Last week I arranged a special visit to the Excubitorium della VII Coorte dei Vigili for some private clients. This site, ancient barracks for Rome’s fire brigade, is usually closed to the public but I was able to finesse a visit to this off-the-radar underground site.
The building itself lays buried 30 feet beneath the Trastevere district. Like so many ancient structures in Rome, it was abandoned in late antiquity and used as a foundation for medieval structures, and because it was buried it was preserved. After a brief pitstop at Biscotteria Innocenti around the corner, we met the custodian who let us down into the site. An ochre façade on Via della Settima Coorte with “EXCUBITORIUM” inscribed above the doorway is all that betrays the entrance to the ancient building. A staircase leads downstairs to what today is a large enclosed room with hexagonal fountain basin in the center and rooms leading off of the main hall. When the barracks were in use, however, this central hall was actually open to the sky, like an atrium in a Roman villa you might find in Pompeii or Ostia Antica.
When the ruins were first uncovered in the late 19th century, archaeologists found graffiti that identified the building but now combination of neglect and humidity have erased any trace of these writings. The site itself isn’t in the greatest shape. Red and white tape closes off a corridor and a skylight above one of the rooms, below which cigarette butts and syringes litter the ground. There has definitely been some deterioration since I last visited in 2006 while filming Cities of the Underworld. It begs the question, what exactly happened with the new administration’s plan to reform Rome’s archaeological patrimony?
nyc/caribbean ragazza
March 5th, 2009 at 9:20 am
Amazing. Can we talk about this next time I see you?
Katie
March 6th, 2009 at 7:24 am
Of course! I can set up a special visit for us.
Entrepreneurs’ Organization’s Rome Retreat by Katie Parla
March 13th, 2009 at 5:01 pm
[...] two important underground sites back in town: the Mithraeum under the Circus Maximus and the Excubitorium della VII Coorte (fire brigade barracks). Both second century structures were buried for hundreds of years beneath [...]
Entrepreneurs’ Organization Rome Retreat
August 13th, 2009 at 10:32 pm
[...] two important underground sites back in town: the Mithraeum under the Circus Maximus and the Excubitorium della VII Coorte (fire brigade barracks). Both second century structures were buried for hundreds of years beneath [...]
Synnove
January 14th, 2010 at 12:15 am
Hello
Do you know if it’s possible to visit the Excubitorium della VII Coorte dei Vigili – and get a guided tour?
We are going to Rome in the middle of February (and also in October).
Katie
January 14th, 2010 at 7:02 am
I can set that up for you. I’ll drop you an email.
Tom Daeger
April 19th, 2012 at 9:37 pm
My wife and I would also like to see the Excubitorium della VII Coorte dei Vigili – and get a guided tour. Please advise if this is still possible. Thanks.