In others, they are really off the beaten track and/or difficult to visit. In some cases, they are simply closed to the public. There are hundreds, if not thousands, more Rome underground sites that I don't have listed on this page. You probably know you can visit the Colosseum underground.ĭid you know you can also visit the Tomb of Saint Peter? See where athletes competed in games in a giant stadium? Visit an emperor's palace with a precursor to the Pantheon?Īll of these sites are hidden under Rome's surface today.įirst, some tips for visiting these fascinating places: Rome Underground Sites - a few things to note Over millennia of flooding, earthquakes, sacking by Goths and Vandals, and other calamitous events, much of ancient Rome is now underground.ĭisclosure: If you make a purchase through a link on this page, I may receive a small commission - at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting my site! My Favorite Rome Underground Sites and How to Visit Them It was like a living breathing thing that grew and shrunk, and grew again. Can you imagine it all just staying the same through time? ISBN 9781623710088.Rome Underground - How to See Hidden Rome The Rome Guide: Step by Step through History's Greatest City. ^ "Nero's Domus Transitoria on the Palatine to open to the public"."A Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome". ^ John Bryan Ward-Perkins, Roman Imperial Architecture, Yale University Press, 1994.^ The Architecture of the Roman Empire: An Introductory Study, Volume 1, William Lloyd MacDonald, p.23.^ a b Filippo Coarelli, Rome, Bari and Rome, Laterza, 2012.Domus Transitoria (Platner & Ashby, 1929)".Įdited by Emma Buckley, Martin Dinter, Ch 19: Buildings of an emperor - How Nero transformed Rome, Heinz-Jurgens Beste, H.Hesberg.The Domus Aurea and the Roman Architectural Revolution. In 2019 it was announced that this part of the palace will be accessible to the public for the first time in almost 70 years. Painted ceilings with mythological scenes from the Domus Transitoria, the earliest examples of fourth-style painting, perhaps by the painter Fabullus, are displayed in the Palatine Museum. Marble and other parts salvaged from the ruins later became part of the Domus Aurea, Nero's main residence. It lies beneath the Horti Farnesiani along one side of the Domus Tiberiana. It is 130 m long with mosaic floors and elaborate stucco ceiling decoration with vegetal elements and cupids. The cryptoporticus of Nero that connected the palace with the nearby Domus Tiberiana was also part of the complex. Today one corner of the nymphaeum has been rebuilt. In one of these rooms is a rich marble floor found under the oval fountain room of Domitian's Cenatio Iovis, and a rich nymphaeum with marble columns and bronze capitals. Beyond these rooms is a very large latrine. The lower floors contained sunken gardens, two pavilions, a nymphaeum, and an art gallery. This site was excavated in 1721 when considerable damage was done during the excavations. The main part of the palace was probably on the Palatine Hill and a large and brilliantly decorated set of rooms has been located in the central part of the Palatine Hill under the Palace of Domitian. Stucco ceiling in the Cryptoporticus of Nero The elaborate domed room which interconnected two barrel-vaulted corridors was spectacular architecturally and had marble-lined pools and paving in multicoloured opus sectile, all still largely intact beneath the temple. The decoration of the vault, 10 m (33 ft) high, is preserved only in part where four corner medallions and a central octagon were inserted, the latter partly preserved representing the Polyphemus scene.įive metres below Hadrian's Temple of Venus and Roma a sumptuous rotunda belonging to the palace was discovered in 1828, cut through by foundations of the Domus Aurea. The lower part of the walls were originally covered in marble. On the walls of the grotto was a mosaic of which a few traces remain within a frame of shells. Surrounded by a portico of four columns it was equipped with a cascading fountain on the bottom, whose water was conveyed into a central basin. Fresco from the nymphaeum of the domus transitoria, 54–64 AD Nymphaeum of Polyphemus Īn elaborate nympheum was unfortunately divided in two by a later wall of Trajan.
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