Monte del Grano Mausoleum

Seen from a distance it looks like a simple hillock crowned with olive trees but it actually hides a majestic tumulus tomb, the third largest in Rome after the mausoleums of Hadrian and Augustus. The name by which it has been known since the Middle Ages comes from its shape, an overturned bushel of grain, or modius grani in Latin which then became Monte del Grano (Mount of Grain). We know that at the end of the 14th century it was stripped of its outer covering to make lime and that, two centuries later, a tower, later collapsed in the early 20th century, stood on top of it. There are many mysteries still shrouding the ancient building, however.

To access its interior, it is necessary to walk along a long corridor that opens onto a circular cell, originally divided into two floors, with two skylights that ensured lighting and ventilation. At the end of the 16th century, a beautiful historiated sarcophagus was found in the tomb, which is now on display in the Capitoline Museums: the two semi-recumbent figures on the lid were identified as Alexander Severus and his mother Julia Mamea, and the mausoleum was thus dated to the time of this emperor, that is, the beginning of the 3rd century. In the meantime, however, the identification proved groundless, especially since some clay stamps found in the walls of the mausoleum would anticipate its construction to the time of Emperor Hadrian.

However, the size and richness of the sarcophagus, together with the monumentality of the mausoleum, confirm the high rank of the deceased and suggest he was a prominent member of the imperial family or senatorial class. It is also unclear exactly what the exterior of the tomb was, probably, however, it must have been bordered by a circular drum of travertine blocks, which in turn supported a truncated mound covered with vegetation, according to a custom of Hellenistic derivation, as exemplified by the mausoleum of Augustus.