Rome was first recreated as a model back in the mid-Twentieth Century.  A plaster representation known as Plastico di Roma Antica was created from 1933 to 1971 complete with aqueducts and restored temples to the Roman Gods. 

It took archeologists and model makers forty years to complete this task! 

This project was the brain child of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini. To commemorate the birth of Augustus (63 BC) two thousand years earlier, Mussolini decided to commission a model of Rome as it appeared at the time of Emperor Constantine (AD 306-337), when the city had reached its greatest size. 

Italo Gismondi was commissioned to build the model. Today the model can be viewed in the city's Museum of Roman Civilization. The model is built to 1:240 scale.  It extends more than fifty-five feet across! 

Two photographs of part of the model can be seen below:
 

http://www.ssqq.com/travel/barcelona2009romereborn.htm