Posts Tagged ‘Rome’
The new Vatican necropolis
Today I read an interesting post on the Traveler’s Journal commented that where next spring, visitors to the Vatican to be able to access a new archaeological site discovered just underground.
Apparently it is a “little Pompeii” which is past the tombs surrounding the San Pedro, just below the basilica. It is in that piece of ground where the graves have appeared.
In the Via de la Posta is a passage between the parking and the new multifunctional building in Santa Rosa. Going down those stairs, you reach the remains that were found in two stages: in 1956 a party and in 2003, during excavations to build a new garage the other zone. Although they have been partially open to the public, more conditioning now open for visitors.
“It is normal necropolis in the center of Rome. This is the only of its kind, to find something you still need to go to Ostia,” said Paolo Liverani, Vatican team member who participated in the restoration, referring to the site located in the old port west of the city. The excavations brought to light more than 40 mausoleums and over 200 individual graves placed at multiple levels, most well preserved and dating from the late first century BC and early fourth century AD The tombs include funerary altars with simple polls terracotta containing the ashes of those who were cremated, lamps and holes showing where garlands were hung. Next to two graves of people from the Roman middle class, a “tabellarius” (Postman) and a “hortator” (horse trainer in the circus), the rest of the people with more money, carved with elegance.
The floor of one of the mausoleums was decorated with a black and white mosaic, which is still preserved, of a drunken Dionysus, the god of wine, a vineyard attached by a young satyr.
I knew in Italy out remains of the ancient history to dig a bit minimal, but even knowing it amazes me still see new remains.
