Rome, the Domus Transitoria opens to the public: Nero's first palace on the Palatine visitable after 10 years of work

It took ten years of study and work to restore and secure the rooms, but at last the Domus Transitoria, or Emperor Nero’s first palace on the Palatine Hill, can finally open its doors to the public. The residence owes its name to the fact that it allowed “transit” from the Palatine to the Esquiline: it suffered severe damage during the fire of 64 CE, so much so that the emperor decided to replace it with a new palace, the famous Domus Aurea, more luxurious and larger than the Transitory. However, a few rooms of the latter are still recognizable, including a space that was originally occupied by a sumptuous nymphaeum with water features, and rooms decorated with frescoes, stucco and marble floors. And speaking of the frescoes, at the Palatine Museum, thanks to a loan agreement with the National Archaeological Museum in Naples, some of the wall decorations that belonged to the Domus, and which were discovered in the eighteenth century by the Farnese family (these are two large friezes and a series of panels, attributed to Famulus or Fabullus, the painter of the Domus Aurea), are also returning after three hundred years. Many of the decorations were in fact removed by the Farnese and taken to Naples, and today are preserved in various museums and collections.

The public can now visit spaces covering about 800 square meters of Nero’s ancient residence: visits will be possible from Friday to Monday, for accompanied groups. Visitors will also be able to “relive” the Domus Transitoria as it probably was before it was destroyed and abandoned: projections and three-dimensional viewers will in fact reconstruct the rooms in which colored marbles, frescoes, and water features alternated. All of this will be done with the utmost scientific rigor, without searching for “special effects,” but if anything, seeking maximum philological adherence to how the Domus Transitoria must have looked at the time of its greatest splendor. Thanks to virtual reality, the nymphaeum with its fountains will also be reconstructed, as well as the triclinium, the large dining room, from which several other rooms were accessed. Many of the colored marbles have been preserved, however, and the public will be able to see up close the richness and balance of the floor decorations with plant and geometric motifs, made of different materials, from red porphyry to ancient yellow: marbles from all over the Mediterranean.

“The project is part of the Colosseum Archaeological Park’s program to return to visitors places and routes that have long been inaccessible,” explains Park Director Alfonsina Russo. “This extraordinary opening helps to define a Neronian tour itinerary within the central archaeological area that will extend from the Colle Oppio to the Palatine. Visitors will touch, between real and virtual, the emperor’s constructive genius and the experiments he sought in pictorial and marble decorations.”

As anticipated, access to the Domus Transitoria will be restricted and the visit will be allowed to small accompanied groups. The visit is included in the Forum-Palatine ticket, which costs 16 euros and is valid for one day. Included in the ticket is access to the Palatine Museum and the Neronian Cryptoporticus, the Houses of Augustus and Livia, the Aula Isiaca with the Mattei Loggia, the Temple of Romulus, St. Mary Antigua with Oratory of the Forty Martyrs, and the Ramp of Domitian. On the occasion of the reopening of the Domus Transitoria, a volume was also published, published by Electa, reporting on the studies of the topography, architecture and decorations of Nero’s two palaces (the Domus Transitoria and the Domus Aurea). The study and restoration of the Domus Transitoria was supervised by Stefano Borghini, Alessandro D’Alessio and Maddalena Scoccianti of the Colosseum Archaeological Park.

Pictured is a virtual reconstruction of one of the rooms of the Domus Transitoria.

Rome, the Domus Transitoria opens to the public: Nero's first palace on the Palatine visitable after 10 years of work

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