ROME, ITALY—Over the past several years, as teams of Roman workers have tunneled through the heart of the city to build a major new metro station in Piazza Venezia, they have revealed over 2,000 years of rich history. According to the Greek Reporter, as part of that enormous project, archaeologists were recently investigating the foundations of the former Palazzetto Venezia when they uncovered a small buried treasure that provided rare insight into Renaissance-era construction rituals. The Palazzetto was commissioned by Pope Paul II in 1467, but the structure was moved in the early twentieth century to allow for the expansion of Piazza Venezia and the creation of the Victor Emmanuel II monument. However, excavations beneath the building’s original site unearthed a small terracotta jar that contained three fifteenth-century bronze medals bearing the effigy of Paul II, who was pontiff from 1464 to 1471. Experts believe they were deliberately and symbolically deposited beneath the Palazzetto’s foundation as part of a ritual rooted in ancient tradition to bring good luck and prosperity to important new buildings such as palaces and churches. To read about a bizarre sixteenth-century sculpture park north of Rome, go to "Italy's Garden of Monsters."
