Auditorium di Mecenate

If you happen to be going down Via Merulana from the Basilica of St. John Lateran to the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, at Largo Leopardi you will run into a rather remarkable building dating from the Roman period: The Auditorium Maecenatis.

 
The building’s name dates back to the time of its discovery, which occurred during excavations in 1874. It was first thought to be an auditorium, a small covered theatre within the Gardens of Maecenas. But it is more likely to have been a summer nymphaeum-triclinium, meaning a banquet hall that was half-sunken into the earth, and therefore somewhat cooler, which was once used for friendly get-togethers enlivened with water games.