Related:
"Termini Station To San Giovanni In Laterano"

Rome Tourist Guide Routes  

Domus Aurea and Colle Oppio

The Colle Oppio was once the stuff that dreams are made of, fantastical grounds that surrounded the Domus Aurea, Emperor Nero's residence towards the end of his life. Nero ordered the construction in 64 A.D., after a brutal fire decimated the city. The facade was once painted entirely in gold and the lush, beautiful gardens were bisected by private aqueducts. Nero didn't enjoy his palatial idyll for long - he committed suicide just four years after construction was completed. His successors wanted to eliminate every trace of the excesses left behind by the eccentric emperor so they stripped the entire complex. The plundering of the Domus Aurea and the passing centuries contributed greatly to the deterioration of the structure. So little remains of its past incarnation that most of what we know of the original Domus Aurea comes from historical data and stories passed down over generations. Looking at it today, you would never imagine that it was once such a splendid, awe-inspiring building.