Parco della Vestale Cossinia

The Park of the Vestal Cossinia, beside the Aniene in Tivoli, preserves a first-century CE funerary monument associated with a Vestal Virgin named Cossinia. Discovered in 1929 after a landslide, the tomb stands beside a second burial that contained the remains of a young woman.

Why it matters

The inscribed monument records that Cossinia served Vesta for sixty-six years and was buried by decree of the senate. It is the only known tomb of a Vestal Virgin to survive. The discovery also revealed a neighbouring burial, providing a separate glimpse into the ancient necropolis along the Via Valeria.

What to notice

The tomb is a marble funerary altar on a stepped travertine base. An inscription within an oak wreath names Cossinia, daughter of Lucius, and Lucius Cossinius Electus, likely her relative. The inscribed text recalls her long service and burial by the people under a senatorial decree. Excavation beneath a nearby base uncovered the skeleton of a young woman with an ivory doll and an amber casket; the remains are now in the Museo Nazionale Romano.

Context and history

The monument was uncovered on the Aniene's right bank in July 1929 by archaeologist Gioacchino Mancini after a landslide exposed part of the necropolis. The younger woman's burial is distinct from Cossinia's tomb; a 2022 investigation identified her as a girl of about seventeen or eighteen. The site is protected as an archaeological monument, and its history links the ancient city of Tibur to the burial grounds that lined the Via Valeria.