The article is about Ferdinand de Saussure’s participation to a meeting of the KDAI (Kaiserlich Deutsches Archeologisches Institut) on 12th January 1906 and his interest in the archaic inscription on the cippus from the Lapis Niger in the Roman Forum. Thanks to a list of signatures of the participants to the meeting, it was possible to retrieve information about who Ferdinand de Saussure’s possible contacts in Rome were. The article also discusses Luigi Ceci, who first read and interpreted the inscription on the cippus, and reflects on his role in creating a school of linguistics in Rome, inspired by Saussure’s teaching.