Beneath the cultivated fields of central Italy, 100 kilometres south of Rome, an entire Roman city lies hidden. Aquinum, once a thriving centre on the Via Latina, spread across 100 hectares, but over 18 years archaeologists have excavated only a fifth of it. The new finds of 2026 — an extensive sewer network, tunnels, an altar and a hoard of 120 coins — reveal not the grand facades but how the city lived from within: how it drained water, dealt with waste and wove rituals into everyday life.
The University of Salento, together with the Roma Sotterranea team, is investigating the underground infrastructure. Beneath the Central Baths, more than 240 metres of channels and wells have been documented. The main collector, discovered in 2026 at the intersection of the Cardo Maximus and the Decumanus Maximus, reaches 1,4 metre in width and more than two metres in height. These structures did not merely carry away rainwater and filth — they maintained order in a city where thousands of inhabitants depended on reliable hydraulics.
Beside the engineering finds are traces of religious life. A stone cippus depicting a bull, a ram and a pig, symbolising the suovetaurilia — a solemn sacrifice for purifying and consecrating a space — was reused as paving at an important crossroads. A marble altar dedicated to the Genius of Augustus, the Lares of Augustus and the Genius of the colony was paid for by the wealthy freedman Manius Popidius Anteros, who held the office of sevir augustalis. Another inscription from the theatre reads "lightning buried" — a ritual marking a place struck by celestial fire.
These details paint a picture in which practical engineering and spiritual practice are not separate. The sewers ensured health and cleanliness, while altars and sacrifices strengthened social bonds and loyalty to the empire. The freedman financing a public cult shows how former slaves could integrate into civic life through religious offices. The coin hoard found in the collector may have reflected both economic anxieties and accidental losses or deliberate offerings.
Aquinum was famed for the production of purple dye mentioned by Cicero and is traditionally associated with the satirist Juvenal. The city lay on an important trade route between Rome and Capua. Today ploughland stretches over it, and most of its streets, buildings and underground systems remain untouched. Robotic systems and ground-penetrating radar make it possible to investigate inaccessible areas without large-scale excavation, preserving the monument for future generations.
Such discoveries remind us that the greatness of Rome was built not only on forums and amphitheatres but also on hidden systems that made life possible. Understanding how the ancients dealt with water, waste and rituals helps us see in the past a mirror of our own concerns about infrastructure and the meaning of everyday actions.
