Ricerc@Sapienza

Between April and October 2016, the excavation at Piazza Albania – on Aventine hill – brought to
light five floor layers belonging to a residential complex. The first layer consisted of four mosaics decorated
with black-and-white geometric motifs dated back to Hadrian period on the base of archaeological
finds. The second level was a mosaic fragment with an inscription, unfortunately very incomplete. It
was interpreted as a dedication offered by a religious congregation from Trajan period. Furthermore, there
are two other “cocciopesto” floors dated between the end of the 1st century AD and the age of Nero. To the
Augustan period was dated the last layer of pavements discovered in this excavation. All floors had a
surface cracking due to a subsidence phenomenon and all over one there was a circular trace, perhaps an
anthropogenic sinkhole. Archival documents and geo-archaeological investigations prove the presence of
tuff quarries beneath the Aventine hill. These underground cavities could be the cause of the structural
failure over the pavements.