In the mid-nineteenth century Lanciani attributed to a monumentum libertorum C. Maecenatis a columbarium and several tituli discovered in the vigna Cremaschi, located in the first section outside the Via Latina gate. However, the find (in vinea episcopi Aquinatis, according to Pighius; in Esquiliis, according to Ligorio) of an inscription pertaining to the sepulchre of some of Maecenas’s freedmen and freedwomen (CIL, VI 21771) was already known in the 16th century, but neither the related sepulchral structure nor the presumable tituli sepulchrales inside it were documented contextually. Therefore, does CIL, VI 21771 come from vigna Cremaschi’s columbarium on the Via Latina as well? In fact, analysing the data in light of the most recent studies it is possible to delineate a clearer picture, confirming the conjecture that there were separate columbaria: the first on the Via Latina, the second on the Esquiline hill, most likely within the area once occupied by the horti Maecenatis.
