Rome, Italy, is teeming with vibrant links to its long-gone empire. From the iconic Colosseum to the massive Roman Forum, the city’s unique ancient ruins seem fit for an emperor — quite literally, in the case of a 2,000-year-old riverside garden recently unearthed.

Archaeologists found a garden belonging to a hated Roman emperor during construction work at Piazza Pia, a section of roadway between Vatican City and Castel Sant’Angelo, Italy’s Ministry of Culture said in a July 4 news release.

The excavation first uncovered a 1,700-year-old laundry facility. While relocating these ruins, archaeologists unearthed the ruins of an ancient riverside garden.

Overlooking the Tiber River, the garden had a walkway flanked on either side by columns and a large open space where the plants would have grown, archaeologists said.

Only the foundation of the walkway, also known as a colonnaded portico, remains. Even still, the structure towers over archaeologists, photos show.

Archaeologists were able to identify the owner of the garden because of an inscription on a lead pipe. Stamped on the pipe was C(ai) Cæsaris Aug(usti) Germanici, the name of emperor Caligula, officials said.

Caligula, whose real name was Gaius Caesar Germanicus, was a hated Roman emperor who ruled between 37 and 41 A.D., according to Britannica. His brief rule was characterized by unpredictable and tyrannical behavior. Historians have often described him as mad or insane.

Eventually, Caligula was murdered “by his own bodyguard,” according to the World History Encyclopedia.

The rediscovered garden matches an ancient description of an event where emperor Caligula met with a group of Jews from Alexandria, Egypt, in the portico of a garden overlooking the Tiber River.

Based on previous finds in the area of Piazza Pia, archaeologists believe the 2,000-year-old garden was passed down from general Germanicus Julius Caesar to his wife Agrippina the Elder then to their son Caligula, officials said.

Excavations also uncovered sections of a ruined wall, stone slabs and terracotta roof decorations.

Construction at the plaza is scheduled to end in December. The project will install an underpass and create a large pedestrian square to connect nearby tourist sites.