Rome Repurposed: The Soderini Garden

In the modern area of what was once the Campus Martius, in the busy urban area of Rome, there is a large and quiet property overgrown with greenery, innocuously tucked between Mussolini area buildings, only one hundred metres from the Museum of the Ara Pacis. This space is low-lying, partially excavated, and marked by a large circular structure that rises out of the pit and up to the level of the buildings on the neighbouring streets. Atop the structure are a variety of trees and plants, arranged in levels like the decoration of a cake, and at the very top, it is open to the sky, deep down to the level of the ground within the rounded walls. It is the ancient Mausoleum of Augustus, a funerary tomb long abandoned, built to house the remains of members of that imperial family, now resembling a structured dirt pile. And while a funerary monument certainly doesn't fit the scope of this blog, one of its many reuses over time does.

(1) The Mausoleum site, taken July 17th, 2016.

In 1546, Monsignor Francesco Soderini, a wealthy patriarch from the Florence area, purchased the ruins which were in a state of disuse and converted them into a luxury museum garden, a place for displaying antiques and other monuments to history. The placement was intentional; Soderini was a patron of the antique age and likely appreciated the significance of the site to house his extensive collection of relics. In 1549, in fact, Soderini had the lower levels of the ruins excavated to find what marble remains still existed. Soderini was not looking to do proper excavations and documentation, however, but instead to find interesting items for placement in his gardens.

(2) An engraving of the Soderini gardens, dated 1575, by Etienne du Pérac. 

Note the statues at the door, possibly recycled from the Mausoleum.

(3) 'Pasquino', recovered from the Mausoleum of Augustus.

Soderini's excavation was fruitful, and dozens of items were placed around the garden in niches, set into the florals and bushes, or used as decor for the entrance. One such statue, pictured above, still survives in the Pitti Palace in Florence today. 

(4) Engraving of the gardens, dated 1619, by Alò Giovannovi.

The gardens survived and were kept up until the 18th century when they were destroyed and the structure turned into an arena for bullfights. By that point, the statues and relics had mostly been rehomed into the villas of the wealthy and museums.

While the garden itself is not of ancient Rome, its existence helped to preserve the Mausoleum of Augustus itself, as well as the ancient contents within it. Soderini's excavation was not careful or intended to preserve, but it did unearth a number of items that have survived thanks to their value, and the garden itself has been suggested as an agent of preservation for the remaining walls of the mausoleum. 

Works Cited:

Carnabucci,  Dottoressa Elisabetta. Guided tour, Visit to the Mausoleum of Augustus, Italy, Rome, June 17, 2016.

Riccomini, Anna Maria. "A Garden of Statues and Marbles: The Soderini Collection in the Mausoleum of Augustus." Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes 58 (1995): 265-84. Accessed June 19, 2016. doi:10.2307/751517.

Image Sources:
Image 1 taken by the author, July 17th, 2016.

Riccomini, Anna Maria. "A Garden of Statues and Marbles: The Soderini Collection in the Mausoleum of Augustus." Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes 58 (1995): 265-84. Accessed June 19, 2016. doi:10.2307/751517. (Images 2, 3 and 4)