Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
SIGHTS
The sometimes scruffy district of Esquilino is lined by grand 19th-century buildings.
It might not be Rome's prettiest district, but it's studded with some stupendous art
and museums, including one of Rome's finest patriarchal basilicas in Santa Maria
Maggiore, Michelangelo's
Moses
at San Pietro in Vincoli, and two masterpiece-packed
outposts of the Museo Nazionale Romano.
Esquilino
BASILICA DI SANTA MARIA MAGGIORE
See
Click here
.
BASILICA
BASILICA DI SAN PIETRO IN VINCOLI
See
Click here
.
BASILICA
DOMUS AUREA
( 06 3996 7700;
www.coopculture.it
;
Viale della Domus Aurea; closed for restoration; Colosseo)
A mo-
numental exercise in vanity, the Domus Aurea (Golden House) was Nero's great gift to
himself. Built after the fire of AD 64 and named after the gold that covered its facade, it
was a huge complex covering up to a third of the city, but it's estimated that only around
20% remains of the original complex.
Nero's successors attempted to raze all trace of his megalomania. Vespasian drained
Nero's ornamental lake and, in a highly symbolic gesture, built the Colosseum in its place.
Domitian built a palace on the Palatino, while Hadrian, after having sacked Nero's palace,
entombed it in earth and constructed a baths complex. The baths were abandoned by the
6th century; it is this area that is being excavated. It has been frequently closed for repairs
following flooding and was last open in 2010.
During the Renaissance, artists (including Ghirlandaio, Perugino and Raphael) lowered
themselves into the ruins in order to study the frescoed grottoes and to doodle on the walls.
ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE
MUSEO NAZIONALE D'ARTE ORIENTALE
MUSEUM
