Places in Depth
An expanding atlas of archaeological spaces preserved across Rome at levels different from the city we occupy today.
Roman residences, sanctuaries, funerary complexes, water systems, ancient roads, service galleries and monuments incorporated into later architecture.
Rome survives at many different elevations.
There is no single archaeological level below Rome. Different districts preserve different periods, structures and former ground surfaces at different depths.
Some ancient buildings were filled deliberately. Others were incorporated into later construction. Street elevations changed, monuments were reused and entire architectural spaces became enclosed within a continually developing city.
This atlas documents those places individually. Together they create a physical record of Rome's transformation across more than two millennia.
Archaeological places across Rome.
Each entry examines one physical site: what survives, how the structures developed and how the archaeological evidence relates to the city around it.
San Clemente Archaeological Site
Circus Maximus Mithraeum
San Paolo alla Regola
San Crisogono Archaeological Site
Baths of Caracalla Underground
San Martino ai Monti
Stadium of Domitian
Barberini Mithraeum
Termini Railway Bunker
Trajan's Baths Underground Gallery
Roman Houses of the Caelian Hill
Santa Cecilia in Trastevere
St John Lateran Archaeology
Auditorium of Maecenas
Santa Maria in Via Lata
San Nicola in Carcere
San Pasquale Baylon Archaeological Area
Nymphaeum of Via degli Annibaldi
Crypt of Sant'Agnese in Agone
Capuchin Crypt
Fountain of Anna Perenna
San Saba Archaeological Area
Roman House at the Barracco Museum
Doria Pamphilj Funerary Crypt
Mausoleum of Augustus
Roman Road at Frattocchie
IKEA Anagnina Archaeological Area
Domus Aurea
Crypta Balbi
Tomb of the Scipios
Archaeology at Palazzo della Cancelleria
Drugstore Museum & Portuense Necropolis
San Vito Archaeological Area
Santa Prassede Basilica & Crypt
San Paolo fuori le Mura Archaeological Area
Villa of Livia at Prima Porta
Carcer Tullianum · Mamertine Prison
Roman Necropolis at Saulo
Roman Domus at Santa Susanna
Villa dei Gordiani Archaeological Complex
Santa Croce in Gerusalemme Archaeological Area
Largo Argentina Sacred Area
Santa Maria Maggiore Archaeological Area
Roman Domus of Palazzo Valentini
Villa of Maxentius & Dynastic Mausoleum
Archaeology of San Giovanni Addolorata
Roman Latrine on Via Garibaldi
Horti Sallustiani
Mausoleum of Monte del Grano
Archaeological Box of Piazza Albania
Inside the Pyramid of Cestius
Emporium: Ancient River Port of Rome
San Bartolomeo all'Isola Archaeological Area
Mausoleum of the Equinoxes
Mausoleum of Cecilia Metella
Cloaca Maxima
Mithraic Rome
Tombs of Via Latina
Not everything below ground began underground.
Original underground structures
Crypts, service galleries, cisterns, funerary spaces and certain sanctuaries were conceived below or partly below their contemporary ground level.
Architecture enclosed by later construction
Ancient rooms sometimes survived because subsequent buildings incorporated, filled or built directly over them.
Former ground levels
Some archaeological areas were originally open to the sky. They appear lower today because the surrounding city changed elevation.
A city still being investigated
Excavation, restoration and infrastructure projects continue to change what can be studied and understood across Rome.
From individual sites to the physical development of Rome.
Places documents individual archaeological locations. Field Notes examines the larger questions connecting them: changing ground levels, water, excavation, construction, ancient infrastructure and the processes that produced the city visible today.
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