Retired trash man helps unearth ancient treasures

STORY: This statue is one small part of Italy’s most

remarkable archaeological discovery in decades

Location: San Casciano dei Bagni, Italy

About two dozen bronze statues were found

in a hilltop village in southern Tuscany

deep in the muddy ruins of an ancient spa

A discovery thanks in part to a retired

garbage man and amateur local historian

(Stefano Petrini, Retired garbage man and local historian)

"The other day, it was a Friday, this flash of genius came to me and I said, 'there I saw some columns' and so I told Emanuele there was an abandoned vegetable garden, because Sergio had unfortunately died, and there were the old canes and scaffolding of the garden from previous years. We made access through... there was a gate. We were all there and when we saw these things, Emanuele brought out his passion for knowledge and there we pulled out everything."

The tip lead to the discovery of a shrine

at the center of this ancient spa complex

that was sealed and abandoned at the

beginning of the fifth century AD

(Emanuele Mariotti, Head of the San Casciano archaeological project)

"The bet in retrospect turned out to be obvious but there was nothing obvious or taken for granted. We thought we would come across more usual and well-known spas and we actually came across what was the sancta sanctorum of this system, that is, the sanctuary, the great sacred pool that collected the waters of the spring and to which the Etruscans and Romans brought extraordinary gifts."

Excavation will continue in late June and experts expect

that more treasures will be found in the coming years