Anfiteatro Correa

History

The amphitheatre was built on the remains of the Mausoleum of Augustus in Campo Marzio at the behest of the Portuguese Marquis Vincenzo Mani Correa, who resided at Piazza San Lorenzo in Lucina and was the owner of a palace built against the Mausoleum as well as of the imperial ruin itself.

The name Corea came from Romanesco, which tends to elide the doubling of the consonant "r", reducing it to a single consonant. The habit ended up changing the surname of the Marquis as well, who was later called Corea: Via del Corea, located in the vicinity of the former amphitheatre, was named after him.

A garden had been created in the interior of the mausoleum a long time before. A tenant of Spanish origins named Matas equipped it with wooden scaffolding, thus creating a circular arena with bleachers intended for horse shows, tournaments with animals, hunts and fireworks (at the time called fochetti, Romanesco for "little fires"): it had a total capacity between one thousand and three thousand spectators. The inauguration took place on 3 July 1780.

In 1802 the amphitheatre was acquired by the Apostolic Camera: it allowed the performance of circus and animal shows, which have always been highly appreciated by the Roman people. …

The demolition and the reorganization of the space around the mausoleum

The life of the theatre ended under Fascism: in 1937 the whole area once called Schiavonia (due to the presence of the church of St. Jerome of the Slavs and of some houses belonging to their congregation) was razed, as part of Mussolini's campaign of demolishment of the Renaissance urban fabric of Rome intended to isolate the remains of the imperial monuments.

The area of the Mausoleum of Augustus was therefore completely rebuilt, and the monument was surrounded by the porticoed quadrilateral of Piazza Augusto Imperatore designed by the architect Vittorio Ballio Morpurgo. The clearly rationalist project provided for considerable cubages of new buildings covered in travertine, including the shrine of the Ara Pacis.

After the demolitions, the memory of the theatre remained in the toponymy of the town: the street between Via della Frezza and Piazza Augusto Imperatore still retains the name of "Via del Corea".