Jubilee 2025 project is still on schedule.

A major infrastructural project near the Vatican is still on track to open in time for Jubilee Year 2025 despite the discovery of important archaeological finds, Rome's mayor said on Friday.

The remains of an ancient Roman laundry were unearthed during excavations to build an underpass in Piazza Pia, located between Castel S. Angelo and Via della Conciliazione, the street leading to St Peter's Square.

Archaeologists working on the construction site discovered part of a residential building from the early imperial age, transformed in the second century AD into a fullonica, the ancient Roman equivalent of a dry cleaners.

Gualtieri told reporters on Friday that the ancient ruins would be dismantled within 10 days - with the authorisation of the city's archaeological superintendency - and would eventually be displayed in the nearby grounds of Castel S. Angelo.

#Roma non smette mai di stupire, noi romani e il mondo intero! Grazie al cantiere giubilare che abbiamo avviato a #PiazzaPia, durante gli scavi per la realizzazione della galleria stradale, è stata fatta una scoperta davvero emozionante: un’antica fullonica, quella che oggi… pic.twitter.com/U3T6A4thhT— Roberto Gualtieri (@gualtierieurope) June 14, 2024

This pragmatic approach to getting the job finished on time is shared by Italy's culture minister Gennaro Sangiuliano who said authorities "are ready to collaborate and find a point of balance, with reasonableness and common sense, between the needs of safeguarding [heritage] and the modernisation of the city."

The discovery brought to light the vats used by the fullers to wash the clothes which were first treated with human and animal urine - as a detergent or ammonia - before being rinsed in other tubs.