Domus Aurea: Nero's Golden House Guided Tour

We shall never know for certain whether Nero caused the fire that devastated Rome in ad 64 or simply profited from it to seize 160ha (400 acres) of the gutted city to build himself the most luxurious residence ever seen in Rome.

All we can say is that the legend about Nero fiddling while Rome burned is apocryphal, and that no other European monarch has ever carved himself out a larger slice of his capital for his private use. Apart from the facade covered in solid gold, the Emperor’s pleasure palace had such refinements as baths with hot and cold running water either sea or fresh or fed from sulphur springs, hidden perfume sprays piped into the reception rooms, and a mechanical device for showering flower petals upon his banquet guests.

The gloomy chambers of the ruins of Nero’s palace are mostly underground today. Trajan built his public baths on top of the ruined Golden House when it too was destroyed by fire in ad 104.

Thirteen centuries later some of the rooms in the palace were rediscovered and the painted decorations caused an artistic sensation – it was the first time in over a thousand years that anyone had cast their eyes on the style that later became known as ‘Pompeian’. Raphael used the decorations as his model in the Vatican Loggie without knowing he had been copying wall paintings from Nero’s Palace.

As you walk through the cavernous cryptoporticus and through the octagonal hall a powerful pocket lamp will be invaluable in identifying the now much faded paintings. The famous Greek sculpture of Laocoon now in the Vatican museums was discovered here in pieces in 1506. It most likely formed part of Nero’s splendid art collection.