A €1.50 metro ticket to Ancient Rome

Construction on Rome's Metro C has uncovered spectacular Roman ruins, and its new "archaeo-stations" are giving visitors a whole new way to experience the city's ancient past.

On a recent Friday afternoon, I made my way through the usual tourist queues swarming the Colosseum, and entered the recently inaugurated Colosseo-Fori Imperiali Metro C station. As I took the escalator underground, the crowds vanished. Metal gridwork and four cascades of criss-crossing escalators created an Escher-like atmosphere. Even so, I was still coming face to face with the city's storied past.

In one corner, a collection of ancient pottery first excavated a few metres away was displayed behind glass. Further ahead stood the crumbling remains of a Roman bath. But this wasn't a gallery or museum tour I'd had to book in advance; Rome's newest metro stop is also Ancient Rome's newest attraction, and my entry cost just €1.50 (£1.30; $1.75).

When most cities build metro systems, they simply blast through rock. But in Rome, a city famously built on the remains of its past, engineers must tunnel through nearly 3,000 years of history. Each time workers break ground, they risk encountering ancient ruins, requiring painstaking excavations. Civic progress is slow, often rerouted or indefinitely suspended.

This unique problem meant that until 2014, just two main metro lines (Metro A and Metro B) served a metropolis spanning 1285 sq km (496 sq miles). But construction on Metro C has been ongoing for nearly 20 years, and the closer it's inched from the suburb of Monte Compatri-Pantano to Rome's historical centre, the more of Ancient Rome it's unearthed. 

During construction for its three newest stops, Ancient Roman drinking wells, a farm, military barracks, a 16-room home and more than half a million smaller artefacts like pottery, coins and jewellery have been discovered – mostly dating from the 7th Century BCE to the 5th Century CE. But delays, ballooning costs and countless traffic detours led to mocking witticisms around town: "Metro C isn't a subway; it's an archaeological dig with trains." 

"There are always surprises in archaeology, so you must make adjustments," explained Simona Morretta, an archaeologist overseeing parts of the excavations.

To showcase the discoveries from the excavated area, a total of seven "archaeo-stations" are planned – part transit hub, part self-guided museum exhibits.

The first archaeo-station, San Giovanni, opened in 2018. The second, Colosseo-Fori Imperiali, opened in December 2025. While it helps locals get around town, Metro C is also giving people a whole new way to experience Ancient Rome in the modern day. 

The fragment tells a story

"A project like this could only happen in Rome," said historian Anthony Majanlahti. "Rome is a city built from the remains of its past. It's built on top of and made from its predecessor cities. Anything built in Rome has always had to take into consideration the city beneath it."

Unlike the artefacts it displays, Metro C's archaeo-stations are sleek and modern (the train itself is driverless). As you ride down the three cascades of escalators of San Giovanni station, illustrated timelines on the walls follow your descent to 27m (88.5ft) below ground level. Visitors pass markers indicating the geological depth from present day to the city's Medieval period, then markers showing the Imperial and Republican periods, all the way down to the Palaeolithic strata, highlighting important moments in Rome's architectural history along the way. You're free to hop off at any of the station's three floors to browse artefacts unearthed during the digs, each showcased on the level corresponding to the geological strata where it was........

© BBC