美国国家公共电台 NPR Rome's Subway Expansion Reveals Artifacts From The Ancient Past

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KORVA COLEMAN, HOST:

All roads may lead to Rome. But once you get there, have fun taking the subway. The sprawling¹ metropolis³ is expanding its beleaguered⁴ mass transit⁵ system, but workers keep running into ancient ruins. As Christopher Livesay found out, what's been a nightmare for city planners has become a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for archaeologists.

(SOUNDBITE OF BULLDOZER ROLLING)

CHRISTOPHER LIVESAY: On the surface, the Amba Aradam metro² stop is just a construction site. But listen to what bulldozer operator Gilberto Pagani has been finding in the dirt.

GILBERTO PAGANI: (Through interpreter) I found some gold rings. I found glasswork laminated in gold depicting⁶ a roman god, some amphorae.

LIVESAY: See; Pagani's no ordinary builder. He's a certified⁷ archaeological construction worker trained to build in cities like Rome with thousands of years of civilization buried beneath the surface. It's a daunting⁸ challenge for urban developers. But for Simona Morretta, the state archaeologist in charge of the site, it's the opportunity of a lifetime.

SIMONA MORRETTA: (Through interpreter) I think it's the luckiest thing that's ever happened to me, professionally speaking, because you never get the chance in a regular excavation⁹ to dig so deep. That's how we found archaeological complexes as important as this one.

LIVESAY: At roughly 40 feet below the surface, her team has stumbled upon a dwelling¹⁰ that once belonged to the commander of an adjacent military barracks. It dates back to the reign¹¹ of Emperor Hadrian in the second century A.D.

MORRETTA: (Through interpreter) It's a proper house with a central courtyard. The other exciting discovery is that so much of the decoration was found intact - so ornamental¹² mosaics¹⁴, floors made with marble slab¹⁵ in various colors and painted frescoes¹⁶.

(SOUNDBITE OF BRUSHES SWEEPING)

LIVESAY: Two archaeologists dust the mosaic¹³ flooring with tiny precision brushes. Compare that to the hulking industrial machinery¹⁷ parked just a few feet away. Construction workers routinely have to shut it down when a discovery is made. Add that to the countless¹⁸ other delays over the past two decades. The new route underway, the C line, was supposed to be ready in time for the Catholic Church's year of Jubilee¹⁹. That was back in the year 2000. But you can't blame it all on the ancients. There are ongoing²⁰ investigations²¹ into waste and runaway²² spending by modern contractors²³ and governments.

UNIDENTIFIED TRAIN CONDUCTOR: (Over loudspeaker, speaking Italian).

LIVESAY: But this is a day for celebration as the city inaugurates its newest subway stop.

UNIDENTIFIED TRAIN CONDUCTOR: (Over loudspeaker) Next stop - San Giovanni. Doors will open on the left side.

LIVESAY: The San Giovanni station is an important one. Up until now, the C line wasn't even connected to the city's two other subway lines. Now it is, and it's fully²⁴ automated²⁵, too - no conductors.

(SOUNDBITE OF TRAIN WHEELS)

LIVESAY: As it whooshes²⁶ into the station, commuter²⁷ Luigi Bonatesta jumps on board.

He says the wait has been frustrating²⁸, to say the least.

LUIGI BONATESTA: Because no one declare why the open day will delay - delayed time, so no one declare what happened.

LIVESAY: One reason was a surprise addition. Inside this station, the walls are lined with artifacts discovered during the subway's construction - stone bathtubs, marble busts²⁹ and even ancient peach pits from a Roman fruit vendor³⁰ - all visible for the 1 euro 50 cost of a metro ticket. The next stop on the line - the military barracks, where archaeologists are still digging. Simona Morretta says commuters there are in for an even bigger treat.

MORRETTA: (Through interpreter) All that we found here - the mosaics, everything - will be taken down, put inside special containers, then reassembled inside the metro stop.

LIVESAY: So the metro station is going to be like a little museum.

MORRETTA: Yes. (Speaking Italian).

LIVESAY: "That's the idea," she says. But there are still years of excavating³¹ ahead. For a city that wasn't built in a day, its subway system certainly wasn't, either. For NPR News, I'm Christopher Livesay in Rome.