Obelisco di Montecitorio

Brought to Rome under Augustus, it was set up in the Campus Martius on a pedestal bearing the dedication «...AEGYPTO IN POTESTATEM POPULI ROMANI REDACTA SOLI DONUM DEDIT», and Roma Capitale records that it probably served as the gnomon of the sundial whose area at its foot was paved with a representation of the zodiac. It stood until the tenth or eleventh century, then fell, was progressively buried and forgotten. It was found in 1748 broken in five pieces and fire-damaged, recovered under Benedict XIV, and re-erected in its present position in 1792; restored in 1965. In 1998 the piazza was relaid, recreating the zodiacal elements and guide lines that restore its meridian function. The obelisk you see standing is therefore not a thing that has stood here since Augustus.