CARDINAL GUIDO's TOMB AND A RED GRANITE TUB

In the spring of 1562, during the papacy of Pius IV (1559–1565), the streets of Rome were crossed several times by carts that were loaded with ancient marbles coming from the Basilica of SS. Cosma e Damiano. At the same time as Cardinal Alessandro Farnese (between May 18 and May 22) was being informed about the excavation that brought to light the fragments of the Forma Urbis, found “in centomila pezzi” beneath the wall of the monastery, “et fa raccorre diligentemente ogni pezzuolo per vedere di metterla insieme, et è già a 4 carrettate [cart loads] di pietre che si è fatte portare a casa” (see Chapter 16.4), one carter and a porter were carrying ancient sarcophagi from the basilica to the Vatican. On May 10, the carter, a certain Ponzino, was paid by the Camera Apostolica “per haver portato undici pili e 3 coperchi di marmo antichi posti in Belvedere.” On the same day, the porter, Pietro, received a payment for having “cavati alcuni pili da san cosmo e san danmiano,” and later, on June 3, “per più viaggi fatti da santo cosimo e damiano a Palazzo,” whereas master Francesco Casaccia received the “pagamento di sua fatica per haver cavati con l'argani cinque pili e 3 coperchi fuor del portico di santo cosimo e danmiano.” Indeed, the interior and the exterior of the rotunda housed several ancient sarcophagi, which had been reused in the Middle Ages. No doubt they were moved from funerary monuments located outside the pomerial line (note that some inscriptions and relics found in the Basilica of SS. Cosma e Damiano came from the Via Ardeatina cemetery; see Chapters 14 and 16.7). Burials in the central area of Rome are not attested to earlier than the sixth century. The excavation of the two Soprintendenze revealed several burials dating from the sixth century in the area of the Templum Pacis, precisely behind the Basilica of SS. Cosma e Damiano.