A Roman villa dating back to the III Century AD has been found near Catania in Sicily .

Digs began a few months ago after archaeologists found red potsherds scattered at the site, a stone's throw from a famous castle built by Admiral Horatio Nelson .

Italian police kept the discovery secret until Monday in order to keep tomb raiders away .

The dig has now been secured and opened to journalists .

They were taken on a tour on Monday and shown the remains of Roman walls, a grinding stone and an altar .

The villa, which is thought to cover about 2,500 square metres, may be the same one discovered by a famous Italian archaeologist, Paolo Orsi, at the beginning of the last century .

Orsi found traces of a mosaic floor but no excavation followed his preliminary dig and the site is believed to have been covered up again by subsequent earth movements and vegetation .