The Domus Aurea (Golden Mansion) was a set of buildings and green spaces that formed the urban villa of the Roman emperor Nero, built after the great fire that devastated Rome in 64 AD.

The destruction of a large part of the urban center allowed the princeps to expropriate a total area of about 80 hectares and to build a palace that stretched between the Palatine, the Esquiline and the Celio.

The Villa was never completed and did not survived the death of Nero: over the next forty years, the Domus Aurea was completely buried under new constructions, but paradoxically this made it possible for the painted “grotesque” to survive.

At the end of the 15th century it was discover by chance: a young boy accidentally fell into a crack on the side of the Oppio hill and found himself in a strange cave, full of painted figures.

The rumor spread and soon the most important artist of the time began to descend along the poles to be able to study these images, they had a revelation of what the real ancient world was and their art reflected that revelation.

Only a few steps from the Colosseum, dozens of rooms still have extraordinary frescoes, in a setting that has no comparison: the Domus Aurea was open to the public for the first time at the end of the 60s.