Tomba Nasoni e Fadilla
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Two elegant mausoleums from the imperial age excavated in the tufa on the Via Flaminia, north of the capital
Small and incredibly well-preserved, the Tomb of Fadilla held the remains of a noblewoman of the Antonine family. On three walls it houses arcosolium tombs (hollowed-out niches surmounted by an arch, in which sarcophagi were placed), while the mosaic floor displays refined black and white geometric patterns. Delicate wall paintings cover the walls and vault with floral motifs, peacocks, winged genii, children's faces and personifications of the seasons.
Discovered at the end of the 17th century, the Tomb of the Nasonii has a troubled history. Pope Clement X allowed his nephew to appropriate several portions of the frescoes that were used to decorate his villa on the Esquiline. Today's public can get an idea of this thanks to the panels made from the plates of the painter and engraver Pietro Santi Bartoli, who depicted the decorations of the tomb immediately after its discovery.
Thanks to this documentation, we also know that the tomb had an external marble facade in the form of a small temple, which has now disappeared, and whose inscriptions have made it possible to attribute ownership to the Nasoni, the lineage of the poet Ovid. Another certainty is that the conformation of the surrounding land has changed profoundly over the centuries, due to a tufa quarry that eroded the original hillside, facilitating the infiltration of water into the mausoleum.