Students discover 1,800-year-old Roman villa beneath Rome school gym

For years, students at a high school near Rome's Colosseum whispered about mysterious rooms hidden beneath the gym floor. These rumors have now proven to be partly true.

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Students who participated in various clandestine explorations stumbled upon an ancient structure beneath their school.

During clandestine explorations, students stumbled upon an ancient structure beneath their school. After alerting their teacher, who then contacted authorities, archaeologists arrived to investigate. Excavations earlier this year revealed that the dimly lit chambers belonged to a lavish 2nd-century villa, according to livescience.com.

The Liceo Scientifico Cavour, housed in a building that once served as a Catholic missionary church, sits in a historically significant Roman neighborhood. When the missionary headquarters were built in the late 19th century, initial archaeological surveys of the foundations uncovered part of a "domus," a large ancient Roman residence. This area was home to figures like Cicero and Augustus, but its archaeological understanding is limited due to modern buildings obscuring ancient layers.

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The dark corridors and dimly lit chambers actually belonged to a luxurious 2nd-century villa.

Claudia Marino, a history and Latin teacher at the school, reported the students' discoveries in the underground tunnels to Rome's Special Superintendency. Excavations at the site began in January 2026. The discovery was publicly presented on May 28 by Marino and Filippo Coarelli, an archaeologist from the University of Perugia. The preserved rooms are part of a mid-2nd century house, potentially belonging to a member of the Umbrii family, identified by an inscription found during late 19th-century excavations. The villa, currently named Domus Liceo Cavour, boasts wall frescoes depicting figures and flowers, along with gypsum decorations on the ceiling vaults. A room contains a mosaic floor with large, irregularly shaped tiles, a style popular among Roman elites at the time. More recent graffiti from 20th-century students and explorers also marks the site. Only a portion of the Domus Liceo Cavour has been explored, as it extends far beneath the school, with further excavations anticipated.

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