A new road was also built to connect the station with Porta San Paolo – this was initially named Via A. Hitler but, after World War II, it became Viale delle Cave Ardeatine, as a way of commemorating the victims of Nazi occupation.

Before 1990, however, the piazza was embellished with a well-maintained garden and a now-nonfunctioning fountain that was built in the 1950s as part of the design of the station's architect Roberto Narducci.

The fountain was inexplicably excluded from the modernization and renovations for the 1990 World Cup, even though the square was part of the ambitious "Cento Piazze" beautification project.

[6] The small palm gardens that surround the parking lot are today occupied by a number of homeless people, asylum seekers, and political refugees.

[7] Every Monday and Friday, Red Cross volunteers use the square to distribute food to the city's homeless population, despite protests from the area's residents who say that the organization arbitrarily selected the site.