When restoration work began on Piazza Jacopo della Quercia near Siena Cathedral in the late 1980s, the number of Roman archaeological discoveries was so startling, people doubted the work would ever get finished.

What if they covered the whole place with tarmac and left terracotta containers, first century jewelry or similarly precious objects forever languishing beneath the square? In the end, workers went on digging, and the Roman relics found homes in the Archaeological Museum of Siena. Eventually, work on the square was completed, and it took on the aspect it has today.