Roman antiquities site, Largo di Torre Argentina, incorporating the spot where Julius Caesar was reputed to have been assassinated, is being opened for tourism for the first time.
The site, which dates from the third century BC, has been a cat sanctuary for the last decade. More recently, it received an upgrade funded by luxury jewellery brand, Bulgari, which included a new disability-accessible walkway and lighting.
Four temples, known as the ‘Sacred Area’, are open to travellers every day, except Mondays and holidays, with entrance tickets priced at €5 (R100).
The temples are believed to be in honour of four goddesses, including the Roman goddess of fortune, Fortuna. The site also houses the foundation and part of a wall of a grand rectangular hall, Pompey’s Curia, which temporarily hosted the Roman Senate. This is designated as the location where Julius Caesar was infamously stabbed 23 times by a group of senators in 44 BC.
The halls display historic artifacts found on the site, including Travertine paving stones that Emperor Domitian laid down in 80 AD and a piece of a stone head representing one of the temple’s goddesses.
At the inaugural ceremony, Rome’s cultural heritage official and archaeologist, Claudio Parisi Presicce, called the site “one of the best-preserved remains of the Roman Republic”.
