Auditorium of Hadrian

The Hadrian Auditoria are the below-ground remains of the ancient Athenaeum, an educational institution founded by Emperor Hadrian around 135 AD on what is now Piazza Venezia in Rome. The Athenaeum housed rhetoricians, philosophers and grammarians teaching the liberal arts, and writers gave public readings of their work to large audiences here. The ruins were uncovered by chance during the construction of Metro Line C in 2009, revealing a stepped auditorium with marble floors, tiers of seats and traces of elaborate interior decoration. The site is an Italian national monument and can be viewed from the open archaeological window on Piazza Venezia.