Rome is beautiful for its underground areas, buildings which were originally not open air, mysteries that still today are not completely revealed. So let me tell you about one of the most secret places of Rome, that was reopened few years ago (with some limits). A tour here donates always a sense of mysterious, fascinating the people.

I’m talking about the "neopitagorica" basilica at Porta Maggiore, an underground area that is perfectly preserved, especially thanks to the modern restorations. The building was founded at the I century b.C., and officialy it was a meeting place used by a group of people who divined Pitagora, the famous and ancient mathematician who lived in Sicily. But we have several doubts, still today, regarding to the real functions of the building: according to some archeologists it was a funerary place, or something related to a burial recess. But for others this structure was a nympheum, or maybe an ordinary basilica that was not related to this strange cult.

But there is a characteristic that could suggest us that this building was used for religious events, probably for a cult that must be secret for many reasons. In fact this basilica was originally an underground place. Today, due to the stratification, this area is at the street level. But originally it was underground, when it was built two thousand of years ago. Let me tell you something about the map of this basilica: it has a dromos (vestibule) and a characteristic basilical map (three naves). But now the question is: why was Pitagora considered a sort of God? For some ancient people, probably due to his deep knowledge of the forces of the nature and mathematics, Pitagora was almost considered a wizard. He travelled a lot, especially in Egypt (a land famous for its mysteries). Usually, at that time, scholars or wise men were considered wizards. Even Virgilio, the famous Roman writer (used by Dante, in his Inferno, as a guide), over the centuries "became" a sorcerer. So it is not hard to understand how Pitagora was surrounded by several initiates, people who would like to keep secrets his teachings.

The fascination that came from those unusual people could be seen also through the fantastic white plaster reliefs that still today could be found on the vaults of the ancient basilica. Lines framing mythological scenes, like something related to Saffo (the famous female Greek poet, who sang all the ways of Love). This character is not so easy to be seen in Rome. But other reliefs are strongly related to the Roman and Greek mythology: we can see Ganimede kidnapped by Jupiter, but even Medea (the Giason’s lover), who helped him giving a magic drink to the dragon that was guarding the place where the Golden Coat searched by Giason).