The spot where Julius Caesar was murdered by members of the Roman Senate is one of the most infamous sites in world history. As a tourist spot, however, it's infamous in a different way: The ruins in the Largo di Torre Argentina, where dozens of stray cats now call home, are currently crumbling and fenced off from the public. But that's set to change. Julia Buckley at Conde Nast Traveler reports the area will soon undergo renovations before opening to the public in 2021.
Rome's mayor, Virginia Raggi, announced that the restoration is being funded by the fashion house Bulgari, which will drop about $1.1 million on the project, funding earmarked to go toward cleaning up and securing the ruins, building walkways through the site and installing public restrooms, TheLocal.it reports.
Though the spot of Caesar's murder was immortalized by ancient historians and, later, William Shakespeare, it was actually covered over by the expanding city of Rome and lost to history until the 1920s. That's when Italian dictator Benito Mussolini razed many sections of modern Rome to unearth the archaeology underneath to tangibly tie his dictatorship to the might of the Roman Empire. The propaganda effort uncovered four temples and part of the Theater of Pompey, a massive public work where the Roman senate met during the era of Julius Caesar.
