Cinema Teatro Astra

The Cinema Teatro Astria actually once closed in the mid-1980s and sat abandoned for a long time. However, during the closure and abandonment, archaeologists dug under the abandoned Astra and discovered the ruins of a second-century Roman building evocative of a “miniature Pompeii,” according to the Superintendency of Archaeology, Fine Arts and Landscape of Verona, Rovigo and Vicenza.

As Mario Poli of the Agenzia Nazionale Stampa Associata (ANSA) reports, the building appears to have suffered a fire that left its roof collapsed and wooden furniture partially burned. In a parallel to the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, which destroyed Pompeii in 79 A.D, “a calamitous event, in this case a fire, suddenly marked the end of the complex, leaving traces,” notes the superintendency in a statement translated by Angela Giuffrida of the Guardian.

Per VeronaSera, researchers are unsure what the building was used for but think it was too large to function as a private residence. The statement says that despite the fire damage, some of the structure’s interior was “preserved intact, with the magnificent colors of the frescoed walls dating back to the second century.” Other finds included decorated concrete floors and heating systems, notes ANSA.

Workers first found traces of an ancient Roman structure at the abandoned Astra in 2004, reports VeronaSera. Camilla Bertoni of Corriere del Veneto writes that experts returned to the theater, which had been closed since around 1984, ahead of a major renovation and redevelopment project.