{"id":42021,"date":"2026-08-24T13:19:15","date_gmt":"2026-08-24T13:19:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/42021\/"},"modified":"2026-08-24T13:19:15","modified_gmt":"2026-08-24T13:19:15","slug":"ancient-roman-firehouse-may-have-been-found-near-romes-famed-colosseum-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/42021\/","title":{"rendered":"Ancient Roman firehouse may have been found near Rome’s famed Colosseum"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!\n <\/p>\n

Archaeologists digging near Rome’s Colosseum<\/a> believe they may have found an ancient firehouse dating back nearly 2,000 years.<\/p>\n

The building, which dates to the second century A.D., was found in the Villa Celimontana park near the Colosseum, Reuters reported this month.<\/p>\n

Villa Celimontana dates to the 16th century, when it was developed as a noble residence on Caelian Hill, one of the seven hills of ancient Rome<\/a>.<\/p>\n

CONSTRUCTION WORKERS CLEARING OLD BOMBS UNEXPECTEDLY FIND ‘IMPORTANT’ ANCIENT SANCTUARY<\/a><\/p>\n

The discovery was originally announced by Rome’s archaeological superintendency<\/a>, part of Italy’s Ministry of Culture.<\/p>\n

At the excavation site, archaeologists fully uncovered five of the building’s eight rooms, which contain mosaics and remnants of painted decorations.<\/p>\n

\"Split <\/p>\n

Archaeologists digging near Rome’s Colosseum believe they may have uncovered an ancient Roman firehouse dating back nearly 2,000 years. (Rome’s Special Superintendency\/Handout via Reuters; Fine Art Images\/Heritage Images\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Officials believe the building may have been part of the nearby barracks of the Fifth Cohort of the Vigiles, ancient Rome’s firefighting force.<\/p>\n

They cited one telling clue: A mosaic found at the site closely resembles one previously discovered in a firefighters’ barracks in Ostia, ancient Rome’s port city.<\/p>\n

ARCHAEOLOGISTS UNCOVER SPRAWLING ROMAN ESTATE BURIED FOR CENTURIES BENEATH FARMLAND<\/a><\/p>\n

The Vigiles were also tasked with maintaining public order at night, and their nearby barracks used water from an aqueduct<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“If this hypothesis is confirmed, the discovery would help reassess the extent of one of the most important military complexes of imperial Rome,” officials said in a statement.<\/p>\n

\"Split <\/p>\n

Officials believe the newly discovered structure may have been connected to the Fifth Cohort of the Vigiles, ancient Rome’s firefighting force. (Heritage Art\/Heritage Images via Getty Images; Rome’s Special Superintendency\/Handout via Reuters)<\/p>\n

Pictures show the remains of the ancient building, including exposed walls and sections uncovered during the excavation.<\/p>\n

Other images show fragments of mosaic uncovered at the site.<\/p>\n

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Another possibility, said officials, is that the structure was a private residence, or domus, similar to others found on Caelian Hill.<\/p>\n

\"Close-up <\/p>\n

The elaborate decorations uncovered during the excavation have also raised the possibility that the structure was a private Roman residence. (Rome’s Special Superintendency\/Handout via Reuters)<\/p>\n

The elaborate decorations could support that hypothesis, officials said.<\/p>\n

CLICK HERE FOR MORE LIFESTYLE NEWS<\/a><\/p>\n

“Only a thorough study of the excavation materials and the structures exposed will provide further information on the newly discovered structure,” the superintendency said.<\/p>\n

\"Aerial <\/p>\n

Archaeologists are investigating whether the second-century structure belonged to ancient Rome’s Vigiles or served as a private residence. (Rome’s Special Superintendency\/Handout via Reuters)<\/p>\n

The possible firehouse is the latest in a string of ancient Roman discoveries<\/a> to emerge across Italy in recent months.<\/p>\n

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Archaeologists recently uncovered an ancient city along Italy’s famed Appian Way,<\/a> complete with a forum and theater and dating back more than 2,000 years.<\/p>\n

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Earlier this summer, officials announced another major archaeological discovery near the Colosseum \u2014 the remains of an ancient Roman villa<\/a> found beneath a high school gym.<\/p>\n

Reuters contributed reporting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! Archaeologists digging near Rome’s Colosseum believe they may have found…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":42019,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[1344,3485,241,7144,327,5,27,614],"class_list":["post-42021","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rome","tag-ancient-rome","tag-archaeology","tag-europe","tag-historic-sites","tag-history","tag-italy","tag-rome","tag-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42021","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42021"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42021\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42019"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42021"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42021"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42021"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}