The Capitoline Wolf

The statue of Romulus and Remus, which is located at the approach of the entrance of the Municipal Building of the City of Rome, Georgia, was an official gift from the Roman Governor, by order of the Italian Dictator, Benito Mussolini. The gift was presented when Chatillon Corporation (Silk Mill), now Celanese Corporation of America, originating from Catillon Corporation in Italy, was brought to Rome, Georgia in 1929, by Mr. Ugo Mancini, Italian Manager. This presentation from ancient Rome to Modern Rome was made on July 20, 1929, by Dr. Marco Biroli of La Soie De Cahatillon, Milan, Italy.

We do not have the name of the sculptor of the statue, but the original, an example of Etruscan art, of which this statue is an exact replica, stands in the Paolazzo dei Conservatori on Capitoline Hill in Rome, Italy.

The bronze plate on the marble base of the statue bears the following inscription:

ROMAE NOVAE

AUSPICIUM PROSPERITATIS

ET GLORIAE

LUPAM CAPITOLINAM SIGNUM

ROMA AETERNA

CONSULE BENITO MUSSOLINI

MISIT

ANNO MCMXXIX

Translation: "This statue of the Capitoline Wolf, as a forecast of prosperity and glory, has been sent from Eternal Rome to New Rome, during the consulship of Benito Mussolini, in the year 1929".

In 1933 one of the twins - no one ever knew whether it was Romulus or Remus - was kidnapped from the pedestal. Neither the kidnapper nor the twin was ever found, but through the efforts of the Rome Rotary Club and the International Rotary Club, another twin was sent from Italy to replace the missing one.

War left its mark on the Capitoline Wolf and her adopted human babies. When Italy declared war on the Allies in 1940, threats to dynamite and destroy the statue became so numerous that the Rome City Commission ordered the statue removed and stored for safety.

In 1952 a movement was started by citizens and art lovers to restore the statue, and on September 8, 1952, after an absence of twelve years, the 1500-pound statue of the Capitoline Wolf was placed once more on its pedestal in front of the Municipal Building.