The enduring lesson of Julius Caesar’s assassination

In Rome today a group of ancient history enthusiasts will drape themselves in togas and re-enact that most infamous act of political murder: the assassination of Julius Caesar on the Ides of March in 44BC.

The re-enactors will be able to do their anniversary deed on the actual site of the assassination, now a sunken square called the Largo Torre di Argentina. It has just been refurbished and opened as a major new archaeological site in a renovation financed by the Bulgari jewellery company.

Since it was first excavated by Mussolini’s Fascist regime in the 1930s, the site has been somewhat neglected, and became a sanctuary for feral cats.( Now confined to a safe space in a corner of the renovated site). Containing a new museum, complete with statues found on the site, and criss-crossed by raised walkways, the refurbished Largo is an extra ‘must see’ for visitors to the eternal city.