When the soil of Aquileia — facing the sea, at the confluence of the Torre and Natisone rivers — slowly opens beneath the feet of the researchers, layers of time emerge, whispering of power, trade, and the meeting of civilizations. It is here that, in the recently concluded season, the Department of Culture and Civilisation of the University of Verona completed a groundbreaking excavation campaign, authorized by the Italian Ministry of Culture and supported by the Fondazione Aquileia. Over the course of three months, twenty young scholars explored a stretch of land never before investigated, returning to the ancient Roman city fragments of history long hidden beneath its surface.

Among the most remarkable discoveries are three gold coins — bearing the effigies of the emperors Valens, Magnus Maximus, and Arcadius — unearthed beneath the floor of a portico in the city’s marketplace. Were they imperial gifts, or a small treasure hidden in times of fear? The golden metal captures the eye, but it is the story that fascinates: three imperial faces that, centuries ago, witnessed the fortunes of an empire that still murmured with power.

Alongside this symbolic find, archaeologists uncovered a complex system of amphorae and storage facilities linked to Aquileia’s ancient river port, suggesting that the city’s mercantile core was far larger than previously imagined. Trade routes and networks — once stretching from the heart of the Adriatic to the Danubian world — resurface through these discoveries, bearing witness to a vibrant emporium of goods, peoples, and cultures.

Equally significant has been the open-access nature of the dig: each day, students, visitors, and onlookers were able to watch, live, as the memory of the city re-emerged, layer by layer, in a tangible dialogue with time. A UNESCO World Heritage city that never falls silent, Aquileia continues to let history reveal itself — in real time.