Handpicked experience · Rome
Rome, Italy
Nine metres down: a Roman house, the distribution tank of the only aqueduct that never stopped running, and a portrait of Cleopatra's son in a basement case.
Admire the archaeological site while listening to the audio guide, who will reveal all the mysterious and tales
Make your way 9 Meters down the earth to explore the area underneath the Trevi Fountain
The Trevi Fountain is a magnificent sight to behold, but there are equality majestic wonders right below it
A descent of roughly nine metres below the streets by the fountain
Standing rooms and floors of an imperial-era house
The distribution tank of the aqueduct that still feeds the fountain
Finds from the site, including a portrait head of Alexander Helios
A twenty-five minute film followed by a guided walk through the excavation
Nine metres below the streets behind the Trevi Fountain lies a Roman house, a stretch of ancient apartment block and the tank that once distributed the city's water. It was found by accident in 1999 when a derelict cinema was being rebuilt, and it is one of the few places in Rome where you can stand inside the machinery that still supplies the fountain overhead.
You enter from a quiet side street a few steps from the fountain, and descend to the excavation. A short film sets out what was found here and how, after which you walk the site with a guide among the walls, floors and water channels, finishing at the small display of objects lifted from the rooms. Commentary also runs on your own phone through a digital guide. Most people spend around an hour here.
Not the fountain — the supply. The aqueduct feeding it was completed in 19 BC to serve Agrippa's baths, and it is the only one of Rome's ancient aqueducts that has never stopped working. Every litre pouring over the rocks upstairs has travelled roughly twenty kilometres underground along a channel first cut in the reign of Augustus. Downstairs you stand beside the distribution tank that split that flow between baths, fountains and private houses.
The name comes from a story recorded by Frontinus, Rome's water commissioner: soldiers searching for a source were led to the spring by a young girl. Agrippa took the name for the aqueduct, the fountain above inherited it, and a relief of the scene sits on the fountain's facade.
That is the real lesson of the descent. The city has spent two millennia building on its own rubble, and the level you walk on at street level today sits high above the level Romans used. Every set of stairs down into a site like this is a walk backwards through that accumulation.
Among the finds is a marble portrait head identified as Alexander Helios, the son of Cleopatra and Mark Antony, taken to Rome as a child after his parents' defeat and paraded in a triumph. Very few images of him survive anywhere. He is standing in a case in a basement behind a fountain, which is a fairly Roman fate.
The custom of throwing one over your shoulder is modern, but the money is real and goes somewhere useful: the fountain is swept nightly and the proceeds fund a charity running a supermarket for families in need in the city.
Bring headphones for the digital guide and expect a cool, damp interior even in August — the water running through the site keeps it that way year-round. Access is by stairs. Cancellation is free up to a day ahead.
Open it to pick a date and work out the price.
What the fare covers, and what to budget for separately.
The practical detail, and the answers people actually ask for.
A Roman house with floors and walls standing, part of an ancient apartment block, water channels, and the tank that distributed the aqueduct supply. A small display holds objects lifted from the rooms.
By accident in 1999, when a derelict cinema on the site was being rebuilt. Excavation continued for two years before the site opened to visitors.
The aqueduct that feeds the fountain runs through this site. Completed in 19 BC for Agrippa's baths, it is the only ancient Roman aqueduct that has never stopped working, and downstairs you stand beside the tank that split its flow.
From a story recorded by Rome's water commissioner: soldiers hunting for a source were led to the spring by a young girl. The fountain above inherited the name, and a relief of the scene is on its facade.
Because Rome has spent two thousand years building on its own debris. Today's street level sits well above the Roman one, and descending into a site like this is a walk back through that accumulation.
A portrait identified as Alexander Helios, son of Cleopatra and Mark Antony, brought to Rome as a child after his parents' defeat. Very few images of him survive anywhere in the world.
About an hour, including the twenty-five minute film and the walk through the excavation with a guide.