The Garibaldian Ossuary Mausoleum stands on the Janiculum Hill in the location called Colle del Pino, where between April 30 and the early days of July 1849, under the leadership of Giuseppe Garibaldi, the last fierce defense of the Roman Republic proclaimed on February 9 of the same year took place. Designed by the architect Giovanni Jacobucci (1895-1970) and solemnly inaugurated on November 3, 1941, after two years of work, the Mausoleum houses the remains of those fallen in the battles for the capital city of Rome from 1849 to 1870. The need to properly commemorate the fallen for Rome was strongly expressed immediately after the capture of Porta Pia. In 1878-79, Garibaldi himself and his son Menotti were among the promoters of the law that recognized the Janiculum as the place to gather the remains of the patriots.
The first burial ground was then created based on thorough surveys carried out to locate the bodies, some of which were buried at Campo Verano, while those from 1870 were still interred on the battle sites near the Walls. The idea of building a Mausoleum was revived in the 1930s by Ezio Garibaldi, son of Ricciotti, then president of the Society of Veterans of Patriotic Battles, named after the heroic grandfather, and proposed to the Government, which adopted it and supported the costs.
At the center of a fenced area, a stern travertine quadripartite portico, made up of three round arches on each side and elevated on steps, encloses the central core of the monument: an altar carved from a single block of Baveno red granite, enriched with allegorical figures inspired by Roman antiquity, including the she-wolf, the imperial eagle, shields, and gladiators. These motifs repeat throughout the decorative scheme of the Mausoleum.
At the corners of the quadripartite portico, four travertine pedestals hold four bronze braziers decorated with she-wolf heads, which are still lit on official commemorative occasions. The pedestals recall the most significant battles for the liberation of Rome: 1849 Vascello, San Pancrazio, Palestrina, Velletri, Monti Parioli, Villa Spada; 1862 Aspromonte; 1867 Monterotondo, Mentana, Villa Glori, Casa Ajani; 1870 Porta Pia, San Pancrazio.
At the back of the quadripartite portico, a double flight of stairs descends to the Shrine, closed by an imposing bronze portal. The evocative environment is divided into two areas: a vestibule with small side apses and a square chamber, which has at the center a large circular pillar decorated with palms and votive crosses in alabaster. The lowered vaulted ceiling is covered with gold mosaic tiles; polychrome marbles cover the floor and walls, upon which 36 niches closed by plaques remember the names of over 1600 heroic fallen.
Only a few remains (about 200), mostly anonymous, found during the various surveys, are kept in the niches. On the back wall is the porphyry sarcophagus with the remains of Goffredo Mameli, the young Genoese poet, author of the Italian anthem, fatally wounded right on the Janiculum in 1849 at only 22 years of age.
