Rome's newest archaeological projects in 2024

As you can see, Rome is packed right now, but I want to show you some great experiences, some new discoveries that you can take part in when you come to Rome in 2024. Hey guys, this is Darius in Rome and I want to share with you a lot of new archaeological discoveries in the city right now. Arguably, archaeology can be slow and a little bit tedious, but there are an incredible amount of experiences that you can participate in if you come to Rome. So I want you to be aware of new archaeological discoveries and openings right now in 2024. Let's start in Piazza Venezia. Let's admit it right now, it's a mess. It's a job site and it's all part of Metro C. So I want to show you a little bit the excavations that are taking place, what the results are going to look like, and what we can look forward to, but it's going to take a long time. What we see here is that they're inserting different routes that are going to be connecting you to different parts along the area of Piazza Venezia, to the Via Fora Imperiale area, as well as to the Campidoglio. So this is what the end all result is going to look like. It's going to allow you to get inside and closer to some of the archaeological excavations that are taking place right now. And one of the real standout features we can see here is the Athenaeum. So this is something that we attribute to Hadrian. It was discovered in 2009. And what you have is a hall for rhetoric, for all kinds of literary activities. And right now it's not something that we have access to. Here's a view of it before the current Metro C excavations are taking place. But what's going to happen is this archaeological site is going to be incorporated into the underground routes that are going to lead you to that magnificent stop of Metro C when it's finally completed. Now, hold your breath here. It's supposed to take 10 years. So this is a long time that it's going to be a job site, but we know that the end all result is going to be spectacular and we'll have this fabulous view of Piazza Venezia and the Vittoriano monument soon enough. But we've got to be patient. Another recent archaeological project that was recently completed is the Anastolosis project of the Basilica Ulpia. Here we have it. Two stories of columns have been completed, but now they've further enhanced the project. You have a reconstruction of the original marble pavement and you also have the staircases leading you into the Basilica Ulpia. Now we can say that this project is complete. We have the upper story colonnade of Cipollino marble. We have the granite columns. We have in between the architrave that is heavily, heavily not even restored but reconstructed. It's very modern. And the overall impression though is giving us a sense of the volumes, the spaces and the original decoration. This is what everyone can see now when you go to the Via Forimperiali area and descend into the Forum of Trajan space. So when you go into the Forum today you're going to see a new staircase that's been constructed to give you finally once again after many years entrance into the Curia from the original front entrance. And you can also see that the piazza area in front is slowly but surely being revealed again once more. What's covered under the tarp is the area known as the Comitium which was the original space for the speaker's platform before the imperial period. That project is winding down and once again before too long, possibly even in 2024, it's going to be revealed to the public as well. But definitely when you come to the Forum area you can see all the progress that's been made in front of the area. Here we have the Horia Agrippiana, a place that I've actually had the privilege of excavating in over 20 years ago. And this was a warehouse attributed to Agrippa, the right-hand man of Augustus. It was constructed in the Augustan period but it butted up against a series of houses on the Palatine Hill. So behind the Horia Agrippiana you have this discovery being made and it's going to be made accessible to the public in 2024. So stand by for an announcement from Parco Colosseo. It is magnificent and it is a grotto-like setting of a triclinium that is lined with mosaics. It's dating to the first century BC. You have stacks of weapons, Celtic trumpets, ships, prowls, and even the remains of a city scene. It is magnificent and we're so excited that it's going to be accessible to the public sometime in 2024. Another fabulous thing that you can do in Rome in 2024 is taking the new attic experience in the Colosseum. There's a newly installed elevator. It gives you the opportunity to go to the highest point available on the Colosseum, the nosebleed seats, and it gives you a one-of-a-kind view of the entirety of the Colosseum. It is truly a magnificent experience. You're going to walk through one of these corridors. You can see the ceiling height is diminished as opposed to the lower stories. This is for crowding in the hoi polloi, men of no particular status in the Roman world, even sometimes women, slaves on the day off. This is the view that they had and of course it's something that you can now have as well. One of the new things you'll see outside the Colosseum is an excavation that's ongoing in 2024 and it's the side where the Colosseum had a collapse. We think now between the 6th and 7th centuries AD and what they're doing is this excavation you see here that stretches on for 200 meters is actually a portion of the Colosseum structure. So today we're outside the Colosseum but the whole area that's the subject of the excavation is the Colosseum itself. You're inside the Colosseum when you're in that excavation site. So what they're doing is they're revealing the drains. They're looking at the bases of the missing pilaster bases and they're getting documentation on the amount of destruction that took place. So they found skeletons of animals. They found remains of statues. It's a great new excavation and if you're lucky you'll catch a part of it when you visit in 2024. What's the end result of this particular project? Well the pavement around the Colosseum has always been in San Pietrini, this black stone, but what they're going to do at the end of this particular intervention is they're going to put a different, a contrasting pavement so you'll know forever thereafter that when you're walking over there you would have been inside the Colosseum. All right so here's something new around the Colosseum, something that you've never seen before which is this little fence. And so what you have is a decision, a big decision, how to protect this monument. And for a long time there's been temporary fencing but now it's something permanent. And why then, as this wraps its way around the Colosseum, why is it jutting out right here? Because we can see this one portion of the piazza. In this case we have the preserved Travertine pavement and then we have, we have the Travertine pavement and we have the famous bollards as probably they were used for traffic control, crowd control. And then beyond it we can see that we have the typical Roman road pavement with the lava stones and cell shades. So this is a big, big change. I wanted to share this with you. It's probably one of the biggest changes in archaeology that's going to affect everybody visiting Rome. It's that access and that connection to the Colosseum. So for many, many years, you go back in time in the 90s, you could just walk into the Colosseum. There was no ticket. There was a ticket in Lire to go upstairs. Then post gladiator, the gladiator effect around 2000, you have the institution of tickets. And what's happened then over time is greater and greater care of this monument. And ultimately one of the things that you can do is to put up this fencing that's just going to keep people from that full-on contact with the monument. So it's a big decision. It's going to affect in a minimal way the visual experience to the Colosseum. It's very small, it's very low, it's very discreet. And at the same time, it's taking us a few steps back from that contact with the monument. You have to go inside to get that kind of tactile experience of the Colosseum. So this is something new I wanted to share with you. I'd love to hear your opinion on what you think about this new decision for heightening the awareness of this monument, how precious it is, how delicate it is, and ultimately how much respect we must give it. Now let me show you a series of sites recently opened that you can explore. I've already created videos for them on my channel. Of course, one place you can't miss this year in 2024 is the newly opened former Erbis Museum. It is absolutely a must-see because you're getting close to this precious artifact which details what the city of Rome looked like in the reign of Septimius Severus. It is literally history beneath your feet. You must go here and you'll have a greater appreciation of the ancient city. Of course, you can also see the reconstruction of Constantine in the gardens of the Capitoline Museums, the originals in the museum itself. You can now go and see that reconstruction free of charge. It's something that you cannot miss. And the Vatican has opened up the Santa Rosa Park excavation, which is an acropolis, and it is something that gives us a good insight into all layers of Rome's history. From the poor to the wealthy, it is a well-presented archaeological site that you must see, especially if you're interested in death in the ancient world. And of course, the Domus Tuvidiana has opened up to the public. It's not just the archaeological site that you can explore, but it's also the museum that's part of the rooms of the Domus Tuvidiana. It is very insightful and gets you closer to the life of the emperor on the Palatine Hill. Thanks so much for joining me for a walk around Rome. Remember, you can sign up for my newsletter. You can also join me for travel in Rome, Italy, and throughout the Mediterranean.