History
The property originally belonged to Julius Caesar but after his death it was acquired by the historian Sallust who developed it using his wealth extorted as governor of the province of Africa Nova (newly conquered Numidia). After the writer's great-nephew it passed to Tiberius in 20 AD and was maintained for several centuries by the Roman Emperors as a public amenity. The Emperor Nerva died of a fever in a villa in the gardens in AD 98, and they remained an imperial resort until they were sacked in 410 by the Goths under Alaric, who entered the city at the gates of the Horti Sallustiani. The gardens were not finally deserted until the 6th century. In the early 17th century Cardinal Ludovico Ludovisi, nephew of Pope Gregory XV, purchased the site and constructed the Villa Ludovisi, in the course of which several important Roman sculptures were rediscovered. Much of the area occupied by the gardens was divided into building lots and filled following the break-up of Villa Ludovisi after 1894, as Rome expanded as the capital city of Italy after the unification of Italy. The ancient topography itself has been irrevocably altered with the filling of the valley between the Pincio and Quirinal hills where these horti existed.
Read more about this topic: Gardens Of Sallust
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