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The Columbaria of Via Taranto (also known as Via Pescara) in Rome: Painted Tombs Beneath the Apartment Buildings of San Giovanni
At a depth of 3.5 metres below street level in the San Giovanni district of Rome, hidden in the courtyard of a residential block in Via Pescara, lie two 1st–2nd century AD Roman tombs. The columbaria of Via Taranto were discovered by chance in 1932, when building the foundations: workers broke through the vault, and found the chambers intact. Two small buildings with a pediment façade, barrel vault and beaten-earth floor, in an area that in Roman times was crossed by the Via Latina and the Via Labicana.
Festoons, Drinking Horns and Dionysiac Symbols
The first colombarium, from the late 1st century AD, preserves frescoes on a white background: gilded amphorae, festoons, drinking horns (ritual vessels for drinking) and cymbals, instruments associated with the cult of Dionysus. On the vault are panels with rose sprigs; in the corners, vine tendrils and pomegranate. This was a family tomb, with few urns — an exception, since columbaria usually served guilds or larger groups.
A Child and the Goddess Tyche
The second columbarium, from the 2nd century, belonged to a family of Greek origin. On the back wall, a shell-decorated apsidal niche houses the image of the goddess Tyche — the Fortuna of the Romans. Below, a relief depicts the young Venerianus on horseback, with a Greek inscription from his parents invoking him as a protective deity. On the vault are the figures of Eros and Psyche — the soul uniting with the divine.
