Rome’s "Drugstore Museum" is a Hidden Archaeological Gem

Increasingly, there is a move towards making the archaeology found during construction accessible to the public. For example, the gym of a new hotel shares its space with an ancient porticus; arches of an aqueduct, built by Marcus Agrippa in 19 BC, can be found amid the lines of designer goods in a high-end department store.

Where opportunity (and money) allow, particular sites are even turned into small museums. Beneath the headquarters of a healthcare insurance organization, Museo Ninfeo showcases an ancient, luxury garden complex, belonging at one time to the emperor Caligula.

A similar opening, out in the suburbs and much less publicized, was “The Drugstore Museum” in Rome’s Portuense neighborhood, on the far bank of the River Tiber. 

The museum’s name—  a reference to the 20th century building’s former use— is unhelpful in conveying what actually lies within. The commercial building was constructed over an ancient necropolis, a vast cemetery on the outskirts of Rome along the Via Campana road, and sunk into its floor are the remains of five Roman tombs. 

These funerary monuments date between the 1st and 3rd centuries AD and evidence both the Roman practices of cremation and inhumation (burial of the body intact). The largest is a family tomb, dating AD 80-120, cut into the volcanic rock of the hillside. At its back is a large niche, probably intended to house an urn containing the burnt remains of the head of the family, although restructured at a later date to accommodate someone else’s burial. 

To either side are frescoes depicting fish and bread, items common to ritual funerary banquets. On the floor, a mosaic in black and white tesserae was added in a second phase. 

This mosaic shows the mythological story of Lycurgus (King of the Greek city of Thrace) assailing the nymph Ambrosia, who is turned into a vine by the god Dionysus, allowing her to ensnare the axe-wielding attacker. Both Dionysus and representations of metamorphosis were popular subjects for the decoration of tombs.

Just to the left and attached to this large tomb is a smaller, brick shrine with an entrance flanked by two elegant pilasters moulded from lime plaster. The interior was painted with frescoes imitating marble, and the remains of four individuals, sealed in their cinerary urns, were found within.

Elsewhere in the museum is a large columbarium— a communal tomb. Only one side is preserved and has space for 40-50 cremations, so we might anticipate the monument was originally intended to hold up to 200. The walls are painted in a simple white wash, with red bands framing the niches, which held the deceased's ashes. 

Scratched above one is the name “Ianuriae.” Again, evidence for changing burial practices in Ancient Rome, and the reuse of tombs over generations, is indicated by the later placing of four sarcophagi containing full (unburnt) bodies within the monument, one of which actually contained two skeletons.

These tombs are displayed in-situ (they have never been moved), but placed around the museum are finds from other recent excavations. This includes a charming, but unfinished, bust of a woman, likely from a sarcophagus, carved in Proconessian marble from Marmara Island near Turkery. Also on display is a selection of terracotta amphorae (storage and transportation vessels) which brought food, wine, and oil from across the Roman Empire. 

The museum is small and well-curated (although the decision to bathe the ruins in blue and purple lighting is baffling). Free to enter, it seeks to encourage community interest in local heritage, repurposing a defunct commercial building to show that exceptional archaeological remains exist beyond the historic center of the city.

Next to the museum, mounds of earth indicate ongoing excavations in other parts of the necropolis and the hope that more will be revealed in the future.