Over the past couple of weeks we’ve been visiting some of Rome’s slightly lesser known, but nonetheless well worth seeing, historical sites.

Remember all those months ago in Bologna when the magic of La Macchina del Tempo allowed us to step back in time to the 13th century? We had a similar experience this week in Rome, only here we went much further back in history and without the assistance of technology. It turns out the Basilica di San Clemente, just 5 minutes’ walk from our apartment, is its own type of remarkable time capsule.

The current Basilica of San Clemente was completed in 1123 at the height of the Middle Ages, and for centuries was assumed to have been the first church built on the site. But about 160 years ago, another much older Basilica was discovered beneath the current one. And more surprisingly, another level down even older buildings were found, some dating back to the 1st century BC.

The first Basilica, built in the 4th century after Emperor Constantine made Christianity legal, was partly converted from the home of a Roman nobleman. That home, which existed in the 1st century, had itself been used as a church at a time when Christianity was still punishable by death.

On the third level down, accessed by a 1st century stone staircase, things become even more interesting. Now we’re in the basement of what had been the Roman nobleman’s house. The first series of rooms you enter on this level were adapted and used by the pagan cult, the Mithras, around 200 AD.

Also on this level are rooms that probably were part of an even earlier, Republican era house (ie before 27 BC), and what remains of a 1st century building that was the imperial Roman mint. Water from an underground spring is still flowing into the ancient system of channels and drains here. Both these buildings were badly damaged in the great fire of 64 AD.

The drama of 2,000 years of Roman history is laid out in these cool, dimly-lit rooms, and the story of how that history came to be rediscovered is almost as interesting.

In the 1660s when the English were expelling Catholic clergy from Ireland, Pope Urban VIII gave the Irish Dominican friars refuge at San Clemente in Rome; they’ve been the caretakers here ever since. In 1857 the Dominicans discovered evidence of earlier activity on the site. In the 1950s they – along with Italian archaeology students – conducted excavations to reveal the full extent of the history of the Basilica di San Clemente. It’s a good story, isn’t it? And one we’re pleased to have found.