Monti is one of Rome’s oldest neighbourhoods and now one of its coolest destinations. While workshops have been swapped for wine bars, the bohemian edge of this rioneis still alive and kicking.

The colorful material weighed over 5 pounds and was likely made to decorate an emperor’s palace, Italian officials said.

We sit outside, just a hundred yards from the slumbering Domus Aurea, at Osteria da Nerone, one of the few structures in Rome that bear the emperor’s name. “The restaurant is always full ...