Francesco Cellini's Piazza Augusto Imperatore Opens in Rome

In June 2025, Rome's new Piazza Augusto Imperatore, designed by architect Francesco Cellini, opened to the public. The project originated from a 2006 international competition won by the group "Urbs & Civitas" led by Cellini, with a team including Mario Manieri Elia, Maria Margarita Segarra Lagunes, Renato Nicolini, and Carlo Gasparrini. The jury was chaired by Francesco Venezia. The square reconnects the Tridente district with the Tiber River, featuring two monumental staircases: one descending from the apse of San Carlo al Corso, the other along the axis of via di Ripetta, evoking the 18th-century port of Ripetta designed by Alessandro Specchi. The site encompasses layers of history from the Mausoleum of Augustus (28 BC) to the 1938 Ara Pacis enclosure by Vittorio Ballio Morpurgo and the 2006 Ara Pacis Museum by Richard Meier, which the New York Times criticized as an "absurd out-of-scale" structure. Cellini's design uses local travertine, reclaimed basalt, and burnished bronze, integrating classical, Baroque, fascist-era, and contemporary elements. Critics who lament the lack of trees are reminded that gardens around the Mausoleum are yet to be completed. Cellini, born in Rome in 1944, is an academician of San Luca known for his geometric rigor and spatial foresight, with notable unbuilt projects including a Communication Tower in China and a bridge for the Accademia in Venice.