The hypogeum of Via Livenza in Rome, a few metres from the Aurelian Walls, amazes even the scholars and not only for its rich decoration, its colours, its stuccoes, its symbols and its mysteries.

This underground environment,  dating back to the IV century a.D., is a part of the ancient funerary complex on the Via Salaria. Here, however, there is more than a simple tomb or a mausoleum, because there is something more, sometning that... we don't know whaat is it! Many hypothesis were made, like that one which claimed how the hypogeum may have been a nymphaeum, or a small underground temple, or even a secret space converted to strange and unknown rites!

There are not answers for the function of this underground room, a place that fascinated also for  what we see on the walls: 9 meters below, in fact, the attention falls on faux reddish, framed marble transennas  that form a deep rectangular tub. We also know that the bath arrived and went out thanks to a terracotta tube which was used to carry water (by this item the assumptions of the Nymphaeum). However, there are also scenes of hunting, with a beautiful Diane intent to take an arrow from his quiver, while the deer flee. We also have a nymph stroking a roe-deer, and marine scenes to a mosaic of glass paste on another section. A pastoral atmosphere permeates the entire environment, and therefore, fascinating today as it was 1600 years ago...