Situated just outside the ancient city of Rome along the urban stretch of the Via Appia Antica, inside the later Aurelian Wall and immediately before the Porta San Sebastiano, the tomb lies beneath a hill and is today framed by the modern green space known as the Parco degli Scipioni.

The earliest documented reference to the complex dates to 1614 CE, but the full rediscovery and modern understanding began in 1780 CE, when two priests, the Sassi brothers, uncovered a tunnel entrance in their vineyard above the site. After excavation and removal of many of the epigraphic and sculptural elements—many now housed in the Vatican Museums—the site remained neglected until restoration and public opening in the 20th century CE. A significant reopening occurred after conservation in 2008 CE, when the tomb was once again made accessible to visitors after decades of closure.

Today the site is managed as an archaeological area: the ancient burial galleries remain accessible by guided appointment, and the surrounding park offers a setting for the monument within its later-urban context. Visitors can observe the cut-tuff galleries, the remains of the original façade, and the juxtaposition of ancient structure with modern reinforcement. The setting reflects layered interventions—ancient, rediscovery-era, and contemporary—preserved in a single coherent space.

The tomb’s significance lies beyond its funerary role: it functioned as a public monument to aristocratic memory and the moral ideals of the Republic. Positioned along Rome’s most prestigious road, the Via Appia, the complex proclaimed the enduring prestige and civic virtue of the Scipio family.

circa 300-100 BCE

The architectural layout of the Tomb of the Scipios reflects a combination of deliberate cut-into-bedrock design and later additions. The primary section was carved into a volcanic tuff hillside, forming a roughly square plan, with the rock-cut chamber subdivided by four large pillars left in situ to support the overhead mass. From this central body, eight corridors or galleries extend—four along the sides and two crossing at right angles—creating a grid-like hypogeum plan.

The original façade faced northeast and featured a high podium of tuff blocks containing three arches: a central one leading to the main hypogeum, one to a later chamber on the right, and a blind arch on the left. Traces of painted decoration survive on the façade wall, showing multiple phases: the earliest from the mid-second century BCE with figurative scenes, and a later first century CE layer with a simple red wave motif. Above this was once a tripartite upper façade of six semi-columns and three niches that reportedly held statues of Scipio Africanus, Scipio Asiaticus, and the poet Ennius. This formal façade is considered one of the earliest examples of Hellenistic-style monumental expression in Rome.

Later, an independent brick-built gallery was added with a separate entrance facing the Via Appia, reflecting a reuse or expansion phase around the mid-second century BCE. The internal galleries were lined with loculi and sarcophagi placed against walls or within niches. The choice of tuff and brick, as well as the tomb’s orientation along the Via Appia just outside the city limits, underscored both its practical function and symbolic prominence. The site thus acted as a statement of the Scipiones’ aristocratic identity within Rome’s expanding urban and ideological landscape.

Modern conservation efforts have focused on stabilizing the tuff, restoring mural fragments, and ensuring visitor access without compromising the hypogeum’s integrity. Major interventions between 2009 and 2011 CE addressed structural decay and studied the decorative program to better understand the tomb’s original scenographic intent.

circa 270 BCE

Scipio Barbatus
The Tomb of the Scipios served as the burial place for several prominent members of the Cornelian gens. The most celebrated is Lucius Cornelius Scipio Barbatus, consul in 298 BCE, whose sarcophagus still bears an Old Latin inscription in Saturnian metre. It reads:

Cornelius Lucius Scipio Barbatus, Gnaivod patre prognatus, fortis vir sapiensque,
quoivs forma virtutei parisuma fuit.
Consol, censor, aidilisque fuit apud vos.
Taurasia Cisauna Samnio cepit, subigit omne Loucana, opsidesque abdoucit.

Cornelius Lucius Scipio Barbatus, born of a Gnaivod father, was a brave and wise man, whose form was equal to his virtue.
He was a consul, a censor, and an aide-de-camp among you.
Taurasia captured Cisauna from Samnium, subdued all of Loucana, and removed the siege.

This epitaph is among the earliest surviving examples of Roman self-commemoration in verse, emphasizing both moral character and military achievement.