Ancient lost city discovered with drones near famed tourist route: 'Source of great pride'

An ancient city - complete with a forum and a theater - was recently uncovered alongside a popular tourist destination in Italy, according to officials.

In a translated announcement this month, the Italian Ministry of Culture said the city was found at the archaeological site of Fioccaglia in Flumeri, Avellino, alongside the Appian Way.

A UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Appian Way is a roughly 350-mile-long road that runs from Rome to Brindisi.

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With some parts dating back as far as 312 BC, the road was one of the most strategically important roads in Ancient Rome - and an unusual remnant of life in antiquity.

Officials said that the ruins were found with the use of drones, as led by a team of experts. The ruins date between the second and first centuries B.C.

The recent excavation "clearly identified the orthogonal layout of the city, with regular street axes and planned blocks based on the model of newly founded Roman towns," according to the statement.

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Officials said the forum - the civil and commercial center of the city - was crucial. Along with "a previously unknown monumental theater, [it is] an element that attests to the social and cultural importance of the urban center."

"The findings confirm that Fioccaglia was a structured city equipped with monumental public buildings, reinforcing its historical and strategic role within the Roman road system," the release added.

Professor Giuseppe Ceraudo, a University of Salento professor who helped find the ruins, credited a combination of "geophysical surveys and remote sensing investigations using drones equipped with thermal and multispectral sensors."

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The technology "made it possible to obtain a true 'X-ray' of the still-buried ancient center, identifying structures through variations in vegetation growth and in the magnetic composition of the subsoil," said Ceraudo.

"The multidisciplinary approach has provided a solid scientific basis for planning future protection and enhancement activities," he added.

Angelo Lanza, the mayor of Flumeri, called the discovery "a source of great pride and a development opportunity for our territory."

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"The Municipality is ready to work closely with the University and the Superintendency to ensure that Fioccaglia, a strategic road junction along the Via Appia, becomes a landmark in the historical and cultural offering of inland Campania," he said in the release.

The announcement adds to a list of other major historical discoveries across Italy so far in 2026.

Earlier in February, officials at Pompeii revealed that 2,000-year-old love notes were found in a tourist-heavy part of the archaeological park.

In January, archaeologists unveiled a long-lost basilica tied to Vitruvius, famously known as the father of architecture.