Rome, three small mausoleums discovered along the ancient Via Latina

Three sepulchral buildings, small mausoleums, belonging to the same funerary complex, which stood along the ancient Via Latina and datable between the 1st century BC and the 1st century AD, were discovered in Rome, in via Luigi Tosti, in the Appio Latino district. , during the preventive archeology investigations carried out under the guidance of the Special Superintendence in a site of Acea Ato2 spa and of the Company Sita srl ​​for the replacement of the water network. “A discovery that sheds new light on a very important context – according to Daniela Porro, special superintendent of Rome -, that Via Latina that from Porta Capena reached Capua and whose route is still visible today in the Parks of the Aqueducts and Tombs of via Latina. Once again Rome shows important traces of the past in all its urban fabric “. Partially compromised by previous constructions of underground utilities, the three structures found show a powerful base in concrete and are characterized by the walls that in one are in yellow tuff blocks, in the second in reticulated work, while a base remains of the third. One of the buildings shows marked signs of combustion, probably attributable to the fire that led to its abandonment. The findings, which took place at a depth of about half a meter compared to the current road level, brought to light a common ceramic cinerary ole (still perfectly intact and also containing the bone remains) and a burial in the bare earth of a young man. . The complex appears to have been built using the front of an abandoned pozzolana quarry, as indicated by the characteristic irregularities of the cuts on the tuff bank on which it stands. Copious quantities of colored plaster and an interesting terracotta dog head come from the layers of the quarry preceding the funerary structures. A type of artifact whose original function was as a drip placed on the sloping roofs: the specimen found, on the other hand, without the drain hole had lost its practical purpose, and was purely decorative. From the study of the materials, from the analysis of the data collected in the field, from the comparison with other nearby findings, further information on these discoveries that took place along the ancient Via Latina, an area where numerous funerary buildings have emerged, will emerge. In fact, a few tens of meters away in 1956 the extraordinary hypogeum of via Dino Compagni was discovered, which is characterized by the architectural variety of the rooms and by the extraordinary decoration of over 100 frescoes, with pagan pictorial cycles alternating with Christian paintings. by the archaeologist Angelina De Laurenzi of the Special Superintendence of Rome were performed by Archeo di Fabio Turchetta.