This monumental mausoleum – a dramatic 45m wide and 90m high – was built in 28 BC and is the final resting place of Augustus, buried here in AD 14, and his favourite nephew and heir Marcellus. Mussolini had it restored in 1936 with an eye to being buried here himself, but it has since fallen into sad disrepair. Once one of ancient Rome’s most imposing monuments, today it is an ugly, unkempt mound of earth, smelly and surrounded by unsightly fences.
The mausoleum is currently undergoing a major restoration. Stage two started in 2017 courtesy of a €6 million grant from the TIM Foundation. The official completion date is mid-2019, at which time the site will open to the public, with images of the ancient and modern city will be projected onto the mausoleum's interior walls.