The same applies, of course, to the floors, which were made of brightly colored marble.

And indeed, these paintings are characterized precisely by the wise and delicate as well as luxurious combination of painting and precious stones, which restored light and brilliance to the rooms of the building. These paintings do nothing but demonstrate the veracity of the words of Suetonius, who described Nero’s abode as a place characterized by pomp, gold and luxury. The works that have affected the dwelling have continued uninterruptedly for many years and concerned not only the restoration of historically relevant contents, but also the safety of the whole structure, with the optimization of a frame built in the second half of the last century.Įven if the fire and the damnatio memoriae (a process through which the ancient Romans completely banished Nero and all his work from memory following his death, because of his wickedness) didn’t allow the perfect conservation of the structure, around 1920 frescoes and paintings belonging to the Domus Transient were discovered in the triclinium of the Domus Flavia (which proves, among other things, that the building of the Flavians was built on the ruins of Nero’s first residence). Only next April, as declared by Alfonsina Russo, on behalf of the director of the archaeological park of the Colosseum, the building will be open to the public, who will be able to enjoy not only the view of the structure, which will be accessed through a delicate original staircase (not subject to restoration), but also a reconstruction of the appearance that the Domus Transient must have had at the time of its inauguration, thanks to the help of technology. The reason why the Domus Transient is almost unknown to all those who are not great experts in Roman architecture lies in the fact that for a good 70 years the remains had not been made accessible to the public, except sporadically. Restoration work and opening to the public Indeed, it seems that some parts of the Domus Transient are preserved below the Domus Flavia, an area belonging to the Emperor Domitian. The name of the structure is justified by its gigantic size, which even allowed it to connect two different zones: it was in fact an important building connecting the Palatine Hill to the current Esquiline zone (the hill where Roma Termini station currently stands).Īs already mentioned, therefore, following the destruction of this first residence, Nero ordered the construction of another villa, the even more luxurious Domus Aurea, which seems to be connected to the ancient residence. However, not everyone knows that the emperor, to whom the historical sources attribute the fire that almost completely destroyed the center of Rome, had commissioned in the previous years the construction of a different structure that was made unusable by the unfortunate event: the Domus Transient.

When we talk about the luxurious imperial dwellings of ancient Rome on the Palatine Hill, one of the famous seven hills of Rome as well as the nerve center of Roman history and culture, the mind immediately returns to the building called Domus Aurea, which belonged to the eclectic Emperor Nero.

Domus aurea reconstruction