Rome, House of the Vestal Virgins opens to public after long recovery project

In Rome, from July 6 the Colosseum Archaeological Park opens a new tour route to the public. In fact, after the restoration of the sanctuary of Vesta, the complex of the House of the Vestal Virgins comes back to life. Thanks to a long process of conservation recovery and study, initiated in 2013 by Patrizia Fortini and Maria Maddalena Scoccianti and continued by Irma Della Giovampaola, the rooms of the house of the virgin priestesses in charge of the custody of the city’s sacred hearth and other rituals, all closely connected with the domestic cult, reopen to the public, enriched by a new museum layout. A new tour route thus becomes accessible, which will provide access to the southeastern sector of the Atrium Vestae that has long been closed to the public.

The House of the Vestals, or Atrium Vestae, was brought to light by Rodolfo Lanciani during excavations carried out in the years 1882-1884. In particular, the rooms, now open to the public, were discovered following the removal of the great enclosure wall of the Orti Farnesiani and the layers of subsoil, characterized by a thickness of up to twenty meters with respect to the ancient floor level. Immediately after the discovery, work began to arrange the structures and the stone artifacts found, part of which, later exhibited in the Forensic Antiquarium, are now set up in the rooms of the SE sector, after careful conservation recovery work that lasted from 2013 to 2020. Recent archaeological investigations have made it possible to acquire new data on the events that affected the architectural complex.

Now, with the opening of the new route, the residential apartments of the priestesses, chosen to become spaces of a “diffuse museum,” will be revealed to visitors’ eyes, with the recontextualization of some valuable sculptures found during excavations conducted in the Roman Forum at the end of the 19th century. In addition to a number of portraits, the statue that, according to some scholars, probably depicts Numa Pompilius (the second king of Rome, to whom is attributed the institution of the cult of fire and the creation of the priesthood of sacred virgins) and a statue of a Vestal recently displayed in an exhibition in Tivoli (where the only known burial of a Vestal in the Roman world is preserved) and now finally returned to full enjoyment are also being restored to their original location. Among the rooms covered by the recent restoration, which took place under the coordination of Maria Bartoli, is the lava stone grindstone room, where (according to tradition and pending further verification) the priestesses of Vesta made mola salsa, the sacred flatbread offered to the deity on major festivals and, according to some, distributed in small pieces to believers as an act of purification, or, according to others, used to sprinkle animals destined for sacrifice, hence the verb “immolate.”

“This is the first step in a complex program of research and restoration,” comments Alfonsina Russo, Director of the Colosseum Archaeological Park, “which, in addition to the opening to the public of the entire House of the Vestal Virgins, plans to expand the cultural offer with new routes and information spaces spread throughout the area of the Colosseum Archaeological Park, to involve the public in an increasingly aware visit to the rediscovery of extraordinary monuments, heritage of Humanity, set in a natural context of rare beauty.”

The performance Danse sacrée et danse profane will take place at the opening. Clarissa Pace, Chiara Pacioni, Irene Catroppa, Marzia Caddia, and Chiara De Benedetto will dance with choreography by Alessandra Bianchini and Loretta Gambelli. The presentation of the new route, in the presence of Massimo Osanna Director General of Museums, is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Monday, June 5, with entrance from Via della Salara Vecchia starting at 7 p.m.

Rome, House of the Vestal Virgins opens to public after long recovery project

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