Ancient paving stones have been revealed after a giant sinkhole opened unexpectedly outside the Pantheon in Rome - usually teeming with tourists.
The eight-foot deep and 10-foot long hole suddenly appeared on a Sunday afternoon last month in the cobblestoned visitor hotspot Piazza della Rotunda.
A potential catastrophe was avoided as the area is currently closed off to pedestrians due to the coronavirus lockdown but at the height of summer season would have been full of people, reports The Local Italy.
The natural phenomenon has, however, given the people of Rome a glimpse of what the streets looked like around the iconic Catholic church - formerly a Roman temple - as far back as 27BC when it was first constructed.
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The Smithsonian reports officials in the Italian capital had known about the seven ancient stones' existence for years but opted against excavation due to fears of causing damage to them.
They were first discovered in the 1990s, according to reports.
The stones were made from travertine - a popular building material in ancient Rome which was also used for the Coliseum - and have been perfectly preserved surrounded by pozzolan dirt.
Due to the heavy sand content and layers of ruins in Rome, sinkholes are fairly common, with 100 recorded last year - in comparison to 20 in Naples.
"The most sensitive area is eastern Rome, where materials were quarried in ancient times," geologist Stefania Nisio, who is working on a project to map Rome's sinkholes, told Adnkronos.
“The main cause of a sinkhole in the city is the presence of an underground cavity,” he continued. "We have many examples of this, especially in Lazio, not only in Rome but also in Viterbo and Rieti."
The districts said to be most at risk of sinkholes are Appio Latino, Tuscolano, Prenestino, Tiburtino and Quadraro, he added.
Travel and Leisure reports city officials gave the green-light for a multi-million-euro scheme to gradually refurbish Rome's streets in 2018.
