Legend tells that the geese of the Campidoglio (Rome’s city hall) managed to warn the Consul Marcus Manlius of the arrival of the Gauls with their honking, saving Rome from an assault.
There are two more symbolic animals related to the history of the Capitoline Hill and more specifically the city hall. Around the end of the 1800s, the city council decided to place a wolf in the flesh, right in the garden of the Campidoglio. A few years later, an eagle was also placed there in a birdcage. In the council’s deliberation it also specifically states the daily cost of maintenance, and salary of the guardian in charge of the wolf and the eagle. Today, the cages that hosted specimens of the two animals for 100 years are still visible, though finally empty.
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