Some Fans Are Just Learning a McDonald's Has 2000-Year-Old Skeletons Inside

A McDonald's restaurant in Italy has gained viral attention this week as people learned that it contains an unusual design feature.

In Frattocchie, some 12 miles south of Rome, the famous American restaurant chain features three skeletons and a 2,000-year-old Roman road that was discovered in 2014 when the McDonald's was being built.

A spokesperson for McDonald's Italia told Newsweek: "In September 2014, during excavations for the construction of the McDonald's restaurant in [Frattocchie], 45 meters of ancient roadway were discovered."

The road was built in the 2nd century B.C., and the stretch beneath what is now a fast-food restaurant is around 150 feet long and seven feet wide.

The location, which has in the past been dubbed a museum-restaurant, has gained fresh attention in recent weeks after people began sharing it again on social media.

Quinton Reviews on Twitter posted a picture of the McDonald's and wrote: "Before I die, I want to go to the McDonald's in Italy that has an actual skeleton on display because it was already there and they didn't want to move it."

With hundreds of thousands of likes and thousands of retweets, the Tweet drew fresh attention to the unusual location.

Elsewhere online, Reddit user u/Nayib_Ozzy also shared pictures of the McDonald's branch on November 17 in the subreddit forum r/interestingasf*** where it received thousands of upvotes and over 190 comments from amazed viewers.

When building the McDonald's chain, construction workers uncovered the road and archeologists helped to excavate the site, with McDonald's contributing over $320,000 to the dig.

Archeologists believe that the road connects to the Appian Way, which is known to have been one of ancient Rome's busiest roads.

Among the section of the preserved road are the three skeletons, nestled into the rainwater run-off sections at the edges.

"The three burials represent the only element that allowed us to identify a life interval of the road section, because they date back to the abandonment phase of the road," said McDonald's Italia. "Found totally devoid of grave goods and cover, they can be placed in a time span between the second and third centuries A.D. with good probability, a date inferred by comparison with another burial a few tens of meters further northwest on another stretch of the same road which can be dated thanks to the cover and the presence of a coin."

The skeletons themselves were exposed and removed before being replicated with three-dimensional casts made with silicone rubber and epoxy resin.

"The rubber, applied in such a way as not to alter or damage the finds in any way, copied every minute detail of the burials," said McDonald's Italia.

When the discovery was made, McDonald's immediately expressed a wish to finance the project to enhance the value of the important historical evidence and worked together with local archeologists to create what is now a feature in the restaurant.

"This is the first example of a McDonald's restaurant in the world capable of contributing to the enhancement of an archaeological area," said McDonald's Italia. "It is one of the most innovative restaurants in Italy in terms of services. With its 200 seats in 500 square meters (5,382 square feet) of extension, the restaurant consists of all the most innovative services for its customers: table service, digital kiosks for self-service ordering, Drive lane, McCafé, and an outdoor play area for children. Forty-two employees work in the restaurant."

The underground museum gallery within the McDonald's is visible from the restaurant through a transparent floor, and the public can walk through the road itself free of charge. Designed with a series of educational panels in both Italian and English, the spot that mixes Big Macs and historical artifacts is one-of-a-kind.

"A true 'restaurant-museum' was realized," said McDonald's Italia. "The only one of its kind in Italy and the first in the world for McDonald's."

Thanks to the historical value of the site, the restaurant attracts many visitors who wish to view the ruins. Access is free of charge and is gained through an entrance independent of the restaurant itself.