Glossary entry (derived from question below)
Italian term or phrase:
e non è stato scoprire l'acqua calda.
English translation:
It was an exciting discovery, but hardly earth shaking
Italian term
United States
Stylish, well-researched translation
Native in: Italian 
, English (Variants: US, UK)
Works in: Italian to English
e non è stato scoprire l'acqua calda.
. Solo che è tutto fermo perché subito dietro le mura hanno trovato dei reperti archeologici che risalgono all`epoca romana. E non è stato scoprire l`acqua calda! La parte storica di questa città sorge esattamente sopra il tracciato del Castrum realizzato dai Romani, che giunsero qui circa nel 300 Avanti Cristo, dopo aver sconfitto la coalizione di Umbri, Etruschi e Sanniti nella battaglia del Sentino.
Oct 23, 2021 15:51: Danila Moro changed "Language pair" from "English to Italian" to "Italian to English"
Oct 30, 2021 08:01: Shera Lyn Parpia changed "Term asked" from "e non e\' stato a scoprire l\'acqua calda." to "e non è stato scoprire l\'acqua calda."
Oct 30, 2021 08:01: Shera Lyn Parpia changed "Edited KOG entry" from "<a href="/profile/14862">Maria Burnett's</a> old entry - "e non e\' stato a scoprire l\'acqua calda."" to ""It was an exciting discovery, but hardly earth shaking""
Proposed translations
United States
Six languages into flawless English
Native in: English
Works in: German to English, French to English, Spanish to English, and 4 more.
It was an exciting discovery, but hardly earth shaking
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Lisa Jane
: In the Italian idiom, the scoperta dell'acqua calda is NOT considered a revolutionary discovery!!.
8 mins
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| agree |
Andrew Bramhall
: Yes, Phil's got the irony here, although " earth-shattering" possibly better;
1 hr
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| neutral |
Barbara Carrara
: Wouldn't it work better if you dropped the first part and combined it with the next sentence, 'Hardly an earth-shaking discovery, considering...', or sth along these lines?
11 hrs
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The first part was poetic license - they're saying it was an important discovery, but not surprising.
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martini
: s. Lisa's comment
2 days 14 hrs
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and it wasn't a minor discovery
So minor/insignificant, or trivial as suggested by a colleague, would work here.
| agree |
Alfonso De Luca
18 mins
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Thanks Alfonso!
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| neutral |
philgoddard
: You haven't said how you arrive at this.
1 hr
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It is the opposite of an ironic idiom that describes the discovery of hot water as a significant discovery, see http://blog.rubinetteria.com/origine-detto-hai-scoperto-acqu...
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| agree |
Michele Fauble
3 hrs
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Thanks Michele!
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| agree |
martini
1 day 16 hrs
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Thanks martini!
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| agree |
Ian Mansbridge
4 days
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Thank you Ian!
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United Kingdom
Flair and accuracy tailored to your text
Native in: English
Works in: Spanish to English, German to English
And they could just as easily have invented the wheel!
and it wasn't just as discovering America.
https://www.wordreference.com/iten/scoprire l'acqua cal...
| neutral |
philgoddard
: Thanks for the references - I wasn't familiar with this term - but your translation doesn't really work in English.
39 mins
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United Kingdom
www.lingocraft.co.uk
Native in: English (Variants: British, Scottish, Irish, Singaporean, UK, South African) 
Works in: French to English, Italian to English, Romanian to English, and 2 more.
was hardly the discovery of rocket science
Although this term is often used to determine how easy-to-do something is, it is the "discovery" of rocket science that is the breakthrough idea here.
"There was no discovery of rocket science in saying so."
Discussion
They say 1) that they discovered Roman archaeological finds.
But they say also 2) that the historical part of this city rises exactly above the route of the Castrum built by the Romans.
Thus, why shall we be "surprised" by the discover nearby of OTHER Roman finds?
For the sake of completeness, which city are they here talking about?