A visual novel plotline sprung to life:

- Kids at a high school in Rome had been telling each other for decades that there were secret rooms under the school. Teachers laughed it off as playground rumors

- During a protest sit-in, the kids took the opportunity to go where they’re not supposed to go and reported that there were really, definitely secret rooms under the school

- The staff found a mysterious iron door in the basement that apparently no-one knew the purpose of; after getting it open, they found some sort of disused furnace… which opened directly into an entire ancient Roman villa

https://nos.nl/artikel/2617238-scholieren-vinden-1800-jaar-oude-romeinse-villa-onder-eigen-school-in-rome

Scholieren vinden 1800 jaar oude Romeinse villa onder eigen school in Rome

De domus ligt volgens archeologen in een gebied waar grote Romeinse figuren als Augustus, Cicero en Pompeius woonden, maar waar weinig over bekend is.

the most Roman part of this story is the one where the guy digging the basement accidentally connected directly into an intact ancient manor and didn’t even bother telling anyone because it’d just be more paperwork for everyone
@0xabad1dea Similar story from Malta where some guy digging a cellar maybe a couple of hundred years ago broke through into a neolithic burial chamber but just blocked up the hole and told no one...
@DamonHD @0xabad1dea obscurity is sometimes the only way conservation happens, sadly