Archaeological excavations on Rome’s eastern edge are shedding new light on the city’s ancient expansion and its religious life, including evidence linked to the cult of Hercules.
Work at Parco delle Acacie shows that this part of Rome, long considered peripheral, was shaped by continuous settlement, worship, and infrastructure for centuries, offering a fuller picture of how the ancient city functioned beyond its monumental core.
Preventive excavations carried out ahead of modern construction have uncovered evidence of almost uninterrupted occupation from the 5th century BC to the 3rd century AD. Researchers say this long timeline mirrors Rome’s rise from a regional city to the heart of a vast empire.
Pietralata’s buried layers tell a different story
Beneath the modern streets of the Pietralata district, archaeologists have identified dense layers of settlement spread across several hectares. These remains show that the area was not a forgotten fringe, but a landscape that evolved alongside Rome itself.
Walls, surfaces, and material finds suggest that people lived and worked here continuously. The discoveries challenge older assumptions that Rome’s eastern outskirts played only a minor role in antiquity.
An ancient road shaped life in the area
At the center of the site lies an ancient road that once crossed the landscape. The route ran across ground influenced by a watercourse flowing toward the nearby Aniene River, linking movement with natural features.
Archaeologists identified two distinct sections of the road. One was a simple beaten-earth surface, while another was cut directly into the tuff bedrock. The road was likely used early on, but its first clear formal organization dates to the Middle Republican period, in the 3rd century BC, when a large retaining wall of tuff blocks was built to regularize its course.
Later changes show continued investment. The wall was replaced with opus incertum, and by the 1st century AD, the road was repaved and bordered by walls in opus reticulatum. Wheel ruts carved into exposed rock still mark the passage of ancient vehicles. The route gradually fell out of use in the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD, when small pit graves began to appear along its line.
A small shrine points to local religious life
Near the road, archaeologists uncovered a modest sacellum, or shrine, measuring about 4.5 by 5.5 meters. Built in tuff and once plastered inside, the structure contained a central base aligned with the entrance, interpreted as an altar. A projection on the back wall likely supported a cult statue.
The shrine was constructed above an earlier votive deposit that included terracotta heads, feet, female figurines, and small bovines. These offerings, combined with the site’s location, have led researchers to link the shrine to the cult of Hercules, widely worshipped along the nearby Via Tiburtina. Coins found at the site date the shrine to between the late 3rd and 2nd centuries BC.
Tombs reveal wealth and medical knowledge
A short distance away, a funerary complex carved into the tuff slope contained two Republican-period chamber tombs. One held a large peperino sarcophagus, urns, and refined grave goods, including black-glaze vessels and a mirror. The second tomb, built slightly later, included benches for multiple burials.
Among the human remains was part of an adult male skull showing evidence of surgical trepanation, a rare sign of advanced medical practice. Archaeologists believe the tombs once formed part of a monumental façade and belonged to a powerful and wealthy gens that controlled this territory.
Monumental cisterns raise new questions
The most imposing structures uncovered are two large cisterns. The Vasca East, built in the 2nd century BC, measured about 28 by 10 meters and was coated with waterproof white plaster. The Vasca South was cut directly into tuff bedrock and reached nearly four meters in depth.
The southern basin’s basalt-paved access ramp closely resembles a cistern uncovered at Gabii, where archaeologists have suggested a sacred function. No clear water channels have been identified, leaving its purpose open to debate. Ceramic finds show that both cisterns were abandoned by the 2nd century AD.
Rome’s outskirts as carriers of memory
For Daniela Porro, Rome’s Special Superintendent, discoveries like these show that the ancient city functioned as a wide and interconnected landscape. Areas now considered peripheral, she says, preserve deep historical memory that played a decisive role in Rome’s development.
Archaeological work at Parco delle Acacie will continue in the coming months. Once excavations conclude, researchers will begin a detailed study and conservation planning, with the goal of sharing these discoveries with the public and weaving this newly uncovered history into the living city of modern Rome.
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