Mausoleo di Cecilia Metella

Mausoleum Rome, Italy

The Mausoleum of Cecilia Metella can be considered the symbolic monument of the ancient Appian Way, known and reproduced since the Renaissance like the most famous monuments of Rome and the object of particular attention by archaeologists, architects, designers and landscape painters.

It is a monumental tomb erected for a Roman noblewoman of whom only a few degrees of kinship are known, thanks to the still preserved inscription. The father was Quintus Caecilius Metellus, consul in 69 BC. and that between 68 and 65 he conquered the island of Crete from which he derived the name Cretico; her husband was, in all probability, Marco Licinio Crassus who distinguished himself in Caesar's retinue in the expedition to Gaul and son of the famous Crassus, a member of the first triumvirate together with Caesar and Pompey.