Sarsina, in the Emilia Romagna region of Italy, is undoubtedly charming and surrounded by beautiful landscape, but it has never been used to attracting large numbers of visitors.
It was formerly a fortified fortress at a vital mountain pass that served as part of Rome's military perimeter and gave birth to the renowned Roman playwright Plautus.
However, very little, if anything, of that heritage is still visible today. The sleepy town of 3,000 was about to get a new sports complex and supermarket when workers laying the foundation stumbled upon a "extremely rare" relic of Republican Rome, which brought Sarsina back into the public eye for the first time in nearly two thousand years.
Roman scholars are highly interested in a Capitolium, a pagan-Roman temple that was built in the last century BCE and was dedicated to Jupiter, Minvera, and Juno.
The sandstone and limestone slabs that make up its base and podium are 6,200 square feet (577 square meters) and are still in a state of preservation typical of Roman monumental architecture.
Lead archaeologist at the excavation site Romina Pirraglia told CNN that the team had found three distinct rooms that were probably devoted to the triad of gods Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva.
“The excavations are still underway… and we have already identified an older, deeper layer of ruins dating back to the 4th century BC, when the Umbrian people (an ancient Italic tribe who predated the Romans) lived in the area. The entire temple could be even larger than what we now see.”
Federica Gonzato, superintendent of fine arts, archaeology, and landscapes for the provinces of Ravenna, Rimini, and Forl-Cesena in eastern Emilia Romagna, called the temple "extremely rare" and said there will undoubtedly be space for shopping and recreation, but the current plans will need to be altered to preserve this magnificent structure.
“The marvelous quality of the stones has been spared from sacks, enemy invasions, and plunders across millennia thanks to the remote location of Sarsina, a quiet spot distant from larger cities,” Gonzato told CNN. “Temples such as this one (were) regularly plundered, exploited as quarries with stones and marble slabs taken away to be re-used to build new homes.”
Gonzato claimed that one of the unique characteristics of Italy is the country's seemingly constant discovery of fresh antiquities and antique structures. Julius Caesar organized his armies from the adjacent city of Ravenna, where the Umbri were integrated as Italian tribal allies of the Roman Republic in 89 BCE, and crossed the Rubicon Creek on his way to Roman dictatorship.
In addition, after Rome itself had been taken over, it served as the seat of the Western Roman Empire. There are probably still a ton of secrets buried beneath this place.
