"The Underground of Metro Colosseo: Archaeology Beneath Ancient Rome"

Expect an immersive descent beneath modern Rome to the tunnels near the Colosseum’s metro, learning how archaeologists excavate, analyze, and conserve discoveries that illuminate everyday life in the ancient city.

Monday June 1 at 2.00pm ET

In this Lecture

archaeologist Livia Galante will explore the remarkable discoveries brought to light during the excavations connected to Metro Colosseo. Far from focusing on the underground structures of the Colosseum itself, this lecture examines the forgotten layers of the surrounding neighborhood — ancient roads, residential buildings, military structures, workshops, water systems, and public spaces that once formed part of the vibrant urban fabric of imperial Rome.

The lecture will reveal how modern infrastructure projects have become unique archaeological opportunities, allowing scholars to reconstruct aspects of daily Roman life that had remained hidden for centuries beneath the modern city. Through photographs, excavation material, maps, and historical analysis, participants will gain insight into the delicate relationship between preserving the ancient past and building the contemporary city. From the transformation of the area around the Colosseum through the imperial, medieval, and modern periods to the cutting-edge archaeological methods used during the metro excavations, this lecture offers a fascinating journey into the invisible Rome that still survives beneath our feet.

This is an opportunity to experience archaeology not as something distant or static, but as an ongoing discovery — a living dialogue between ancient Rome and the modern city that continues to uncover its secrets every day.

Lecture

The Metro Colosseo and Urban Archaeology

Available in days

days after you enroll

Your instructor

I’m Livia Galante, an archaeologist with a doctorate from La Sapienza and a long track record working in Rome’s layered cityscape—especially where modern infrastructure cuts into ancient ground around the Colosseo. Nicknamed the “Queen of Ostia,” I specialize in reading urban stratigraphy and ancient engineering, turning rescue digs and tunnel sections into clear, engaging narratives about the people who built and used these spaces.

In The Underground of Metro Colosseo, I bring field methods straight to you: how we read walls and soils, map foundations and drains, and connect fragments to living histories beneath today’s streets. My teaching is hands-on, story-driven, and rooted in real sites, so that the metro’s corridors become a guide to Rome’s deep past. Contact: romeguide.livia@gmail.com

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