Sepolcro degli Scipioni

The Sovrintendenza Capitolina records that the monumental tomb was built in the first decades of the third century BC by Lucius Cornelius Scipio Barbatus, whose sarcophagus stood facing the entrance, and that the via Appia had been inaugurated in 312 BC. The first notice of a discovery is of 1614 and the area was re-excavated in 1780; everything inscribed or figured went to the Vatican Museums. Between 1926 and 1929 the Comune ran a campaign of excavation, restoration and arrangement to open the area, which included laying out the Parco degli Scipioni behind it towards the via Latina. Roma Capitale describes the structure as quadrangular in plan, with a monumental entrance now almost entirely gone and six galleries cut in the tufa, sarcophagi set along the walls or in niches, each with its inscription.