Ciao, i miei amici!
Anywhere you go in Italy, Rome is not far beneath the surface. Indeed, it is a source of much chagrin that anytime the Italians want to initiate a building project requiring new excavation, they’re always finding that the Romans got there first.
Here in Verona, it is no different. Ancient Rome lies just a few feet below the surface. This happened in a variety of ways. One way was to simply tear down an old Roman structure and build on top of it re-using the previous foundation. Equally common was silt deposition during periods of flooding. Over two millennia, either of these two processes would yield the same result.
Here are two images that give some sense of where Verona sits relative to their Roman forebears. Yes, you are looking at a Roman home in the basement of a department store.
Ciao, tutti!
