Ruins of Ancient Nero’s Theater Discovered under Garden of Future Four Seasons near Vatican

A fresco is seen on a wall in the excavation site of the ancient Roman emperor Nero's theater, 1st century AD, during a press preview, in Rome, Wednesday, July 26, 2023. (AP)
A fresco is seen on a wall in the excavation site of the ancient Roman emperor Nero's theater, 1st century AD, during a press preview, in Rome, Wednesday, July 26, 2023. (AP)
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Ruins of Ancient Nero’s Theater Discovered under Garden of Future Four Seasons near Vatican

A fresco is seen on a wall in the excavation site of the ancient Roman emperor Nero's theater, 1st century AD, during a press preview, in Rome, Wednesday, July 26, 2023. (AP)
A fresco is seen on a wall in the excavation site of the ancient Roman emperor Nero's theater, 1st century AD, during a press preview, in Rome, Wednesday, July 26, 2023. (AP)

Rome’s next luxury hotel has some very good bones: Archaeologists said Wednesday that the ruins of Nero’s Theater, an imperial theater referred to in ancient Roman texts but never found, have been discovered under the garden of a future Four Seasons Hotel steps from the Vatican.

Archaeologists have excavated deep under the walled garden of the Palazzo della Rovere since 2020 as part of planned renovations on the frescoed Renaissance building.

The palazzo, which takes up a city block along the broad Via della Conciliazione leading to St. Peter’s Square, is home to an ancient Vatican chivalric order that leases the space to a hotel to raise money for Christians in the Holy Land.

The governor general of the Order of the Holy Sepulcher of Jerusalem, Leonardo Visconti di Modrone, confirmed during a news conference announcing the archaeological discovery that the incoming hotel chain was the Four Seasons.

News reports have said the hotel is expected to be open in time for the Vatican’s 2025 Jubilee, when an estimated 30 million people and pilgrims are expected to flock to Rome.

Officials hailed the findings from the excavation as “exceptional,” given they provide a rare look at a stratum of Roman history from the Roman Empire through to the 15th century. Among the discoveries: 10th century glass colored goblets and pottery pieces that are unusual because so little is known about this period in Rome.

Marzia Di Mento, the site's chief archaeologist, noted that previously only seven glass chalices of the era had been found, and that the excavations of this one site turned up seven more.

In addition, archaeologists found marble columns and gold-leaf decorated plaster, leading them to conclude that the Nero's Theater referred to in texts by Pliny the Elder, an ancient Roman author and philosopher, was indeed there, located at the site just off the Tiber River.

Officials said the portable antiquities would be moved to a museum, while the ruins of the theater structure itself would be covered again after all studies are completed.



European Fake Art Network Involving Banksys, Warhols, Modiglianis Uncovered in Italy

Modern and contemporary fake artworks, including Banksy, Pablo Picasso and Andy Warhol, are displayed following an Italian Carabinieri operation against a large-scale pan-European forgery network, in Pisa, Italy, November 9, 2024. (Carabinieri/Handout via Reuters)
Modern and contemporary fake artworks, including Banksy, Pablo Picasso and Andy Warhol, are displayed following an Italian Carabinieri operation against a large-scale pan-European forgery network, in Pisa, Italy, November 9, 2024. (Carabinieri/Handout via Reuters)
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European Fake Art Network Involving Banksys, Warhols, Modiglianis Uncovered in Italy

Modern and contemporary fake artworks, including Banksy, Pablo Picasso and Andy Warhol, are displayed following an Italian Carabinieri operation against a large-scale pan-European forgery network, in Pisa, Italy, November 9, 2024. (Carabinieri/Handout via Reuters)
Modern and contemporary fake artworks, including Banksy, Pablo Picasso and Andy Warhol, are displayed following an Italian Carabinieri operation against a large-scale pan-European forgery network, in Pisa, Italy, November 9, 2024. (Carabinieri/Handout via Reuters)

Italian authorities say a network of European art forgers who painted fake Warhols, Banksys and Picassos and then tried to sell them to unsuspecting buyers with the help of complicit auction houses has been dismantled.

Thirty-eight people have been placed under investigation, including six in Spain, France and Belgium. Italian authorities say the network could have done 200 million euros ($212 million) in economic damage by flooding the art market with fake works.

Italy’s culture ministry said Monday the seizures in Italy, France, Spain and Belgium netted 2,100 fake works attributed to more than 30 famed artists, including Andy Warhol, Amedeo Modigliani, Banksy, Pablo Picasso, Joan Mirò, Francis Bacon, Wassily Kandinsky, Henry Moore and Gustav Klimt.

The operation uncovered a network of forgers in Spain, France and Belgium who produced the works, said Eurojust, the European Union agency for judicial cooperation. Fake Warhols and Banksys were the most commonly forged and the fakes were exhibited at shows in Mestre and Cortona, Italy, with a catalogue published, the authorities said.

Eurojust said the network was able to use complicit auction houses in Italy that issued forged certificates and stamps of authenticity, some 500 of which were also seized.

The investigation began in March 2023 when Italian authorities discovered 200 fakes during the search of the home of a Pisa businessman that prompted them to monitor e-commerce sites of auction houses to see if others were involved in the network.

Those arrested are accused of conspiracy to forge and deal in contemporary art, Eurojust said.