Overview

Many archaeological finds have been unearthed in the eastern part of the city, including the structures of a Roman building located in vico I Carminiello ai Mannesi, in the eastern part of via Duomo and within the area between via Tribunali and via San Biagio dei Librai. The archaeological complex, brought to light by the bombing in 1943 that gutted the Church of Santa Maria del Carmine ai Mannesi and the surrounding buildings, illustrates a portion of an ancient insula that, among other things, housed a small thermal building. It is a multiple, fairly articulated building, the main stage of which dates back to the end of the first century BC, but which contains components from different periods, including some dating back to the Republican age.
Of particular interest is a quadrangular area with a black and white tiled floor, part of a dwelling that was included in the foundations of a large structure during the imperial period. The latter, which extended over at least two floors, featured service rooms on the lower level, illuminated by skylights, and a bath complex in the upper part, of which some water pipes and a series of rooms with marble baths in the southern wing have been recognised. Over the course of the following centuries, starting from the 5th BC, various alterations were carried out, including the probable construction of a portico along the western exterior and the adaptation as a mithraeum of two spaces on the lower floor, where a stucco sculpture depicting the god Mitra performing a bovine sacrifice has been identified. The transformations culminated in the Middle Ages with the integration of the Roman structures within the sacred building, which was later destroyed.

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