During stratigraphic excavation and relocation work on the fullonica found at the site for the underground passage of Piazza Pia in Rome, the remains of an interesting landscaped structure were found, which overlooked the right bank of the Tiber.
It is a structure consisting of a travertine block wall, terracing the riverbank, behind which a columned portico was built, of which only the foundations remain, and a large open area arranged as a garden.
The excavation, conducted by the Special Superintendence of Rome, directed by Daniela Porro, coordinated in the field by archaeologist Dora Cirone with the scientific direction of Alessio De Cristofaro, has documented how the layout underwent three construction phases, occurring between the era of Augustus and that of Nero.
The discovery of a lead hydraulic pipe (fistula plumbea), stamped with the name of the owner of the water supply, and therefore of the garden, allows the identification of the person responsible for the first renovation of the complex. The inscription says:
C(ai) Cæsaris Aug(usti) Germanici
It is therefore Caligula, son of Germanicus and Agrippina the Elder, and emperor from 37 to 41 AD.
The find could also have an interesting correlation in ancient literary sources. A passage from the Embassy to Gaius (Legatio ad Gaium) written by Philo of Alexandria, a Jewish historian from Alexandria, Egypt, recounts how Caligula received the delegation of Alexandrian Jews precisely in the Horti of Agrippina, a vast garden overlooking the Tiber, which separated the river from a monumental portico.
The embassy aimed to present to the emperor the difficulties and crisis that had affected the Jewish community of Alexandria in their relations with the Greco-Alexandrian population: a crisis that had manifested itself with violence, riots, and episodes of religious intolerance.
But Caligula, an emperor inspired by Eastern theocracies and a defender of the Greek component of Alexandria, rejected the requests. The similarity between the discovered remains and the description by the Alexandrian historian suggests identifying the Piazza Pia excavation site as the location of this meeting.
Furthermore, according to Alessio De Cristofaro, archaeologist of the Special Superintendence, the inscription on the fistula is of notable historical importance for several reasons. Firstly, it confirms that the Piazza Pia excavation is within the area of the Horti of Agrippina the Elder, Caligula’s mother.
Also from Piazza Pia, but from excavations in the early last century, come other inscribed lead pipes, with the name of Iulia Augusta, presumably Livia Drusilla, the second wife of Augustus and grandmother of Germanicus. It is likely, therefore, that this luxurious residence was first inherited by Germanicus and then, upon his death, by his wife Agrippina the Elder and later by their son, the emperor.
The excavation also returned an important series of Campana bricks, figured terracottas used for roof decoration, with unusual mythological scenes, reused as covers for the fullonica sewers, but originally probably made to cover some garden structure, perhaps the same portico.
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