‘MINIATURE POMPEII’: ANCIENT ROMAN BUILDING FOUND IN ABANDONED CINEMA HALL IN ITALY

Tue 15 June 2021:

An ancient Roman building has been found during excavations at a former cinema in the northern Italian city of Verona in what has been described as a “miniature Pompeii”.

The structure is believed to have survived a fire in the old days as experts found that the roof had collapsed and several items of charred wooden furniture were also spotted.

“A fire seems to have put an end to the attendance of the complex,” said Verona’s archaeological superintendent, the department in charge of archaeology for the area.

The building dates back to the second century and has “magnificent frescoed walls” that “evokes a miniature Pompeii”, the superintendent said.

This discovery was made while excavations were being made in the basement of Astra cinema which had been abandoned nearly 20 years ago and is now undergoing renovations.

Although the structure had been damaged in the fire, the “environment was preserved intact, with the magnificent colours of the frescoed walls dating back to the second century,” the superintendent said.

The discovery comes just over a year after a perfectly preserved Roman mosaic floor was found close to Verona. The multicoloured tiles, found beneath a row of vines, had been part of the foundations of a Roman villa, the remains of which were discovered a century before in a hilly area above the town of Negrar di Valpolicella. The villa is believed to have dated back to the third century.

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