11 May 2025 The Future is the Product of the Past

‘Miniature Pompeii’ found beneath Astra cinema in Verona

Archaeologists have uncovered a “miniature Pompeii” in the shape of a well-preserved ancient edifice near Verona, Italy.

An old Roman structure has been discovered during excavations at a defunct cinema in Verona, northern Italy, in what has been characterized as a “miniature Pompeii.” The finding was uncovered during excavations in the basement of the Astra cinema, which is being renovated after being abandoned for more than 20 years.

The structure’s “magnificent frescoed walls,” which have survived mostly unaltered for over 2,000 years, “evokes a tiny Pompeii,” according to Verona’s archaeological superintendent.

Experts are currently not sure what the purpose of the building, which dates back to the 2nd century when the Romans ruled. Experts said it had survived the fire because the roof had collapsed and charred wooden furniture was among the finds.

“A fire seems to have put an end to the attendance of the complex,” the superintendent said.

Experts found items of charred wooden furniture among the remains in the old Astra cinema.
Experts found items of charred wooden furniture among the remains in the old Astra cinema.

Despite the fire, “the environment was preserved intact, with the magnificent colours of the frescoed walls dating back to the second century”.

The discovery and evidence of the fire evoke the meaning of the ancient city of Pompeii, which was destroyed by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79. “A calamitous event, in this case, a fire, suddenly marked the end of the complex, leaving traces,” the report added.

The discovery and the fact it survived a fire left archaeologists reminiscent of the city of Pompeii. Undoubtedly, what happened in Pompeii was far more frightening.

Cover Photo: ANSA

Related Articles

A princely tomb discovered in the infrastructure project of the A7 Ploieşti-Buzău highway in Romania

20 December 2022

20 December 2022

An impressive archaeological discovery took place on the Ploiești-Buzău section of the Moldova Highway. The excavations uncovered a princely tomb,...

Study refutes previous assumptions, DNA evidence rewrites story of people buried in Pompeii eruption

8 November 2024

8 November 2024

Researchers from the University of Florence, Harvard University, and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig analyzed the...

Archaeologists Found 1,600-year-old Burials of Noble Women and Gold Jewelry in the Mountains of Crimea

4 December 2024

4 December 2024

Archaeologists found burials of noble women filled with gold and silver jewelry in the Crimean mountains in the Bakhchisaray region...

Bom Jesus: The Oldest and Most Valuable Shipwreck Found in the Namibian Desert

20 March 2025

20 March 2025

In a remarkable archaeological discovery, the Bom Jesus (The Good Jesus), a Portuguese ship that sank over 500 years ago,...

The Sad Story of Hypatia of Alexandria

26 February 2021

26 February 2021

Hypatia of Alexandria was one of the few women in ancient Greek academia. Most of all people remember Hypatia of...

Ancient Roman coin thought to be fake -certainly authentic and proves the existence of ‘forgotten’ leader Sponsian, study claims

26 November 2022

26 November 2022

History is littered with artifacts that were later discovered to be forgeries, but the opposite can also occur. A new...

Stone Age women in Europe were tied up and buried alive in ritual sacrifices

11 April 2024

11 April 2024

New research has identified over a dozen murders where women were traditionally sacrificed in Neolithic Europe across a period of...

Neo-Assyrian underground complex discovered under a house in southeastern Turkey

11 May 2022

11 May 2022

An underground Iron Age complex has been found in Turkey that may have been used by a fertility cult during...

8,000-year-old Cave paintings found in Türkiye’s İnkaya Cave depict life and death

10 September 2023

10 September 2023

A number of cave paintings dating back some 8,000 years have been found in İnkaya cave in the Marmara province...

30 Graves Found in the Basilica-Planned Ancient City

4 April 2021

4 April 2021

Kibyra ancient city is situated south of Turkey, located in the town Gölhisar in the southwestern part of Burdur Province,...

11,000-Year-Old LSU Campus Mounds Are Oldest Known Human-Made Structures In North America

23 August 2022

23 August 2022

According to new research published in the American Journal of Science, two six-meter (20-foot) high mounds on the campus of...

Ancient coins surface with Lake Iznik’s withdrawal in Türkiye

2 May 2023

2 May 2023

With the withdrawal of Lake Iznik in the northwest of Türkiye, the ancient coins found at the bottom of the...

A section of one of Britain’s most important Roman roads unearthed under Old Kent Road in south-east London

15 November 2024

15 November 2024

Archaeologists have found a section of a Roman road under Old Kent Road in south-east London, part of one of...

10,000-year-old rock art discovered in the Indian village of Medikonda

3 July 2021

3 July 2021

Rock art containing tiger, human and animal figures was found at the Jogulamba Gadwal site in Telangana, India. The New...

Discovery Shedding Light on the Mysteries of Anatolia: 3500-year-old Double-Headed Eagle Seal

21 October 2024

21 October 2024

A grain silo and two different seal impressions, one of which is a double-headed eagle, were found during the excavation...