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

KORVA COLEMAN, HOST:

All roads may lead to Rome. But once you get there, have fun taking the subway. The sprawling 1 metropolis 3 is expanding its beleaguered 4 mass transit 5 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 metro 2 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 depicting 6 a roman god, some amphorae.

LIVESAY: See; Pagani's no ordinary builder. He's a certified 7 archaeological construction worker trained to build in cities like Rome with thousands of years of civilization buried beneath the surface. It's a daunting 8 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 excavation 9 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 dwelling 10 that once belonged to the commander of an adjacent military barracks. It dates back to the reign 11 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 ornamental 12 mosaics 14, floors made with marble slab 15 in various colors and painted frescoes 16.

(SOUNDBITE OF BRUSHES SWEEPING)

LIVESAY: Two archaeologists dust the mosaic 13 flooring with tiny precision brushes. Compare that to the hulking industrial machinery 17 parked just a few feet away. Construction workers routinely have to shut it down when a discovery is made. Add that to the countless 18 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 Jubilee 19. That was back in the year 2000. But you can't blame it all on the ancients. There are ongoing 20 investigations 21 into waste and runaway 22 spending by modern contractors 23 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 fully 24 automated 25, too - no conductors.

(SOUNDBITE OF TRAIN WHEELS)

LIVESAY: As it whooshes 26 into the station, commuter 27 Luigi Bonatesta jumps on board.

He says the wait has been frustrating 28, 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 busts 29 and even ancient peach pits from a Roman fruit vendor 30 - 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 excavating 31 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.