa), used as a concert hall (Auditorium Augusteo, 1908-1936), and finally cleared and isolated by Mussolini in the 1930s as part of a Fascist-era program of ancient Roman glorification. The surrounding piazza and the clearing of medieval buildings around the mausoleum was a Fascist intervention, historically significant, architecturally questionable. The mausoleum itself survived all these transformations structurally intact but aesthetically stripped.
Cenni Storici: Augusto e il Suo Mausoleo
Ottaviano Augusto (63 a.C. - 14 d.C.) fu il primo imperatore romano, non il primo a governare come monarca (Giulio Cesare aveva fatto questo) ma il primo a costruire un sistema istituzionale stabile che durò per tre secoli. Il suo Mausoleo fu la prima pietra fisica di questo sistema: costruendolo nel 28 a.C., Augustus dichiarava che il suo potere era permanente e che avrebbe avuto una continuazione dinastica. Era una mossa politica travestita da architettura funeraria. La tradizione romana prevedeva la cremazione, le ceneri erano conservate in urne. L'urna d'oro di Augusto fu deposta qui nel 14 d.C. dopo la sua morte a Nola. Il cipresso che piantò intorno alla struttura (simbolo di morte nella tradizione romana) cresce ancora nei luoghi dove i romani lo piantavano, i cimiteri italiani odierni usano ancora il cipresso per la stessa ragione simbolica. Vedi anche: Rome · Colosseum · Roman Forum.
