Alfonso Bartoli

In 1911he was appointed inspector of the excavations of the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill, at the time directed by Professor Giacomo Boni, renowned archaeologist who discovered the Lapis niger, the Regia, the Lacus Curtius, the archaic necropolis at the temple of Antoninus and Faustina and the church of Santa Maria Antiqua.

[citation needed] Its activity was not only aimed at the excavations and recovery and restoration of monuments brought to light but also at a profound historical research, especially in the continuity between imperial and temporal power.

and despite never having carried out activities in favor of the party or the war, it is declared forfeited with a sentence of the High Court of Justice for the Sanctions against Fascism of 30 October 1944, confirmed by the Cassation on 8 July 1948.

Like all urban planners and archaeologists active in the years of fascism, Bartoli also pays the price for the choices that have destroyed a considerable part of the historical and archaeological heritage of Rome. "

Mussolini's Rome pours tears and blood ", writes Quinto Tosatti , first post-fascist president of the National Institute of Roman Studies and Christian Democratic senator, " having immediately understood man's weakness and megalomania, it was a competition in always proposing new forms of flattery; anyone who had to launch some big building deal, or to capture prebends and honors, had only to suggest the most bizarre imperial exhumations and reconstructions ".