Amateur finds Roman villa on computer

An Italian man has been credited with “accidentally” finding the remains of a Roman villa while using his home computer to research local maps.

Computer buff Luca Mori from the village of Sorbolo, close to Parma, was browsing the “Google Earth” and “Google Maps” programmes downloaded from the internet when he noticed some unusual rectangular shapes on maps of his local area, La Repubblica said.

Mori contacted archaeologists at the University of Parma who excavated ceramic pieces at the site confirming that it was once the location of a Roman villa. (dpa)