Piazza Augusto Imperatore

Map
The Piazza Augusto Imperatore was created, at the behest of Benito Mussolini, to mark the 2,000th anniversary of the birth of the emperor Augustus (r. 27 BCE - 14 CE), which took place in 1937.

The centrepiece of the new piazza was to be the monumental Mausoleum of Augustus. On October 22nd 1934, Mussolini wielded his famous piccone (pick-axe) for the cameras and work began on demolishing the buildings that encroached upon the tomb. 
​The modern buildings that line three sides of the piazza were designed by the Roman architect Vittorio Ballio Morpurgo (1890-1966). On the north and east sides are the Palazzi dell' INPS (1941), which originally housed government social welfare agencies. 
Mosaics by by Ferruccio Ferrrazzi, Palazzo dell' INPS, Rome
The Myth of Rome
The palazzo on the north side sports a huge mosaic, which depicts The Myth of Rome, the work of the Roman artist Ferruccio Ferrazzi (1891-1978). 
The River Tiber, mosaic by Ferruccio Ferrrazzi, Palazzo dell' INPS, Rome
The River Tiber Holding Romulus and Remus
The god of the river Tiber holds a boat carrying Romulus and Remus. At his feet stands the she-wolf. Above his head is Neptune and two sea-horses. The inscription at the base of the mosaic reads: HIS AB EXIGVIS PROFECTA INITIIS ROMA
(Rome proceeded from these slender beginnings).

The two side mosaics depict deities connected to the themes of work and prosperity. On the left, from top to bottom, there is Juturna, goddess of springs and fountains; Vesta, goddess of the hearth; and Vulcan, at work forging metal.

In the right column we find Diana, goddess of the hunt; Ceres, goddess of harvests but also of birth; and Saturn, the deity who taught mankind the rudiments of agriculture. 
Fountain, Piazza Augusto Imperatore, Rome
Fountain
Below the mosaic is a fountain and a large Latin inscription. The latter is flanked by two winged figures holding the fasces. 

The inscription declares: HVNC · LOCVM · VBI · AVGVSTI · MANES · VOLITANT · PER · AVRAS/ POSTQVAM · IMPERATORIS · MAVSOLEVM · EX · SAECVLORVM · TENEBRIS / EST · EXTRACTVM · ARAEQVE · PACIS · DISIECTA · MEMBRA · REFECTA / MVSSOLINI · DVX · VETERIBVS · ANGVSTIIS · DELETIS · SPLENDIORBVS / VIIS · AEDIFICIIS · AEDIBVS · AD · HVMANITATIS · MORES · APTIS / ORNANDVM · CENSVIT · ANNO · MDCCCCXL · A(nno) · F(ascibus) · R(estitutis) · XVIII. (This place, where Augustus’s spirit soars in the air, after the emperor’s mausoleum had been liberated from the darkness of centuries, and the scattered fragments of the Ara Pacis had been reassembled, Mussolini, the Duce, having demolished the old slums, ordered it to be adorned with more beautiful streets, buildings, houses, suitable to the civilised ways of life, in 1940, the 18th year of the restitution of the fasces.) 
​To be continued...