The site could previously only be seen from street level and had become overgrown with weeds. Tourists’ photos posted online show the area being enjoyed by stray cats — there is cat sanctuary on a corner of the square.
“One of the most beautiful and precious places in Rome is finally fully usable by Roman citizens and tourists, who from now on will be able to see from nearby wonderful archaeological finds from various periods of the history of our city,” Miguel Gotor, councilor for culture for the city of Rome, said in a news release.
The first recorded structure of importance on the site dates to the early third century with the construction of what is referred to as Temple C, probably dedicated to the Roman goddess Feronia.
Fires in 111 B.C. and A.D. 80 destroyed much of the earliest buildings, with those remains buried under a new floor built by the emperor Domitian in the first century.
Caesar’s death has endured in Western culture as one of the most seismic political events in history, even as its details and wider implications continue to be debated.
In Shakespeare’s dramatic retelling, the dying dictator last words were “Et tu, Brute?” after he saw that his old friend Marcus Brutus, one of the murder conspiracy’s main ringleaders, was among his killers.
What is agreed upon is that Brutus and a group of Roman senators had grown concerned over the size of Caesar’s power and influence and his undermining of the Republic.
However, Caesar’s killing unleashed a period of reprisal and civil war that killed thousands and effectively killed the Republic. His named successor, his adopted 18-year-old son, Octavian, became what is regarded as Rome’s first emperor in A.D. 27, known by then as Augustus.
Such is Italy’s vast wealth of archaeological treasures that many important sites have yet to be excavated and thousands of found items have never been put on public display.
Historians’ understanding of ancient Rome is still evolving as more items are found. In April a new study shed light on the use of Roman wineries in theatrical ceremonies, while in May archaeologists revealed how people were killed in an earthquake triggered by the immense eruption at Vesuvius in A.D. 79.
