Monte Del Grano

The Monte del Grano in Rome is an impressive example of ancient funerary architecture, located in the Parco XVII Aprile 1944 in the Tuscolano district. It is the so-called Mausoleum of Alexander Severus, considered the third-largest tumulus tomb in the city after the Castel Sant'Angelo (Mole Adriana) and the Mausoleum of Augustus. The complex was originally a partially sunken structure of stone blocks enclosed by an artificial, grass-covered mound, a design that goes back to Etruscan and Roman imperial models. Today you can enter via a corridor about twenty-one meters long into a circular interior chamber ten meters in diameter, which once had two stories. The name of the site probably derives from the Latin term for a measure of grain, since the mound took on this shape after travertine blocks were removed in the fourteenth century. Although the mausoleum is now partly hidden by modern apartment buildings, it remains an important testament to Rome's necropolises, and the historical attribution to Emperor Alexander Severus is supported by archaeological finds such as the famous sarcophagus in the Capitoline Museums.