Rome (AFP)
Seen from the outside, this building in the center of Rome does not look much and yet it hides in its basement a real treasure: the remains of a house from the Roman era, with sumptuous mosaics.
In the vestibule of the building dating from the 1950s and located at the foot of the Aventine, one of the seven hills of the Italian capital, a resident laden with shopping bags gently holds the door.
But you have to venture a little further and descend a flight of stairs to reach the holy of holies, hidden behind an ordinary gray metal door.
This is where mosaics dating from the beginning of our era are exhibited, discovered during preventive archaeological excavations launched on the occasion of the transformation into a residential building of this former headquarters of the National Labor Bank, bought by the French bank BNP Paribas.
"We are here inside an + archaeological box + (...), an architectural structure having two functions: to protect the mosaics and allow the public to have access to them" on the site of their discovery, explains to AFP Roberto Narducci, archaeologist in the direction of the cultural goods of Rome.
Excavations began in 2014 and ended in 2018, a long and technologically complex job.
The nose shod in glasses and the feet camped in front of a mosaic where a delicate vine and its small bunches run on a white background, the archaeologist wishes to underline the exceptional character of the place which opens its doors to the public on Friday.
"Here we are inside a private building (...) precisely where the creation of eight garages was planned", he says with a smile.
- Scent of magic -
Goodbye garages!
"There was an agreement with the owner, in this case at the time the BNP Paribas bank, which financed the work", rejoices the scientist.
He also participated in the creation of multimedia content which transforms, thanks to the play of light and a soundtrack punctuated by birdsong, the archaeological visit into the life of a Roman "domus".
Under the eyes of visitors, the walls are covered with brightly colored paintings reminiscent of those of Pompeian villas, the missing sections of the mosaics are reconstituted as if by miracle.
This time machine takes a leap of more than two thousand years back, at the precise place where the inhabitants of this sumptuous Roman house trod the mosaics which are reborn today before our eyes.
It is undoubtedly this daring choice not to transfer everything to a disembodied museum that gives this "archaeological box" a scent of magic.
"We have had the opportunity to study several layers of mosaics which have been superimposed on each other over the centuries, six in total: from a scientific point of view, this happens very rarely", underlines Mr. Narducci.
Thanks to the study of a surface of more than 2,000 m2, the archaeologists were also able to "bring to light several treasures dating back to the 8th century BC, in particular the remains of a military construction, perhaps a tower. guard "whose foundations are still visible.
And the co-owners of the building, how do they react to this unusual presence under their feet?
According to Roberto Narducci, they are "proud to find such a framework", governed by an agreement between the direction of cultural property and the condominium providing for an opening to the public limited to the first and third Fridays of each month, always under the supervision of a guide.
"It is true that we are inside an apartment building, but we are also on an archaeological site where the objects belong to the State", summarizes Roberto Narducci.
(Information and reservations: https://www.scatolaarcheologica.it/en/)
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