Unbeknownst to a group of researchers digging near a small Italian town, a Christian basilica once stood in a Roman military colony. Thousands of years later, it was unearthed. The major discovery near Aquileia (Friuli Venezia Giulia), now a town of approximately 3,000, gives insight into the intersection between the former metropolis and the eastern Roman Empire.

The area where the Byzantine-era basilica was dug up was along an essential trade route near the Via Annia that connected Milan and Rome. The discovery points to larger themes of religion and construction in the fourth century, researchers said.