Buying A Building
Luciano Faggiano bought a building in Lecce, Italy, with a clear goal ahead. He wanted to build the best trattoria, which is an Italian restaurant, in the city.
Everything was going according to plan and the restaurant was scheduled to open before the deadline when this happened. Luciano could never have imagined just what secrets his new building hid!
Fixing The Toilet
The construction of the toilet was left for last. As the final days were approaching, Luciano noticed that sewage kept backing up.
After some investigation, he predicted that it was only a matter of days - or a week, at most - until the toilet was fixed and the building could be inaugurated. However, he was surely wrong...
They Kept Digging
Luciano and his two sons kept digging until they made a jaw-dropping discovery. His new building had apparently been built on top of an ancient treasure!
What they found could easily have been turned into a museum. “We found underground corridors and other rooms, so we kept digging”, Luciano said. Click next for more!
Family Obsession
This short expedition was transformed into a family obsession as Luciano, his two sons and his wife kept on digging for days.
They soon discovered that they had practically bought a museum instead of an ordinary building. Guess what they did then!
It Traced Back B.C.
The subterranean mysterious undergrounds that they found were later estimated to trace back before the birth of Christ.
In other words, those objects were over 2000 years old and Luciano and his family knew something had to be done.
They Made It A Museum
Luciano couldn't let this chance slip! He immediately abandoned his dream of opening a trattoria and decided to make this place a museum!
They decided to call some experts for extra insight. Click next to find out what the experts told them!
Italy's History
Italy is known for its rich history. From ancient history until the fall of the Roman Empire, Italy was always in the spotlight.
There are many cases of people digging a hole in the ground and coming across an ancient treasure, but this was just too much!
Ancient Lecce
Lecce isn''t an ordinary city. Lecce was considered an important crossroad in the Mediterranean and was under the rule of Greeks, Romans, Ottomans, Normans, and Lombards.
“The very first layers of Lecce date to the time of Homer, or at least according to legend,” a local historian said.
Messapians
“Whenever you dig a hole,” the historian said, “centuries of history come out.” This was indeed true for Luciano! But what happened after they found the hole?
It appears to be that the historians that arrived on the spot said that this was a tomb that belonged to the Messapians, a civilization that inhabited the region 2000 years ago.
His Sons Were Exploring
Back in the first moments of their discovery, Luciano was with his two sons. One of them, Marco, was small enough to fit in a pipe that led to the main hall of the tomb.
Before they knew it, the three of them started descending to the site every day. Luciano, however, kept this a secret at first.
He Didn't Tell His Wife
Luciano didn''t tell his wife about his amazing discovery as he was afraid that she would want him to just move on with the plans. “I made sure to tell him not to tell his mama,”, Luciano said, referring to his son.
His wife was starting to suspect something was going on. “We had all these dirty clothes, every day,” she said. “I didn’t understand what was going on.”
Neighbors Called The Police
Before Luciano decided to call some experts to shed some light into his discovery, he used to to go in and out of the building in dirty clothes.
He would also move great lods of debris with his car. The neighbors became suspicious and ultimately called the police!
He Stopped His Excavations
After the police arrived, Luciano had some trouble as he was charged with operating an archaeological work site without a permit.
Luckily for him, the charges were soon dropped and Luciano was able to continue with his top-secret mission.
Building The Museum
A year later, Luciano was granted permission to start turning his building into museum. How did he manage to do such a thing?
It seemed that it would take a lot of skill and knowledge to operate the museum but Luciano was gradually becoming an archaeologist himself!
A True Treasure
Luciano''s place was a true archaeological treasure, as it contained artifacts that dated from all the different historical periods.
“The Faggiano house has layers that are representative of almost all of the city’s history, from the Messapians to the Romans, from the medieval to the Byzantine time", said one of the experts.
His Sons Helped
A year after his discovery, his younger son left Italy to study, while the other one also moved there to study at the university of Rome.
Their lives were put on hold by his father's quest to become a museum owner. “We were kind of forced to do it,” said Andrea. “I was going to university, but then I would go home to excavate. Marco as well", he added.
Purchased By The Government
Later, the government bought the place while allowing Luciano and his team to keep on operating the excavations.
It was eventually announced that the building would be officially opened as a museum and Luciano started getting more and more publicity day by day.
It Was Exhausting
Luciano soon understood that turning an old building into a museum was way harder than he ever imagined.
Luciano soon got tired of so much hard work and his sons eventually stopped working at the excavation. That's when Luciano made an unusual decision...
He Got Fed Up
“At one point, I couldn’t take it anymore,” he recalled. “I bought cinder blocks and was going to cover it up and pretend it had never happened. “I don’t wish it on anyone.” Luciano said.
“I still want it,” he said, referring to the trattoria. “I’m very stubborn", he added. But will his dream ever come true?
Luciano Today
Luciano managed to put all of this behind and bought a new building to fulfill his dream of opening his own trattoria.
This time, however, he made sure that the place wouldn't need any extra... renovations!