Appena conclusa la sessione mattutina del Congresso, dopo la pausa pranzo gli ospiti saranno accompagnati in diverse località della Roma sotterranea, con guide e traduttori:
Guided Tours to hypogea and archaeological sites of special interest in Rome (Trastevere area). The program is being updated according to access permits.
MITREO DEL CIRCO MASSIMO (Velabro): Just a stone’s throw away from the world famous “Mouth of Truth (“Bocca della verità”), in the undergrounds of an old building, one of the few – and one of the best preserved! -temples of Mithra still visible in town. Built in the 3rd century A.D. inside a pre-existing structure related to the adjoining Circus Maximus, it consists of five rooms and contains an amazing marble bass-relief with Mithra killing the bull.
INSULAE DI SAN PAOLO ALLA REGOLA Inside a residential building in Trastevere, we will have the opportunity of going eight meters underground, travelling back in time through four different levels. You will see a very complex stratification of buildings from different periods. Some of the rooms belonged to a big warehouse built by Emperor Domitian (Horrea Vespasiani) to stock food to be distributed freely to the citizens of Rome. On a higher level, windows and a courtyard belong to an insula (building) that hosted poor people. The clay pipes and decorations evoke the presence of an ancient laundry (fullonica).
SOTTERRANEI DI S. CRISOGONO Entering the S. Crisogono church along the busy Viale Trastevere and opening a tiny door in the sacristy, we will have to descend a winding staircase in order to reach the archaeological remains six meters below. Here the structures have been modified and reused for centuries. This is one of the first places where the early Christians gathered, reusing for their rituals the spaces of two or three houses, dating back to the 2nd and 3rd century A.D.