Man Intent on Fixing Toilet Uncovers Centuries-Old Subterranean World Beneath his Basement

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.ancient-origins.net/news-history-archaeology/man-intent-fixing-toilet-uncovers-centuries-old-subterranean-world-020299?utm_source=Ancient-Origins+Newsletter&utm_campaign=1df0939355-Top_Trending_Stories_Sep_No3_REAL_23_9_2015&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_2dcd13de15-1df0939355-87943617

15 APRIL, 2015 - 21:54 LIZLEAFLOOR

An Italian man’s dream to open a modest restaurant became an archaeological obsession when he broke ground in order to repair a faulty toilet. The underground world filled with centuries of history he found beneath his building would dominate his life for more than a decade.

In 2000, Luciano Faggiano faced plumbing and sewage issues on the property he had purchased in order to start a trattoria, a casual eating establishment, in Lecce, Italy. Figuring it would be a quick fix, he opted to find and repair the trouble himself, with the help of his two older sons. Digging beneath the building, the family soon discovered a subterranean world, “tracing back before the birth of Jesus: a Messapian tomb, a Roman granary, a Franciscan chapel and even etchings from the Knights Templar. His trattoria instead became a museum, where relics still turn up today,” writes an article in The New York Times.



The ruins and chambers discovered due to the excavations of Luciano Faggiano. Image credit: Map data 2012 Google ©2015 Google

Lecce, and Italy in general, is rich with history. Described as a layered cake of ancient civilizations and empires stacked one atop the other, the history of the area can be found just under its cobblestone and modern paved surfaces. Relics and artifacts are revealed frequently, whether from a farmer’s fields or under a city parking lot. Such discoveries are exciting additions to the shared collection of Italy’s past, but the historical finds also slow or cancel modern construction plans like subway systems or building improvements, causing headaches for city planners and builders.

FULL story at link. Video is not in english but is great to watch.

[rhett o rick]

1. k & r. Thanks for posting. nm

[leftyladyfrommo]

2. Wow. How cool. nt

[Baitball Blogger]

3. Why doesn't this ever happen to me?

If I started digging I would probably find a limestone cavern, just ready to collapse and form a sinkhole.

[Codeine]

4. Around here it's just hard dirt,

harder dirt, some rocks, really really hard dirt, another fucking rock, and hey look we've dug two feet in four fucking hours and why is it SO GODDAMNED HOT TODAY I JUST BROKE THE SHOVEL!!!

This is why I no longer do yard work.

[JimDandy]

35. Hee hee. Sounds sooo familiar. n/t

[Control-Z]

52. So Cal? (nt)

[Codeine]

57. The very same. Inland Empire area. nt

[Hepburn]

5. No, shit!

LOL...just had to post that title to a reply!

[Tree-Hugger]

6. That is so cool! nt

[MADem]

7. How they got going was kind of hilarious!

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/15/world/europe/centuries-of-italian-history-are-unearthed-in-quest-to-fix-toilet.html?_r=0

....But one week quickly passed, as father and sons discovered a false floor that led down to another floor of medieval stone, which led to a tomb of the Messapians, who lived in the region centuries before the birth of Jesus. Soon, the family discovered a chamber used to store grain by the ancient Romans, and the basement of a Franciscan convent where nuns had once prepared the bodies of the dead.

If this history only later became clear, what was immediately obvious was that finding the pipe would be a much bigger project than Mr. Faggiano had anticipated. He did not initially tell his wife about the extent of the work, possibly because he was tying a rope around the chest of his youngest son, Davide, then 12, and lowering him to dig in small, darkened openings.

“I made sure to tell him not to tell his mama,” he said.

His wife, Anna Maria Sanò, soon became suspicious. “We had all these dirty clothes, every day,” she said. “I didn’t understand what was going on.”

After watching the Faggiano men haul away debris in the back seat of the family car, neighbors also became suspicious and notified the authorities. Investigators arrived and shut down the excavations, warning Mr. Faggiano against operating an unapproved archaeological work site. Mr. Faggiano responded that he was just looking for a sewage pipe.

....

[erronis]

11. I remember reading that NYT article but having the video is really great.

It's always fun to listen to Italian and see some beautiful Italian women (and men, of course.)

Thanks, Steve!

[alfredo]

33. Ha!

[JimDandy]

36. That really is hilarious.

[mindwalker_i]

8. The place was a real shithole when he bought it

Now look at it!

[JimDandy]

37. Ha! This is a great thread.

[snort]

9. You'd wonder how the original installer of the toilet could have missed it.

[hunter]

30. I'm certain the plumber's job depended upon him not noticing.

Haven't most of us suffered jobs like that?

Quick, cover that up and pretend you didn't see it!

Good employment doesn't demand cover-ups.

[SummerSnow]

10. Oh my, remarkable!!

[SoapBox]

12. Wow....

[hibbing]

13. Love it, thanks Steve! n/t

[Initech]

14. That's pretty awesome.

[dembotoz]

15. here in wisconsin any building over 100 years old produces heart palpitations

and yet elsewhere.....

we really are babes in the woods.....

[KatyMan]

18. When we lived in England, my boss told me a story

of how he was in San Francisco on a work trip and there was some big celebration going on. When he asked about it, he was told that the post office building was 100 years old that year. He said, hell, my house is 300 years old but we don't have parties for it!

[eppur_se_muova]

31. Reminded me of an appearance by Billy Connolly ... or was it Craig Ferguson ? ...

on some late night show or other. He was talking about an American friend who was so impressed by a church building in Chicago that was ~150 years old. Back in the UK, he was familiar with a town named Newbridge, after a bridge built centuries ago -- and the old bridge was still standing.

[KatyMan]

40. Nice one.

We lived in Aylesford, Kent and quite regularly walked across a footbridge built in something like the 13th century, to go to a pub that was built in 1511 and has been an inn/pub since the 1740s. The other pub we would go to was called The Little Gem and the building dates from around the time of William the Conquerer. Amazing place to live.

[Art_from_Ark]

56. If a building in Chicago is 150 years old, it would have survived the Chicago Fire

[Lordquinton]

51. But it's San Francisco

If that happened before 2006, than buildings there over 100 deserve special days.

[eppur_se_muova]

58. Intersting point. London had its Great Fire in 1666, so ...

they're just using that as an excuse to be snotty.

[beam me up scottie]

16. That's incredible, thank you!

[randome]

17. His dreams of opening a restaurant were flushed down the drain.

Last edited Wed Nov 25, 2015, 02:08 PM - Edit history (1)

[hr][font color="blue"][center]All things in moderation, including moderation.[/center][/font][hr]

[closeupready]

23. Some times, the baby gets thown out with the bathwater.

Sadly.

[Mendocino]

19. Was it a pyramid shape

and full of grain?

[randome]

20. Just had a flashback to 2001: A Space Odyssey.

"My God, it's full of stars grain!"
[hr][font color="blue"][center]All things in moderation, including moderation.[/center][/font][hr]

[Mendocino]

24. Another flashback

"Soylent grain is people"

[Roland99]

25. Beat me to it!!

[hughee99]

21. Did he get the toilet fixed?

I can't tell, my Italian isn't very good.

[Historic NY]

22. Holy S--t, really.

Luciano Faggiano eventually did find and mend the sewage pipe which had caused the entire adventure, and still has plans to open his much-delayed trattoria—but at a new location. He has no interest in tending to the plumbing himself, however.

[Enthusiast]

26. K&R! Now that is some weird wild stuff!

[MisterP]

27. it's toilets all the way down?

[mindwalker_i]

38. Nice!

[cui bono]

28. That's too bad.

He has deprived future generations from uncovering his bathroom when they are renovating.

[Liberal_in_LA]

29. Great story

[Scalded Nun]

32. How absolutely neat!

If I were to do that I might find a petrified turd.

[alfredo]

34. AKA Coprolite

[chervilant]

39. I have a piece of coprolite.

It looks just as it must have when it was fresh, and it sits in plain sight in my bathroom. I get lots of comments...

[AllyCat]

47. We had a boy bring fossilized dinosaur dung to a Cub Scout den meeting

Immensely popular for 7 year olds.

[chervilant]

50. Indeed

Immensely popular for several adults I know, too.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

41. wow!

[rpannier]

42. That is so cool

[pansypoo53219]

43. awesome. gotta send that to italian epal. maybe he can tell me more.

[pansypoo53219]

44. awesome. gotta send that to italian epal. maybe he can tell me more.

[beac]

45. Very cool. Thanks for posting it! n/t

[Peace Patriot]

46. Fascinating! Thank you, Omaha Steve!

[shanti]

48. i love this kind of stuff

thanks!

[INdemo]

49. And now if we could just see the basement of Goldman Sachs

Hillary Clinton's secret headquarters that would awesome.

[Helen Borg]

53. I had a dream like that once!

[JonathanRackham]

54. All I find is dust bunnies. Nt

Nt

[LittleGirl]

55. So cool

My grandparents immigrated from Italy to the states in the early 1920s and I went to Italy to see some long lost (but found) relatives in October. The village is walled from a century or so ago and it's is one of the coolest places I've ever visited. There's so much we just don't know about human history. Fascinating!